TikTok has become a go-to platform for music fans to discover new songs. Its users are also more likely than the average listener to go to concerts in person and pay for music streaming apps, according to a new report TikTok commissioned from entertainment-analytics firm Luminate.
Throughout the report, which TikTok funded, the authors emphasize areas where the company is boosting revenue for its partners in the music industry, many of whom are looking for new ways to extract value from the app. The company has long had to balance maintaining relationships with record labels and other rights holders while also searching for new ways to make money from the music business.
“This report will focus on how TikTok users’ engagement with artists and their music is associated with higher streaming volumes, while also identifying distinctive consumer behaviors that make TikTok users uniquely valuable to the music industry,” its authors wrote.
Most of the findings signal to artists, record labels, and other music stakeholders that TikTok will help them make money, be it through concert sales, merchandise, or streams.
For instance, in the UK, 45% of respondents to the survey who used TikTok said they’d attended a live music event in the past year, compared to 35% of music listeners generally. In the US, the margin was smaller: 38% of TikTok users said they’d been to a live music performance in the past year, compared to 33% overall.
TikTok’s ability to drive users to concerts will be put to the test next month when the company hosts its first global in-person music event in Mesa, Arizona. The concert, dubbed TikTok in the Mix, will feature headliners like Cardi B and Charlie Puth, as well as performers from its artist-incubator program, Elevate.
Attendance at live music events has been on the upswing generally this year. UTA IQ, the talent agency’s research division, and Variety’s intelligence arm released an October report that found that one in five live-music attendees between the ages of 15 and 69 had increased their concert attendance since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Among millennials, that figure jumped to two in five.
Artists like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and Drake have generated significant buzz from their 2023 tours, and video snippets or hand-held livestreams taken at those events have become relatively commonplace on TikTok.
TikTok and Luminate’s survey, conducted between the third quarter of 2022 and Q3 2023, included around 10,000 respondents over the age of 13 who live in the US, Germany, the UK, Indonesia, and Brazil. TikTok operates a music-streaming app in those last two countries.
In addition to live events, Luminate and TikTok found the app’s user base was paying into the music industry in other ways. For instance:
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In the US, 62% of TikTok users pay for a music-streaming service compared to 43% of surveyed consumers overall.
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45% of TikTok US users said they’ve purchased merchandise like t-shirts, stickers, or other items from artists, compared to 35% of listeners overall.
TikTok users’ willingness to pay for music streaming could be good news for the company as it looks to grow TikTok Music subscriptions in new markets like Australia, Singapore, and Mexico. TikTok also recently launched a new feature that enables users to more easily connect songs they hear on TikTok to streaming apps like Spotify and Amazon Music.
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