Two Thousand and Tik Tok Won

Seven years ago in 2014 an app that took no more than 30 days to make launched for the first time. 

Music.ly was an app made to combine music and small videos to attract the early teen to young adult demographic. Throughout the years other apps have decided to hop on the idea: both Instagram and Snapchat have adopted music features to their story options; allowing all who use the app the same appealing features that Music.ly was showcasing. 

Two years later, in 2016 Music.ly was changed and modified into the app that is most known today as Tik Tok. With age and time comes new technology, and throughout the five years that the app has been available the editing and music options have greatly expanded and improved. “New technology and trends help create new music,” said a Tuscarora High School student, who wished to remain anonymous.

Throughout the years kids have gone on to explain that they have mostly found their music from recommendations from friends and family, soundtracks that are in movies and shows, or just listened to whatever was new on the radio. As of late though, TikTok has been the place over one billion people have access to finding music options that appeal to the user. 

Some have had an argument saying that TikTok is a place where people can simply make short and humorous videos and that that is the main objective of the app; to entertain people. But the app can serve much more than an act of service through entertaining you for a few hours. It is a place where people can share and find music that they like and would listen to more often than just the fifteen seconds that were shown to them. 

Around 70% of young adults listen to music everyday, and over fifty million people use Tik Tok everyday. And though I doubt the app can be used to humor a person for an hour or two, I also believe that it can be much more than that and provide people with an outlet to find and discover themselves throughout the discoveration of new music. 

Social media nowadays has become a way of life, communication, income, and so much more to people in the 21st century. Not only have I recognized this, but many artists from Billie Eilish, Niall Horan, Megan The Stallion, Conan Gray, Ricky Montgomery, Lizzo, and so many more have used the app to their advantage to make sure they can get their music out to new listeners. “I think TikTok can be very easy and a good way to promote music to people who enjoy it.” said Megan Bailey, another Tuscarora High School student, on the subject. 

“Yes, TikTok can introduce people to so many new artists and styles of music. It’s a great way to discover something new.” said Bailey. She also goes on to tell how she has found “so many new styles” of music, and how “so many new ideas are being produced in a new generation.” 

She and so many others have found both new and popular artists just like Bailey because of TikTok. 

“An artist I discovered from Tik Tok is Ghost. They are my favorite band now and I listen to them everyday now.” said an anonymous Tuscarora High School student. “TOBI, Your Smith, Duckwrth, The Honeysticks, Loving, and Spencer” are all artists that Bailey has also found because of TikTok.  

It’s crazy to think about how new and old music is being rediscovered all because of an app that most probably didn’t think much of when downloading. And not just music, but the stories and messages that those songs and artists you discover are telling; the ones you can relate to. Music has been proven to help self expression, and the music you find to help with that, no matter where you find it, is a winner’s move in my playlist.