TikTok launches streaming distribution service SoundOn
TikTok has launched its own streaming distribution service SoundOn, designed to “empower new and undiscovered artists, helping them develop and build their careers”.
The platform will allow artists to upload their music directly to TikTok, meaning they can earn royalties when their music is used. SoundOn will pay out 100 per cent royalties to music creators in the first year and 90 per cent after that.
SoundOn can also distribute music to other streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music and is set to offer a range of support tools for artists, including audience insight and development alongside advice from a dedicated artist team.
TikTok launched a music distribution service, SoundOn.
This was inevitable! TikTok is where music discovery happens. It wants to build a platform to serve those artists.
— Dan Runcie (@RuncieDan) March 9, 2022
As of today (March 10) SoundOn is now fully launched in the US, UK, Brazil and Indonesia with Abby Roberts, Chloe Adams, Games We Play and Muni Long among the first to get involved. Artists can sign up for SoundOn here.
“I’ve worked with the team at TikTok through my whole career and they’ve always been so supportive of me, so I really valued the extra support and help I’ve got from SoundOn launching my music now as well,” said Roberts. “I’m loving sharing my music and creativity with my fans and hopefully reaching new ones too!”
Singer-songwriter Muni Long added: “SoundOn has created a space where anybody can be exactly who they want to be. No matter your background, your upbringing, your race, your creed, your age, you can enter the space and claim your place.”
“I’ve done that already and I plan to keep doing it over and over again. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be myself in front of the world through TikTok,” they said.
It comes as more and more artists are speaking out against the payments Spotify offer artists, which is believed to be between £0.002 to £0.0062 per stream.
“Spotify is disgusting, the money they make out of [artists],” David Bowie‘s producer Tony Visconti said in a recent interview. “If you had 12 million streams, you could barely afford lunch for two people. It’s ridiculous, I don’t know why it’s allowed. Spotify does nothing to support the culture of music.”
Last week (March 2) Abby Roberts praised her “great coach and mentor” Halsey at the BandLab NME Awards 2022.
“We became friends a couple of months when I was just hanging about in LA,” Roberts explained. “I didn’t even know Halsey knew who I was whatsoever! But we hung out a bit, clicked straight away and became such good friends.”
“They’re honestly one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met, and such a great coach and mentor to me, especially [as I’m] just starting out in music now. I’m super excited for the summer,” where she will support Halsey on their ‘Love And Power’ tour.
