Like it or not, TikTok is a major tool for artists to score themselves a hit song – or even a record deal – these days.
We’ve seen artists have massive hits from songs that go viral on TikTok. “Austin” by Dasha has over 700k posts, and the song taking off on the social media app propelled it to #19 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart and Dasha’s first ever charting single. Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” has over 1 million videos on TikTok, and recently became the first song by a black male artist to reach #1 on both the Hot 100 chart and the Hot Country Songs chart at the same time.
From “Dicked Down In Dallas” to “Fancy Like,” we’ve seen time and time again that TikTok can take a catchy song and make it an actual hit.
But is it just people finding a song they like and posting it, or is there something else going on?
Well it may surprise you that these “viral” songs are very often the result of coordinated campaigns from artists, PR agencies or the labels behind them.
Let’s take Shaboozey’s smash hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” Is it catchy? Absolutely. But was its success entirely organic, or was there somebody behind the scenes pushing to make it a viral hit?
If you look at the videos posted to TikTok, you’ll see that many of them have the same, or a very similar, caption:
@markhamptonmusic I’m here for it #shaboozey #fyp ♬ A Bar Song (Tipsy) – Shaboozey
@tylernolan Whos ready for summer??😮💨🎶 #shaboozey ♬ A Bar Song (Tipsy) – Shaboozey
@sweetlifeoflauren_ Bring on summer ☀️ #fyp #foryoupage #shaboozey #summersong #golfday #trending #inmyelement ♬ A Bar Song (Tipsy) – Shaboozey
@lifewithkristie Summer Anthem✨ Who’s ready for summer?☀️🤘🏼😎 #shaboozey #fyp #summervibes ♬ A Bar Song (Tipsy) – Shaboozey
@keepingitkalee Bring on the sunny days ☀️☀️☀️ #summer #happy #music #vibing #virgo #virgoenergy #summer2024 #sing #newmusic #shaboozey #relatable #fyp ♬ A Bar Song (Tipsy) – Shaboozey
@kayla_mae90 Summer vibes. 🙌🏼 #fyp #vibes #summertime #catchyourown #danceitout #abarsong #shaboozey #livelife ♬ A Bar Song (Tipsy) – Shaboozey
@aprilrose0131 This song sounds like summer ☀️ #summer #2024 #shaboozey #tipsy ♬ A Bar Song (Tipsy) – Shaboozey
What a coincidence…
And with Dasha’s song “Austin” it’s much the same, with many of the captions being about how fun the line dance is.
Now, could these creators have just all had the same thought? Sure. But another explanation is that they were all paid and told what to caption the video in order to earn the commission for the video.
For example, right now TikTok creators who are eligible (i.e. have monetized their accounts) can earn up to $800 for videos promoting Dasha’s next single, “Didn’t I.” To get paid for the video, the promoter lists the specific requirements:
“Lip-Sync + Text on Screen about how Dasha dropped new music.”
They also provide examples and recommended captions, things like:
“I am OBSESSED with the new Dasha song”
“I’m still obsessed with Austin and Dasha just dropped another banger!!”
To earn the full $800, a video must get 800k views, but you can still get paid a portion of that as long as the video gets 5,000 views.
But I’m not singling out Dasha, because she’s far from the only artist who puts a budget behind getting a viral hit. In fact, Shaboozey also had another song on TikTok that was offering creators the opportunity to make some money for posting it.
For those who are eligible, they could also earn $800 for videos featuring Shaboozey’s “Last of My Kind,” which also features Paul Cauthen. (The campaign has already ended unfortunately, so if you were hoping to make some money on this one you’re going to have to find another song).
Of course I’m not necessarily saying it’s a BAD thing that artists are doing this. They’re using the tools that are at their disposal to get their music out there, and it’s paying off.
But at the same time, there’s no way of knowing which songs are real viral hits and which ones are being pushed by big money behind the scenes. The videos aren’t marked as “paid” promotion, so they’re being passed off as organic content when in reality they’re anything but.
Regardless, that’s just one way that artists, PR teams and labels have found to use the rapidly-changing landscape of social media to their advantage and manufacture a viral hit.