Musicians Are Sick And Tired Of Their Labels Allegedly Gatekeeping Their Releases Unless They “Go Viral” On TikTok
Syd Robinson
4 min read
Musicians Are Sick And Tired Of Their Labels Allegedly Gatekeeping Their Releases Unless They “Go Viral” On TikTok
Recently, Halsey made a TikTok that shed light on a conversation that lots of other musicians have been talking about for a while now: TikTok basically runs their lives — and careers.
TikTok / tiktok.com“Basically, I have a song that I love that I want to release ASAP, but my record label won’t let me,” the singer captioned the video. As their unreleased song played in the background, they continued: “I’ve been in this industry for eight years and I’ve sold over 165 million records and my record company is saying I can’t release it unless they can fake a viral moment on TikTok.”
To sum it all up, she said: “Everything is marketing. And they do this to basically every artist these days. I just wanna release music, man. And I deserve better tbh. I’m tired.”
Watch Halsey’s full TikTok here:
@halsey I’m tired
♬ original sound – Halsey
2. Florence Welch
TikTok / tiktok.com
Florence Welch — of Florence + The Machine fame, of course — captioned her TikTok “The label are begging me for ‘low fi tik toks’ so here you go. pls send help ☠️ X” before starting her video with a mournful sigh.
Watch Florence’s full TikTok here:
@florence The label are begging me for ‘low fi tik toks’ so here you go. pls send help ☠️ x
♬ original sound – Florence
3. Ed Sheeran
TikTok / tiktok.com, TikTok / tiktok.com
Ed clearly doesn’t give a crapola about TikTok, and honestly, that’s become his #brand.
Watch Ed’s full TikToks here:
@edsheeran
Tag someone that likes snacks
♬ 2step (feat. Lil Baby) – Ed Sheeran
And here:
@edsheeran
Someone take this app away from me
♬ 2step – Ed Sheeran
Although Ed did really give us a lil’ treat with this one specifically:
@edsheeran
Join TikTok they said, go viral they said
♬ original sound – Ed Sheeran
4. Betty Who
TikTok / tiktok.comRecently, on the podcast Las Culturistas, Betty Who — who’s an independent artist — shared her gripes with the music industry. “There’s not a single record label in this town that will sign me. They all turned me down,” she said. “This is where it’s shifting, is [labels] go, ‘We wanna sign people with a viral hit on TikTok only.'”
“I’m not going to wake up and all of a sudden be really good at TikTok,” she said. “So me, being an old person on an app trying to force it, will not make it any better.”
5. Maggie Rogers
TikTok / tiktok.comMaggie Rogers got a good buzz goin’ and lamented her label’s demands in the bathroom of a New York City bar. She’s also been promoting her new album on her TikTok, which she’s obviously being forced to do!
Watch Maggie’s full TikTok here:
@maggierogers lol
♬ TWIA by Maggie Rogers – Maggie Rogers
6. Gavin DeGraw
TikTok / tiktok.com
The singer-songwriter made his mandatory TikTok debut by parodying his hit “I Don’t Wanna Be” and changing the lyrics to express his ✨disdain✨ for the platform.
Watch Gavin’s full TikTok here:
@gavindegraw Better late than never.
♬ original sound – Gavin DeGraw
7. FKA twigs
TikTok / tiktok.com
FKA twigs has since deleted this TikTok, but you get the idea.
8. VÉRITÉ
<
blockquote> 
TikTok / tiktok.com
Apparently, Omar Apollo’s label makes him make two TikToks a DAY!!!
Watch Omar’s full TikTok here:
@omar.apollo ♬ worst behaviour x streets – <3<>>
10. Charli XCX
TikTok / tiktok.comCharli paired this sweet visual with the audio clip, “Well, I didn’t really wanna be here, so I was made to be here, so obviously I’m just, like, wanting to get this over with and get on with my life. It’s a big inconvenience for me.”
Watch Charli’s full TikTok here:
@charlixcx Stream good ones tho !
♬ didnt want to be here – TheBaldestBitch
Oh, but since she posted that TikTok, Charli has gone on to tweet that it was just a joke…so where does this leave us…….?!??!?!?!!
<
blockquote> 
Arturo Holmes / Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
She posted this meme on her Insta story that claims some artists are faking these “my label is forcing me to make these” TikToks for “outrage clicks.”
Instagram / @skyferreiraPeople have also commented similar things on Halsey’s TikTok, but they were quick to dispute the claim.
TikTok / tiktok.comTo this comment saying this TikTok was planned, Halsey was quick to comment back: “Bruh I wish it was haha. They just said I have to post tiktoks they didn’t specifically say ‘about what’ so here I am.”
And their label had asked for SIX(!!!!!!!) TikToks, allegedly.
TikTok / tiktok.comWhile I love TikTok just as much as the next Gen Z/millennial cusp, I’ve gotta say, I don’t think musicians should be forced to make all these TikToks if they just wanna make music. Unless they want to, obvi!
And I’m not sure whether or not I think these “fuck labels” TikToks are actually just a marketing ploy from the labels themselves. What do YOU think?!
Oops. Something went wrong. Please try again later Looks like we are having a problem on the server. Are these TikToks genuine or a marketing ploy?
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But that’s just my opinion. What do you think about all of this? Let me know in the comments!
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