TikTok is adding new features to its app to allow songwriters to highlight their work. These features, which are launching in beta, include a “Songwriter” label and a new profile tab where you can showcase your music. This can help songwriters better market themselves to potential customers.
The company said that a limited number of publishing partners and songwriters have access to the new label and music news section. Songwriters and publishers who want to be part of the program will have to join a waiting list for now.
TikTok said it has surveyed more than 870 songwriters and interviewed some of them to understand their social media needs in terms of profile creation and monetization opportunities. The company also pointed to an independent survey that showed that more than half of songwriters use social media to boost their profile, using TikTok for this purpose. Bytedance-owned app developers said that the results of these surveys influenced the decision to create these features.
“We’re passionate about supporting songwriters on TikTok, which is why we created these tools to recognize and elevate songwriters and their work on our platform,” said TikTok’s global head of music publishing licensing and partnerships.
“TikTok is unique in offering songwriters the opportunity to highlight their music alongside their own content, helping them tell stories about their music, craft and life, and to raise their profile and build their audience on TikTok, just as hundreds of thousands of music creators already do.”
It’s worth noting that Spotify has been releasing features that allow songwriters to highlight their work for many years now. Last year, Tidal went beyond simply highlighting the work of songwriters and launched a tool to track their royalties and manage their works for which they hold copyrights.
Although TikTok decided to shut down its music streaming service TikTok Music last year, the platform is still important for users to discover new music and for artists to promote their tracks. Earlier this year, the company released the TikTok Artist Tool, which allows artists to track the performance of their campaigns and tracks.
