TikTok Introduces ‘Artist Accounts’

Seeking closer artist-fan connections, TikTok has introduced verified “Artist Accounts” offering musicians promotional tools and resources to showcase their creative process and new releases. Available to all artists who have released songs, these shop window-style accounts provide a suite of features to drive music discovery and engagement.

Central to the offering is an artist tag displayed under account names to identify musicians to the community, granted once artists upload at least four songs. A “New Release” tool, previously trialed by BTS, spotlights forthcoming tracks up to two weeks pre-release and for a month after, heightened on TikTok’s sounds discovery pages to further amplify exposure.

Additionally, a “Music Tab” compiles an artist’s full catalog with 30-second song clips and view counts in a layout reminiscent of leading streaming platforms. TikTok’s recent “Add to Music App” partnership with the likes of Spotify facilitating one-click song saves off TikTok rounds out the music-focused feature set.

Other key components of Artist Accounts include a “By Artist” pinning capability to prioritize preferred posts atop discovery, as well as “Behind the Song” offerings where musicians unpack inspirations and stories behind their creative works. Artists like Cat Burns have praised the latter in particular for forging stronger connections with fans by offering rare insight into their songwriting methodology.

The news closely follows TikTok Music’s recent international expansion into Australia, Singapore and Mexico as the platform vies to embed itself deeper into both music creation and consumption habits.

As TikTok continues marching toward its much-rumored full launch into the streaming market, the fortification of bespoke artist functionality clearly aims to secure early artist buy-in while embedding TikTok further into artist-fan interactions. By offering musicians heightened visibility, deeper data and audience insights, streamlined promotion and more, TikTok is angling not just to host music content but to become an indispensable part of online artistry itself.

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