How to Get Music on TikTok in 2023

If you're looking to master the art of creating music on TikTok, you've come to the right blog. We all know and love TikTok for its short-form videos. Over the past few years, TikTok has become an incredible source for music discovery, where new and upcoming artists can promote their music to a wider audience. As a proud TikTok Sound Partner with dozens of trending tracks in the TikTok Commercial Music Library (CML), we felt it was time to cover everything you need to know about how to get your music on TikTok in 2023.

Understanding the Importance of Music on TikTok

Music on TikTok has come a long way since the early days of lip-syncing and dance challenges on Musical.ly. Today, sounds on the platform are a mix of original content, snippets from popular songs, lo-fi tracks, sound effects, and narration. We will dive into the power it holds for musicians in a moment. As far as brands and businesses are concerned, incorporating music into your TikToks and TikTok ads plays a vital role in storytelling, sonic branding, and brand recall. In fact, according to TikTok insights recently reported by Social Media Today, "there has been a 120% increase in awareness lift for brands that use TikTok's music-driven, sound-on ad solutions." Alright... enough hype. Let's talk about how to get your music on TikTok!

Join the SAS Roster and Create Custom Music for the TikTok Commercial Music Library

As we said, we are a TikTok Sound Partner. What that means is we are an official music distributor and rights holder on the platform. Essentially, Score a Score is involved in fueling the entire musical ecosystem from artists to labels to brands. If you are a brand or business, you can select from a wide array of tracks composed by our SAS roster in the TikTok library to pair with your content. By using our tracks from the CML, we make it much easier for you to find audio to soundtrack your TikToks. It also means that you can come to us to help develop your strategy and approach on the platform!

What this partnership means for all of the talented artists reading this blog is that any song or sound that exists in our collection of tracks in the CML has the chance to get paired with major brands' TikTok campaigns. It even gives your music the potential to go viral!

Get Involved With The New TikTok Artist Program

Within the TikTok Custom Music Library, is the newly released Artist Impact Program. This program is meant to create more possibilities for artists and brands to work together. Musicians will also be able to monetize their work, which in return, gives businesses access to a world of music from the CML. The increase in artist discoverability that comes from that kind of collaboration is unparalleled. Access to this program starts with finding a distributor that's an official TikTok Sound Partner. To put it simply, and yes, we sound like a broken record now, start by joining the SAS Roster.

Strategies Beyond a Music Distribution Company

There are a handful of other strategies to help bring your music to a wider audience on TikTok. In addition to choosing the right distributor a.k.a. Score a Score, we recommend the following.

Collaborate With Other TikTok Musicians

TikTok's collaborative nature makes it an ideal platform to connect with fellow musicians. Reach out to other artists whose work resonates with yours and explore the possibility of creating duets. The more you connect with other artists in your community, the easier it is to introduce your music to a wider audience. It even helps foster creativity.

Participate in Challenges and Trends

TikTok is known for its viral challenges and trends. By participating in them, you can ride the wave of trending music and engage with a wider audience. Keep your eye on the For You Page (FYP) to stay updated on the latest challenges and trends within your niche and in general. Jumping on these trends can provide an opportunity to showcase your skills and gain exposure.

Engage With Your Audience

No matter how small, building a loyal fan base requires active engagement with your audience. Respond to comments, address questions, and show appreciation for your followers' support. TikTok's duets and stitches are great features to use to interact and respond to what your following is doing with your music. This engagement creates a sense of community, encourages user-generated content, and enhances your visibility on the platform.

Utilize Hashtags in Your Captions Effectively

Long gone are the days when TikTok had its Discover page. However, hashtags live on. When you use them right, they can be a big help in increasing your reach. At the end of each caption, we recommend choosing three niche hashtags and one broad hashtag. You don’t want to use the same hashtags every single time. Do some research and come up with a list of 30 or so tags for both your niche (for us, it’s music) and for the broader ones. Keep in mind that there are three ways you can go about finding hashtags on TikTok:

1. Do a search on TikTok on what you’re posting about i.e. custom music, and find what other related hashtags pop up.

2. See what hashtags top creators in the music community are using.

3. While scrolling through your FYP, take a look at what hashtags are used in viral videos. This will help you find broader tags.

Please note that it's essential that you do not incorporate irrelevant hashtags as it will draw in the wrong audience. 

Track Your Music's Performance

Lastly, use your analytics to your benefit. Tracking the performance of your content on a weekly and monthly basis will help you understand what is and is not working.

That's a Wrap!

From finding the right distributor to collaborating with other creators in the TikTok music community, there are tons of ways to make the most of this platform. If you are interested in learning how else Score a Score can be of service, or if you just want to say hello, email us at music@scoreascore.com. Happy scoring!