With videos limited to 20 seconds, and sometimes accelerated, Tik-Tok is turning young people's relationship with music on its head.
Tik-Tok has not only revolutionized the use of social networks, especially for young people, it is also changing social behavior, especially at concerts. Gone are the days when the crowd would sing along to a song in harmony with the artist! With Tik-tok, the moment of communion lasts just...20 seconds.
The moment was particularly embarrassing for Steve Lacy, a young American star adored by the younger generation, famous for his song Bad Habits, a worldwide hit. In the middle of a concert, as he let the audience sing along, they stopped...at the beginning of the2nd verse. Steve Lacy starts again, but to no avail.
Indeed, on Tik-Tok, with the " trends" principle, the user scrolls through numerous videos that repeat the same soundtrack, usually the chorus of a song that runs in a loop. So much so that, in the end, you only know the chorus.
Another consequence is that some music is speededup to give it a viral character. For example, Lady Gaga's song "Bloody Mary", released in 2011, recorded a real breakthrough in December 2022, reaching number 45 in the Spotify Top 50 worldwide. The reason? Fans of the Netflix series Mercredi have covered it, sped it up and used it as a trend to reproduce the dance of the show's heroine. With Tik-Tok, music undergoes the effects of fast and quick...
Jean-Benoît Harel, consultant