So before I say anything else, this article is the second of three parts. I set up some statistics regarding what kind of sounds I see on TikTok, but that doesn’t mean that that is what TikTok will always do. So next month, I will do the same experiment I did here to see if anything has changed. I’ll be checking to see if the TikTok algorithm is changing what kind of videos and sounds people want to hear. To refrence last month’s article, click here
There is a pretty big variety of videos one can get on their For You Page, even if they say it’s tailored “For You.” But how balanced is that variety? Do we ever get one type of sound more than another? And does this balance ever change? I don’t know the answers to all of those questions quite yet, but I do have the second part of my experiment ready to go.
The Numbers
I went to my For You page and categorized the sound of every video (excluding ads) for 125 videos. Here are the numbers:
Normal- 60 (48%)
Music- 32 (25.6%)
Meme- 24 (19.2%)
Media- 9 (7.2%)
And here are the numbers from last month:
Normal Sound: 29 (23.2%)
Music: 38 (30.4%)
Meme Sound: 28 (22.4%)
Media: 30 (24%)
Woah Okay. Hold the Phone. These numbers are Waaaay Different.
I’m not sure why, but there has been an over 100% increase in percentage of Normal (meaning audio from the actual video) videos. Music has gone down about 18%, Meme sounds have gone down about 14%, and Media (meaning audios from TV, movies, or video games) have gone down a drastic 71%! I haven’t changed the types of videos I like and interact with, so I know the controlled video setting is the same. What changed?
The types of music I saw are a lot different too. Olivia Rodrigo was obviously still popular with two videos, but Kevin MacLeod also had two videos. If you don’t know who that is, click the video below.
Familiar now?
Who are these people?
There was also a lot less recognizable music. I heard a lot of remixes and techno pop stuff I had never heard before. These songs aren’t recognizable at all; they resemble club music more than actual songs. Some of the artists names I saw on these songs were Julia Michaels, Brooksie Boi, Shovvxaa, Verzache, and Stromae.
But of course I did still see normal musical artists on the old TL. Some of these included Kendrick Lamar, Shakira, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, and Paramore.
TikTok has had a pretty big influence on the music industry lately; with sounds originating from there actually reaching the music charts. “Castaways”, a Backyardigans song that has been making the TikTok rounds recently debuted on the top 50 Spotify Viral charts both nationally and internationally. Bella Poarch, a TikToker with over 70 million followers, debuted her newest song “Build a B*tch” two months ago to what Warner Media described as “the biggest YouTube debut in history.” So while some of you may be confused why I’m writing about TikTok, I think it makes total sense. Maybe this is why TikTok is showing more music related videos than any other kind. Let’s see if this trend continues in Part 3!
