Lil Nas X made his first huge impact on TikTok. Doja Cat owes a bunch of her fame to the app as well. Music has changed. No longer at musical artists made on radio. That hasn't been the way for years, but apps have helped give voice to performers that music streaming apps do not.
As of Sunday, TikTok is banned in the United States. The company is Chinese-owned, and the fear is that the app is acquiring data about American citizens that could be used by the Chinese government. Whether that is the case or not is not our topic here. Still, the US banned the app, at least for now, and many people who got their music fix from TikTok can no longer do that.
Musical artists could suffer as well. Lil Nas X was unknown until TikTok users discovered his sample of "Old Town Road" and he has since become a global icon. He has talent, but listeners might not have known about that talent without TikTok's format.
TikTok ban in the United States hurts music lovers
One did not have to listen to an entire song, but if they liked the snippet they heard, the listener might want to hear more. Such was the case with Lil Nas X.
Record executives also were given unlimited data for future sounds because if something took off on the app, you can bet the recording industry was going to nearly immediately jump on the trend. Maybe the music produced would have become contrived and boring, but without TikTok, we would not have heard the sample at all.
Sure, record companies can still try to mine the global data from TikTok as the app is not yet banned in most other countries. It is only officially unavailable in the US, Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan. In China, TikTok gives way to its sister app, Douyin. In other words, there is a void of information that can not be learned from what's hot on TikTok now and what isn't.
Ultimately, it is upcoming musical artists and music lovers who suffer the most. We have to revert somewhat back to older days and find music instead of it surprisingly finding us when we open an app. The number of potential success stories, such as Lil Nas X, dwindles. There is a chance the ban could be lifted, but until then, we have to wait on some unexpected sounds.