Compelled TikTok creators? The ambivalent affordances of the short video app for Filipino musicians

Introduction

The independence and wellbeing of musicians as creative workers along with the fate of music as a cultural realm remain at stake. In the wake of digitalization, the recorded music industry and its related sectors underwent a major restructuring of business models while newfound optimism for the democratization of music production grew in part due to the proliferation of digital platforms that facilitated independent promotion and distribution of music (Carboni, 2014; Hesmondhalgh and Meier, 2018; Laing, 2013). But contrary to the celebratory discourses surrounding these developments, the recent changes in the music market have not led to the “flattening of the music marketplace” (Hesmondhalgh and Meier, 2018: 7). Alongside internet giants such as Apple and Google, major music companies are now, more than ever, well positioned to capitalize on the surplus of digital media content. Despite the unprecedented ways in which musicians are implicated in the industry’s entanglement with different market and technological forces (Baym, 2012; Haynes and Marshall, 2018; Hesmondhalgh and Meier, 2015; Morris, 2014), there is a paucity of works that critically examine the specific impact of different digital platforms on their experiences (Bucher and Helmond, 2017). Case in point is TikTok, a short form video app launched in 2017, which currently stands as the world’s most downloaded app (Forristal, 2022). In the Philippines, where there are roughly 35.96 million users of the app as reported in early 2022, TikTok has proven to be instrumental not just in launching the careers of aspiring pop stars but also in resuscitating the careers of those whose relevance have fizzled out (ABS-CBN News, 2020; Kemp, 2022; Palumar, 2022). Mirroring the recent trend in music industries abroad, TikTok has been observed to accelerate the speed and intensify the extent by which aspiring Filipino musicians can attain mainstream success. Lesha Liton, a 23-year old Filipino electro-pop singer and producer, enjoyed a steadily increasing popularity on YouTube and has even collaborated with international music artists (Barretto, 2021). But after deciding to release a TikTok video of her unfinished track, Lesha skyrocketed to virality and was soon signed by AWAL, a British music distribution company owned by Sony Music Entertainment (Villamonte, 2021). Liton’s experience is just one among a handful of stories involving musical artists who made a successful breakthrough because of TikTok. Needless to say, the mainstream discourse on the impact of TikTok on musicians and especially aspiring ones, are perceptibly optimistic.

Ironically, considering the centrality of music in TikTok and the buzz it continues to generate in popular music discourse (Fenwick, 2022), there has been a lack of attention toward the impact of the app on the experiences of musicians, music production, and the music industry; let alone in the context of the Global South where the use of apps like TikTok is prevalent. This study, therefore, sets out to explore the relationship between TikTok and Filipino musicians as they navigate a market that is increasingly defined by the convergence of old vanguards of the music industry as well as emergent yet powerful players in the form of digital service providers (DSPs) which include online streaming sites. Primarily, we seek to understand whether the advent of TikTok offers new opportunities for Filipino musicians to exercise autonomy in music production in the domestic context or whether they are, in fact, further coerced under the logic of global platform capitalism. Through a series of in-depth interviews and qualitative analysis of TikTok content, we first briefly identify how Filipino musicians incorporate TikTok in their performances, promotion strategies, audience relations, as well as profit-generating objectives and inquire into their motivations and experiences. Secondly, recognizing that social media is a “platform apparatus” (Van Dijck and Poell, 2013) that not only functions to mediate users’ activities but more so shape such practices, we then evaluate the extent in which the platform logic of TikTok influences the engagements of the musicians with the app. In the end, we evaluate how the affordances proffered by TikTok are impacting the experiences of Filipino musicians in terms of their artist identity, content distribution, music-making, and their experiences in navigating the local music industry.

Musicians and digital platforms

The emergence of digital platforms has doubtlessly redefined how musicians produce, distribute, and promote music (Qu et al., 2023; Rogers, 2013). Social media platforms, for instance, have facilitated more intimate collaborative relationships between musicians and their audiences (Haynes and Marshall, 2018). Nevertheless, music researchers have also revealed the double-edged nature of the apparent platformization of music (Qu et al., 2023). Whereas digital platforms afford musicians with prodigious ways to connect with audiences, it has also intensified expectations on musicians to engage in the incessant management of their online presence as well as partake in sustained “relationship building”, all of which could be detrimental to their wellbeing (Baym, 2012: 288; Morris, 2014). Some scholars have also begun to evaluate the extent in which digital platforms are compromising the autonomy of musicians. On one hand, the digitization of the industry has led to the loosened grip of traditional gatekeepers in the production and distribution of music (Hesmondhalgh and Meier, 2015). But on the other hand, it has also entailed a kind of arrangement wherein self-releasing artists end up absorbing all the financial risk entailed by “recording,” “publicity,” “promotion,” and “touring” (Hesmondhalgh and Meier, 2015: 11).

In the context of the Philippine music industry, digital media platforms are being touted for its potential to provide musical artists with the means to bypass industry gatekeepers and even do away with the usual middlemen (Beltran, 2018). TikTok is only one among the countless apps that have emerged in the last few years that have become popular among Filipino musicians. Yet as previously mentioned, there is a perceivable gap in the study of digital platforms in general and music especially in the Global South context; resulting in a significantly limited understanding of the experiences of musicians in relation to these digital infrastructures. While uploading audio content may seem fairly easy, existing studies have demonstrated that users must become adept in video editing if they wish to leverage on the app to gain fame and visibility (Abidin, 2020). Apart from technical know-how, users must also be wary of how their TikTok videos can encourage “imitative behaviors” to increase chances of going viral (Zulli and Zulli, 2020: 15). Meanwhile, to accommodate TikTok’s video limit, which is currently 10 minutes, as well as enhance a song’s suitability for dance challenges, musicians have been observed to shorten the duration as well as rearrange bridges and choruses of their music tracks (Zulli and Zulli, 2020).

While these observations hint at the impact of TikTok on music production, we still understand very little regarding the impact of the app on the career-related experiences of musicians. These concerns are made even more pertinent considering the criticisms levied by critical platform scholars against these digital infrastructures. In particular, the “networked mobile personalization” enabled by digital platforms has been linked with increasingly sophisticated forms of surveillance (Fuchs and Trottier, 2015: 129; Hesmondhalgh and Meier, 2018: 1556). Likened to Foucault’s notion of panoptic surveillance, social media platforms’ algorithm can similarly impose pressures and limitations on users’ behaviors and subjectivities (Bucher, 2012). Yet instead of being regulated by the awareness that one is constantly under watch, users are compelled to participate unabatingly through the “threat of invisibility” (Bucher, 2012: 1171). Relating these notions to the pressures faced by musicians today, they may very well be obliged to participate actively and consistently on digital platforms through a series of prescribed actions if they wish to maintain their popularity on these channels. Such arrangements pose serious questions concerning the agency and wellbeing of music workers.

Despite having a mature and developed music industry as evidenced by the wide range of record labels both international, domestic, and independent alongside organizations that ensure professionalism and uphold sectoral interests within the local music sector (Letts, 2003), Filipino musicians face numerous issues that point to the precarity of their labor conditions. Among these include the absence of the following: “standardized compensation and wages”; “health and life insurance due to the non-classification of music as a regular profession”; public venues and spaces for musical practice and performance; formal and stable job opportunities; and most importantly, any agency that monitors the use of local music for commercial purposes which often result in frequent violations of intellectual property rights (Letts, 2003: 5). Amidst polarized claims that either frame TikTok as a panacea to the woes of struggling music workers or reduce the platform as no more than another capitalist machination that subjugate musicians, this study aims to understand the impact of TikTok on Filipino musicians more broadly with a keen focus on its implications on their labor conditions.

Affordances as “sites of contestation”

Observations about digital platforms are oftentimes approached from a top down perspective (Schellewald, 2021). As such, we intend to foreground how the engagements of Filipino musicians with TikTok, may on one hand compel them to ascribe to certain behaviors and norms, while on the other, reveal a set of affordances that result from their attempts to work around these challenges in order to make the app useful for their objectives. Acknowledging that the concept of affordances is ideologically loaded, our use of the concept here recognizes that affordances not only refer to the technical features of digital platforms but also, the wide range of functions that arise from the constitutive role that users play in determining how these technologies can further serve their needs depending on their specific socio-cultural contexts and agenda (Jones, 2020; McVeigh-Schultz and Baym, 2015). Adopting this conceptualization enables us to consider the actualization of TikTok affordances by users as potential “sites of contestation” between them and the platform (Jones, 2020: 281). We also draw our approach from an emergent perspective within the field of platform studies that centers on the processes by which platform users resist and work around the limitations and challenges they encounter within and through digital platforms.

Like all technologies operating upon digital software, TikTok bears a “hidden substrate operating out of view” (Gehl, 2015: 7). While digital platforms exhibit obvious features and even provide informational guides for users to supposedly make the most of its services, the way they operate can never be fully knowable to us. “Fluid, adaptable, and mutable,” platforms are black boxes with an ontogenetic nature (Bucher, 2012: 1172). As a result, platform users have been observed to come up with algorithmic-related theories that “explain the outcomes, effects, or consequences” of their actions on these technological systems (Karizat et al., 2021: 5). These “folk theories” about how the algorithms work, can influence user subjectivities and guide their consequent behavior, intentions, and reactions on these platforms. Viewing digital platforms as “sociotechnical systems” that circumscribe user agency and representation, the development of algorithmic folk theories are regarded by some scholars as a form of “algorithmic resistance” (Karizat et al., 2021: 4). This form of resistance is characterized not by a denial of the platform algorithms’ power but rather, an acknowledgment that one has to “operate within their framework” to achieve alternative ends (Velkova and Kaun, 2019 as cited in Karizat et al., 2021: 19). Informed by these concepts, we set out to evaluate how TikTok is implicated in the experiences of Filipino musicians. Just like the brick and mortar institutions that foster the practices and subjectivities of music artists, digital platforms have become important sites to explore what it means to be a musician.

A methodological note

This paper draws from in-depth interviews with 11 Filipino musicians, held between December 2021 and February 2023. All the interviews were conducted online through the video call function of the Zoom app. The interviews lasted somewhere between 1 and 2.5 hours. In setting out to examine the affordances proffered by TikTok for Filipino musicians alongside the tensions that emerge through these experiences, we asked our respondents to discuss their usage of TikTok in relation to their music career. To obtain a comprehensive understanding of these practices, we focused on inquiring into the specific features of the app that they use and the motivations which informed their decisions to utilize the available functions. The respondents, which range from well-known musicians who are signed with a major label to aspiring independent musicians, were also asked to discuss in detail the outcomes of such engagements with the app on their music career as well as their opinions toward the app’s impact on musicians and the industry in the broader sense. As we draw perspectives from critical platform studies, it was also imperative to probe into the extent in which the respondents felt compelled to adhere to the social media logic of TikTok. Drawn together, this form of qualitative interviewing provided us the knowledge that are both situated and contextual to the experiences of the respondents (Mason, 2012). In the following section of the paper, the data culled ultimately demonstrate the ambivalence of Filipino musicians’ relationship with TikTok as characterized by their experiences and motivations in using the app.

TikTok’s affordances for Filipino musicians

For one respondent who preferred to be anonymized (February 2023, personal communication), an introverted 23-year old architecture student who had lofty dreams of being a musician, TikTok served as an outlet to rant about her personal life, create fan content for South Korean pop group BTS, and occasionally cover songs for fellow users. But after deciding to release a song she had penned with her brother, she experienced firsthand the power of the platform to make an aspiring musician’s wildest dreams come true. A month after her song went viral on the app and racked 100,000 streams on Spotify, several major record labels in the Philippines began contacting her within the same week. She eventually struck a deal with one of the country’s top labels and now enjoys all the privileges and resources afforded to signed musical talents. This includes a dedicated artist and repertoire team as well as varied forms of support to pursue artistic endeavors she deem necessary in relation to the promotion and production of her music. But like any other overnight success story, her experience starkly differs from the lived realities of other Filipino musicians whom we have interviewed for this study. It is the engagements of these musicians with TikTok that we mostly turn our attention to.

With slight variations, TikTok as an app in the Philippines affords content creators an arsenal of technical features to create dynamic short form videos. Through the in-app camera, TikTok users can instantly record a video, adjust its speed, flip the perspective between the phone’s front and back camera, use filters, and add audio effects, just to name a few. These features animate the dynamic engagement between musicians, who utilize the app to produce content for their career-related objectives, and other TikTok users who can opt to participate in the reproduction of the former’s content. Like other social media apps, TikTok bears the “Comment” function, but comments can take the form of a new video or a custom sticker, which can then be circulated to extend the life span of the original video and expand on its creative form. Particularly for the Filipino musicians interviewed in this study, there are two platform-specific functions of TikTok that are often tied to music production and audience engagement. One feature is the “Duet,” a co-producing function that allows users to place their own original video next to one that has been previously shared on TikTok in a “side-by-side” layout (TikTok, 2023). It also automatically tags the TikTok creator one chooses to make a duet with. The respondents often take advantage of the “Duet” function to promote new songs. A common strategy employed by the musicians involves posting a subtitled video of them singing their new song and leaving out portions of it unsung so that other TikTok users can use the function to sing along. There is also the “Stitch” function which musicians use to get people to engage with their content. Usually, the musicians would create a video featuring a portion of their song to encourage other users to add their take on the original content. During the early days of promoting his track entitled “New Home,” independent musician and producer Martti Franca (2021, personal communication), invited users to “stitch” before and after photos, with the song as the background music, to show how their lives changed for the better because of a pet, a friend, or a significant other.

Apart from the platform-specific features of TikTok, the musicians we interviewed deem the app’s algorithm recommender system itself as particularly helpful in terms of exposure. As expressed by the TikTok pop star we spoke to,

It is a common sentiment for us Filipinos that we don’t get the opportunity to even try and pursue our actual dream careers, especially in music. Everyday there’s a new artist and most of them are backed by labels. It’s almost miraculous for someone who doesn’t have connections to penetrate the music industry. TikTok became my doorway. (2023, personal communication)

It is no secret that music streaming platforms share a close relationship between major record labels and not to mention, hire music curators and professional playlisters – a dynamic which exert substantial influence on what kinds of artist and music gets more exposure on these channels (Dhaenens and Burgess, 2019; Qu et al., 2023). Privy to this arrangement, the respondents believe that TikTok levels the playing field as it pushes content both at a random and based on what users are interested in. As reiterated by Joey Santos, a music producer and DJ, “It doesn’t matter if you have 20,000 followers or 500 followers. If you put something out that is within a specific kind of categorical interest, there’s a higher probability of it being shown to that audience” (2022, personal communication). This more “democratic” notion of getting their music across to their audiences is what informs the musicians’ motivation to continue using TikTok.

Musicians as compelled TikTokers

While the respondents acknowledge the instrumentality of TikTok as one among several platforms they utilize to manage their careers, a common sentiment shared by the musicians is the nagging feeling that they need to be on TikTok. Maintaining social media platforms let alone a TikTok account is not compulsory. But it seems that the popular adoption of TikTok by the local music industry have turned it into fetters for musicians. On the one hand, there are external pressures. The respondents have mentioned that when they collaborate with commercial brands, they are often requested to create different content for every platform they are on, including TikTok. On the other hand, the need to be TikTok savvy seems to be rooted in the internalized capitalist ethos of entrepreneurial spirit among musicians. These conditions can be viewed as outcomes of the institutionalization of social media in different cultural industries (Haynes and Marshall, 2018). And it seems that the burden of managing all these platforms – which include investing significant time to research and learn about the app through grueling trial and error processes – are relegated to the musicians themselves especially those who are unsigned with a record label.

The respondents often cited having spent somewhere between a few weeks to several months just to figure out the technical aspects of the app all the while struggling to grasp TikTok culture. For these reasons, some of the respondents remain reluctant to truly explore TikTok. Though she recognizes the potential of TikTok to expand her fan base as well as push her to explore new avenues of creative expression, Reese Lansangan, a renowned independent musician, only maintains her account because some of the brands that reach out to her for paid collaborations occasionally request content that are specifically made for TikTok (2022, personal communication). Ultimately, the musicians lament the fact that the growing pressure to gain prominence on apps like TikTok drains them and ultimately takes away their time, focus, and energy from the creative part of their profession (Lucas, 2022, personal communication). As the actual music making becomes a minute part of their experience, some of the respondents claim that they need a separate person to manage their TikTok accounts. The musicians we spoke to are very much aware of the bind they find themselves in as some of them compromise aspects of their values and even energy just to be on TikTok.

The compromised music making process

A salient concern that emerged during the discussions with the musicians was concerning the type of content they needed to produce for the app. In the most basic sense, content for TikTok simply has to adhere to its “organizing principles” which means they just need to upload videos that conform to the app’s duration limit (Abidin, 2020; Zulli and Zulli, 2020). However, the dominant communicative forms, which refer to the “platform-specific languages and aesthetic styles” found on TikTok foregrounds comedic, interactive, and informative content that encourage playful and gamified ways of creating content that in turn trigger the overall circulation of content within the app (Schellewald, 2021: 1439, 1446–1449). Some of the musicians we interviewed were persuaded to adopt these comedic and playful forms because they were concerned with going viral. They also justified this approach to creating TikTok content by saying that their brand image is really tinged with a comedic element which they try to communicate through TikTok. “As a group, we are kind of stupid. There are many times when we do things for fun that really don’t make sense. So that’s the brand of comedy we have,” enthuses Raymond (2022, personal communication), who plays bass for Lola Amour, a local pop rock outfit who is well regarded for their TikTok content.

However, some of the musicians are also adamant in setting boundaries when it comes to the content they produce. In spite of dance challenges being popular on the app, one of the respondents said that they would never do something like that. Yet it seems that musicians on TikTok are not only faced with the dilemma of creating ancillary content that compromise their artist identity. It comes as no surprise that musicians and producers have begun to consider platform-specific characteristics in the creation of songs (Alexander, 2020). After all, the same could be said about the way the radio impacted popular music (Weisbard, 2015). However, a common theme that emerged during the interviews with the musicians was a debate about whether they could ever consider making music with TikTok in mind. Many of the musicians raised the issue of autonomy in their music making process and generally disproved of allowing, not just record labels, but more so an app to influence the way they make music. But while most of the respondents were completely closed off to the idea, some held a more liberal disposition. Martti shares that he has already begun to consider how his songs will be used on TikTok especially during the post-production stage (2022, personal communication). A key aspect of tailor fitting music to the platform is related to how a track can complement visual transitions on TikTok videos. Perhaps even more suitable if the song also prompts certain challenges or actions. However, other respondents consider the idea of writing songs for TikTok as a distortion to the way that songs are traditionally produced. In fact, even the indie pop artist who got her break through TikTok and released tracks that she herself co-produced with her audiences on TikTok, frowns upon the idea of making songs for the sake of TikTok virality. She shares, “The opportunity to write a song to express your thought or feelings is lost. If I’m going to make a song for the sake of being viral, it’s such a waste because I could be doing so much more” (2023, personal communication).

An independent musician we spoke to shared her experience of producing a song for TikTok because a brand she collaborated with had requested it (2022, personal communication). Describing it as a fun exercise in songwriting, she seems to uncritically accept the fact that it is simply the trend. Sharing a similar opinion, a bassist from a local alternative rock band (2023, personal communication) recognizes that music making, historically speaking, has always been shaped by different media forms and technological advancements. Meanwhile, DJ Joey Santos (2022, personal communication) asserts that it is rather naïve to think that making music is done in a vacuum. Evidently, the musicians were divided on the extent in which they could compromise the music making process to adhere to trends or in this case, TikTok. Most of them admit that TikTok has become an important platform to increase their market reach and have been found to be willing to compromise certain aspects of their artistic identity and creative process.

Navigating TikTok through “algorithmic folk theories”

A recurring theme that surfaced from the experiences of the respondents was the struggle of figuring out how TikTok works. To become adept in using the app to create content is one thing but understanding how to make the app work to achieve their objectives is wholly another issue. The challenge faced by musicians in making TikTok work for them stems from the fact that algorithms that govern platforms such as TikTok remain inherently opaque for its users (Karizat et al., 2021). As a result, musicians often resort to developing “intuitive, informal theories” that we have previously referred to as algorithmic folk theories (Devito et al., 2017 as cited in Karizat et al., 2021: 5). These in turn, inform the way they behave and perceive outcomes of their usage of the app. Respondents have discussed several algorithmic folk theories that they are more inclined to regard as true and adopt when they use TikTok while also paying heed to the fact that these are mere conjectures. The musicians note that TikTok is a content-centered platform wherein people are looking to learn something new or be entertained.

As musicians, these often involve coming up with content that has some form of call-to-action in the form of challenges. In the event that the musicians are simply posting announcements of new song releases, projects, and music-related updates, these videos must be creative, short, and choppy in terms of editing style. Some of them believed that content which appeals to users’ sentimentality also performs well on the app. During the early days of the pandemic, Raymond and Renzo decided to post a series of their band’s live performances with captions that relate to the nostalgia of live gigs and performances (2021, personal communication). At one point, a TikTok video using the audio track from one of their TikTok videos even went viral. Another theory that the respondents mentioned was regarding the use of TikTok’s in-app features. There is a shared assumption that the more they use in-app features, the more likely it is that the algorithms will push one’s content to more users. While this theory seemed to lean toward the more speculative end, the musicians acknowledge that frequency of posting is close to guaranteeing better numbers on the app. As a result, most of the respondents try to post TikTok content as religiously as they could. This compulsion to be an active user on the platform echoes what Bucher (2012) has referred to as the participatory subjectivity that platforms enforce upon users, especially for those who aspire to maintain or increase their popularity and visibility on these spaces (p. 1175).

It is noteworthy to mention that all these folk algorithmic theories have been accumulated from a series of trial and error by the respondents themselves. This means putting in considerable time and effort into learning about TikTok. One of the respondents claim that it took him almost half a year of using the app daily to figure out how they can begin to use it for his band’s music page (Renzo, 2021, personal communication). Luckily for some, the benefit of working as professional producers and music marketers gave them the skills and industry know-how to play around with the perceived algorithm of the app. Yet on the other end of the spectrum, you have aspiring musicians with limited resources who are left to tackle TikTok on an unequal footing. On the whole, TikTok appears to have engendered an atmosphere in which musicians are pressured to excel on the platform. This creates a condition that leaves those who are unable to compete, feeling inferior and powerless.

Dealing with “multiple subordination” in the age of TikTok

In the end, the musicians we spoke to had tempered expectations about TikTok. They appear to know better than to pin their hopes on an app. But it cannot be denied that the primary motivation for them to bravely chart the TikTok waters is the hope that they can utilize it to prop up their careers. It is true that there were local cases of musicians who have gone viral and famous overnight, but a more grounded exploration revealed that TikTok has rather served as a means for musicians – both aspiring and established, independent or signed – to manage their artist identity, engage with audiences, expand their reach, and promote their music without much help from traditional music industry gatekeepers and professionals. Furthermore, the benefit of platforms like TikTok for musicians who wish to self-manage has become all the more relevant during the height of the COVID pandemic lockdowns wherein all live venues closed down and appearances on traditional media came to a halt. Nevertheless, contrary to the inflated claim that TikTok is an egalitarian platform where alternative spaces and practices for music production seamlessly emerge, one cannot simply overlook the fact that it remains to be a corporate infrastructure that commands its very own logic.

Whereas high control and regulation defined the way performers and celebrities managed their careers and engaged with audiences (Marwick and Boyd, 2011), digital platforms like TikTok have engendered a more independent yet precarious culture of creative work marked by increased self-entrepreneurial pressures and relational expectations (Baym, 2012; Morris, 2014). Far from being liberated from the longstanding issues that plagued the music industry which manifests in commodification and exploitation, similar concerns are being raised as musicians grapple with the increasing institutionalization of social media management. These concerns have already begun to take root as evidenced by the marked reversion of musicians to labels not just in the context of global music centers but also in the Global South. The sentiment is well captured by Martti Franca who revealed that a lot of his friends who were independent decided to sign with a label in the past 2 years because it has become incredibly overwhelming to self-manage their music careers (2021, personal communication). On top of managing administrative tasks, he says that being a musician today means you also need to be a social media content creator and manager.

This new arrangement in which musicians find themselves in can very well be described as a “multiple subordination” by a confluence of corporate entities that constrain and hamper the wellbeing of creative workers. While musicians are given a choice not to engage with major labels or platforms, oftentimes they are compelled to do so because this has become the nature of the game. When they do decide to play along, they immediately have to internalize and adhere to the top-down logics of both corporate music companies and digital platforms such as TikTok. Quite often, the musicians are also on other social media apps like Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and/or music streaming platforms, which altogether form multiple channels of possibility but also multiple forms of voluntary subordination. Yet as the findings in this study have shown, it is not as if the musicians blindly submit to these forces nor are they without agency. In most cases, the respondents demonstrated a strong sense of awareness about the current challenges that they face and are actively discerning their corresponding actions. When forced to choose between their values and personal convictions as artists, they demonstrated a commitment to stand by their principles and sentiments.

There are also musicians who are more adamant and skeptical about the extent in which they are willing to compromise for TikTok. Reese’s stance represents a more radical take, wherein she claims that she can choose not to be on TikTok and can even abandon her account any time she wishes to (2022, personal communication). While she recognizes the value of developing her presence on TikTok, she is taking her time to truly assess whether doing so is going to be beneficial not only to her career but for her wellbeing as well. For self-preservation, Reese says that she never looks at her social media analytics as it affects her in a negative way (2022, personal communication). As our findings demonstrate, the creative labor that Filipino musicians engage in is not at a lower risk than in the past. But time and again, creative workers demonstrate their ingenuity when faced with new forms of constraint, control, and domination. They are able to develop new strategies and tactics to navigate their predicament in a way that enables them to elude unwarranted arrangements. While the relationship that the musicians in this study share with TikTok appear to be ambivalent, the musicians remain optimistic about their careers and the direction that the local music scene is headed.

Conclusion: the ambivalence of TikTok use for Filipino musicians

The musicians’ narratives have illustrated that TikTok has become an essential platform that they can strategically utilize to attain a number of objectives concerning their career. The issue is whether TikTok as a social media platform, other than digital music platforms (e.g. Spotify, iTunes, etc.), would become another monopolizing, intensified capitalist force that limit music creation (e.g. Meier and Manzerolle, 2019). As revealed in this study, the features and general platform logic on TikTok undeniably prescribe a standardized format and dictate the type of content that musicians must create and share on the platform. However, it is not simply a matter of compulsion as the respondents have demonstrated their own agency in upholding their self-imposed boundaries. Moreover, they have also demonstrated the ability to pre-empt the logics of the platform and instead appropriate its use to achieve their objectives. Whereas the dominant social media logic that appears to govern TikTok is one that centers around the mimetic process, whereby users are compelled to imitate and replicate content (Zulli and Zulli, 2020), the experiences of Filipino musicians in creating content on TikTok is characterized by an astute ability to strategize upon their content creation processes with a discerning regard for what is popular on the app. As opposed to being preoccupied on what is trending, which is an observed behavior among TikTok content creators seeking to attain high visibility and virality (Abidin, 2020), the musicians are more concerned with creating content that resonates with their own identity. While they do aspire for virality, it is not motivated by the sheer purpose of going viral, but rather, the desire to have their music reach as many people as possible.

Filipino musicians do recognize that TikTok is a relatively “democratic” platform that levels the playing field for content creators but they ultimately struggle to fully maximize the potential of TikTok. At times, the musicians were inclined to develop “algorithmic folk theories” not only to figure out how to use the app but also, to contest the limitations of the platform and impose upon their own objectives unto the system to realize a range of affordances (Karizat et al., 2021: 5). This demonstrates the capacity of the musicians to override TikTok’s platform logic. Nonetheless, the relationship between musicians and TikTok remains to be characterized by ambivalence in many respects. A common sentiment that afflict musicians were the mental stress and physical burnout that resulted from the added burden of having to maintain their presence on TikTok. Traditionally, musicians are expected to wear multiple hats as they juggle numerous responsibilities beyond music making (i.e. music promotion and marketing, bookings, accounting). While being signed with a record label can alleviate some of these responsibilities, musicians are still obligated to attend to other duties outside of music. These days, adding to this litany of obligations is the need to be well-versed in the use of different social media platforms such as TikTok.

In the case of the Philippines, where musicians remain constrained by the operation of major music labels – as it is in other major markets (Letts, 2003) – TikTok disrupts the convention of music sharing and consumption in ways that empower musicians to sidestep the traditional hurdles of the music industry. But while it may seem that TikTok functions as an alternative cultural space for music, we argue that aside from the capitalist constraints imposed by music corporations, TikTok’s prevalence can also be viewed as a secondary capitalist machination that musicians are compelled to engage with. It is difficult at this point to comment on the generalizability or uniqueness of these findings as there are currently limited research-based insights concerning the impact of TikTok on the experiences of musicians in different geographic and cultural contexts. At the very least, our findings, which markedly demonstrate the capacity of musicians to exercise agency in their dealings with an influential platform such as TikTok, appear to mirror the observations of other researchers albeit concerning the interactions of musicians with other digital platforms such as Facebook, blogs, or even music streaming platforms. Subsequent studies on the experiences of musicians in other countries in relation to TikTok would be necessary to make any comparative claims. At best, this study articulates how the increasing platformization of music manifests in the way independent and signed musicians alike are made to vie for audience attention on technological systems that require them to adhere to a particular set of logics. But contrary to celebratory perspectives, musicians do not start on the same line, as those with access to more resources are still expected to gain more from these arrangements. More than ever, musicians are demanded to acquaint themselves to a new set of expectations if they wish to realize the affordances of digital platforms like TikTok.