TikTok is a great platform for musicians to share their music and reach new fans. With its huge user base and creative tools, you can get your music heard by millions. In this guide, we’ll share 10 simple tips to help you promote your music on TikTok and grow your audience. Let’s get started!
1. Understand TikTok artist accounts
Hot Tip: The TikTok “For You” feed is made just for you, helping you find new music easily. Most people discover content this way.
TikTok is special because it treats musician accounts differently.
Facebook has artist accounts for musicians (you should have one), but it isn’t as good at helping people find new artists as TikTok.
Instagram has general accounts for creators but doesn’t have special accounts for musicians.
This makes TikTok a great place to share your music.
A TikTok artist account lets you:
- Control clips of your music on TikTok
- Show your music in a special tab on your profile
- Pin new songs to the top of your music tab
- See info about your audience with analytics
- Pin your video to the top of the Sound Detail pages
We’ll explain these features later. First, let’s set up your account.
2. Set up your TikTok artist account
How to Set Up Your TikTok Artist Account
Release your music with a good distributor
If you haven’t already, use a distributor that puts your music in TikTok’s audio library. When setting up your artist account, TikTok will ask you to find your music in their library to link it to your account.
For example, LANDR Distribution can put your music in all major social media audio libraries and let you control each song snippet on TikTok.
Decide if you want a second account
Some artists change their account to an artist account, but you can also create a new account if you want to keep them separate.
To create a second account, go to your profile, tap your username at the top, and then tap “Add account.”
If you used your phone number for your first account, you’ll need to use an email for the second account.
It’s best to use a separate email just to promote your music. This keeps things organized and looks more professional.
Convert to an artist account
Go to your profile and tap the three-line icon in the upper right corner to open your settings.
Tap on TikTok Studio.
Scroll down to the More Tools section and tap the Artist Hub icon.
Tap Apply Now, search for your music in TikTok’s library, and tap Claim to claim your artist profile.
Fill in the rest of the required information, submit your application, and wait for approval.
TikTok says approval can take up to 30 days.
3. Perfect Your Profile
Tips: To make your artist profile look great, getting help from a pro can make a big difference. LANDR Network is a good place to find photographers, designers, and social media experts.
Make sure your profile is complete and looks good.
While waiting for your artist account to be approved, you can start with the basics:
- A clear, eye-catching profile picture
- A short, sweet bio
- A Linktree to connect to your other online profiles
- Some posts and reposts to show you are active on the platform
Once your artist account is approved, get to know the special features of artists.
Go to the music tab on your profile and pin your latest release at the top.
You can also apply for a verification badge (blue check mark) to make your profile look more official.
But remember, getting verified depends on how well-known you are, so it might not be necessary if you’re still building your following.
4. Understand and Use TikTok Sounds
Sounds are short clips of music and other audio in TikTok’s library.
With an artist account, you can use these sounds to make your music easier to find on TikTok.
Highlight your songs’ most catchy and engaging parts when choosing snippets through your distributor.
If you haven’t focused on your snippet selection before, start doing it now!
Each sound also has a Sound Detail page.
This page shows all the TikTok posts that used that sound.
With an artist account, you can make a video with your music snippet and pin it to the top of the sound’s page.
We suggest doing this to make your music and profile easier to find through other people’s posts.
To get people to use your sounds, you’ll need to gain more followers and activity on TikTok.