Is getting famous on TikTok worth it?

While TikTok can be leveraged to push your music out quicker, there are some drawbacks. You can miss out on loyalty money, run into label issues, and become pressured into making superficial, repetitive music.

Tik Tok offers huge promotional power. You can retain control and translate fleeting fame into durable success, but it does come with big challenges for serious musicians. The platform prioritizes what travels quickly over what’s meaningful, so you can see the biggest problem here—fame is short lived. Your song is highly likely to become known as “the Tik Tok song”, and not your song.

One of the biggest drives behind producing music is creating an extension of yourself as a human being; relaying your pain and your most beautiful experiences through music. We’ve entered the “fast food” era of music tech, and if you aren’t careful when making your choices, impatience can turn sour down the road. Why? Well, let’s think about it for a minute.

Short-lived popularity: TikTok trends and sounds quickly fade, so popularity on the platform may not translate to enduring, universal recognition of your song. The initial boost is guaranteed to fizzle fast without any kind of continuity strategy.

You’re bound by the algorithym. “Sameness” is key here. To keep up the momentum, people responding to viral videos are fed the same thing. You have to keep doing the same thing, in other words. There isn’t much room for creative evolution. A lot of Tik Tok users get trapped in a “type cast” situation; just like actors. Tik Tok wants your content, and it wants a lot of what got views the first time to keep moving. Drastic changes in your post content and the timing of posting is going to catch you in an endless trap.

Lack of royalty payments or compensation: TikTok’s licenses to use music do not always guarantee the original artists compensation or royalties for their work being promoted virally. The platform largely benefits more than creators do. Read here for more information on licensing and how to get your royalties.

Risk of overshadowing your catalog: If one song suddenly goes viral on TikTok, it could lead to that single track overshadowing the rest of your songs and body of work as an artist. This is where your song becomes “that Tik Tok song”. It’s a one hit wonder type of deal.

Lower royalties from abbreviated sound clips: Many TikTok hits only use short 15-60 second excerpts of songs as background music, leading to very marginal payouts. Fun fact: Megadeth, one of the biggest thrash metal bands of the eighties, lost out on their royalties for their song “Peace Sells” being played as the beginning intro for mTV’s Headbanger’s Ball, because the network knew exactly when to cut it off. You can only get your royalties for a song being used as a part of another creation if it lasts a particular amount of seconds.

Label issues with unauthorized usage: Record labels may file copyright claims against viral TikTok songs if the full rights were not obtained ahead of mass sharing on the platform. This can undermine sudden popularity. Seriously—read this article. It’s important.

Pressure for superficial music: The fast-moving TikTok format often rewards attention-grabbing songs with shareable dance trends rather than showcasing deeper artistry or lyricism. Quantity over quality. Just take a look at trending songs. If your musical tastes do not fall into this category, it’s just not going to take off on the Tik Tok platform.