tiktok告诉我们关于音乐行业的未来

For nearly a decade, the rise of music streaming services has transformed the music business, and the algorithms they employ have forever altered the way we discover and consume music. Now, the meteoric rise of TikTok is set to usher in a new collaborative vision for the future of music. Furthermore, the changes we are witnessing in the music industry today may be harbingers for the future of other media sectors as well.

F或近十年的音乐流服务的兴起改变了音乐产业，以及他们所使用的算法已经永远地改变了我们发现和消费音乐的方式。 现在，TikTok的Swift崛起将为音乐的未来带来新的合作愿景。 此外，我们今天在音乐行业所看到的变化也可能预示着其他媒体行业的未来。

算法消费使音乐商品化 (Algorithmic Consumption Commodifies Music)

To fully understand TikTok’s impact on the music industry, we have to start with where the industry stands today. Now that the music industry is nearly a decade into the streaming era, the growing influence of the streaming services’ algorithms over music discovery and consumption has been a subject of increasing interest and study. Similar to the way news consumption has been reshaped by the algorithmic feeds that Facebook and Twitter employ to maximize engagement, the overwhelming decision paralysis of choosing what to listen to, a side effect of suddenly having unlimited access to millions of songs at our fingertips, is mostly mitigated by entrusting our music discovery to curated playlists and algorithmic recommendations.

为了充分了解TikTok对音乐行业的影响，我们必须从当今行业的现状入手。 如今，音乐行业已进入流媒体时代近十年了，流媒体服务的算法对音乐发现和消费的影响越来越大，这已成为人们日益 关注和研究的主题。 类似于Facebook和Twitter为最大程度地参与而采用的算法提要来改变新闻消费的方式，选择收听内容的压倒性的决策瘫痪，突然无所不能地访问指尖数百万首歌曲的副作用是：主要是通过将我们的音乐发现委托给精选的播放列表和算法推荐来缓解。

As a result, an intriguing paradox emerges: as our playlists become more individually customized than ever, our music taste somehow evolves to feel less personal. Prior to the streaming era, music discovery predicated on mass media (i.e. radio and MTV) and word-of-mouth recommendations wereas conducive to producing monocultural hits while also emphasizing personal agency in curating music collections, as demanded by the cost of purchasing physical and digital copies.

结果，出现了一个有趣的悖论：随着我们的播放列表变得比以往更个性化，我们的音乐品味以某种方式演变为变得不那么个人化。 在流媒体时代之前，以大众媒体(即广播和MTV)为​​基础的音乐发现和口耳相传的建议有利于产生单文化的流行歌曲，同时也强调了个人代理机构在策划音乐收藏方面的要求，这是购买实体唱片和唱片的成本所要求的。数字副本。

As our playlists become more individually customized than ever, our music taste somehow evolves to feel less personal.

随着我们的播放列表变得比以往更个性化，我们的音乐品味以某种方式演变为感觉不到个人风格 。

In the streaming era, however, ownership of music has given way to subscription-based access, which dramatically decreases the upfront costs and efforts required to build a personal music collection. Effectively, nearly all recorded music in the world has become the default music library for everyone, which inherently encourages exploration and casual listening. We own nothing but our playlists, which are ostensibly tailor-made for us, yet heavily influenced by algorithms. This erosion of personal stakes and agency in music consumption has made music less a part of our personal identities and more of a digital commodity, for better and for worse.

但是，在流媒体时代，音乐的所有权已被基于订阅的访问所取代，这大大降低了建立个人音乐收藏所需的前期成本和精力。 实际上，世界上几乎所有录制的音乐都已成为每个人的默认音乐库，这从本质上鼓励探索和随意聆听。 除了播放列表，我们一无所有，这些播放列表表面上是为我们量身定制的，但受到算法的影响很大。 音乐消费中个人利益和代理机构的这种侵蚀使音乐越来越少成为我们个人身份的一部分，而更多地成为数字商品。

The commodification of music is a direct result of democratized access to recorded music led by the streaming model, which, in turn, shifted the point of monetization to accessing live music. Touring has become the main revenue stream for the music industry, for concerts and music festivals provide an in-person experience that has yet to be commodified by digital distribution.

音乐的商品化是由流媒体模型导致的对录制音乐的民主访问的直接结果，这反过来又将货币化的点转移到了访问现场音乐。 巡回演出已成为音乐行业的主要收入来源 ，因为音乐会和音乐节提供的亲身体验尚未通过数字发行而实现。

The commodification of music is a direct result of democratized access to recorded music, which, in turn, shifted the point of monetization to accessing live music.

音乐的商品化是对录制音乐进行民主化访问的直接结果，这反过来又将货币化点转移到了访问现场音乐。

That being said, with COVID-19 putting the experiential economy on pause, the music industry now has more incentive than ever to work out a way to digitally distribute live performances. Spotify, for example, is reportedly developing a “virtual event” feature to alert fans of upcoming virtual shows and enable them to book tickets. In addition, some indie musicians turned to live streaming as a way to recreate live performances and generate income. Recognizing this growing market demand, Twitch, in collaboration with SoundCloud and Bandsintown, is courting musicians by expediting their path to achieve “Affiliate” status on Twitch, which unlocks monetization tools such as subscriptions and the ability to receive tips. SoundCloud is also launching its own slate of original live programming on Twitch. Some musicians have turned to platforms like Patreon to provide fans with exclusive content for a monthly subscription. While such forms of direct monetization are still in nascent stages of development, they offer a glimpse into the future where a hybrid model for selling live music is possible.

话虽这么说，但由于COVID-19暂停了体验经济，音乐行业现在比以往任何时候都更有动力找到一种数字化现场表演的方式。 例如， 据报道 ，Spotify正在开发“虚拟事件”功能，以提醒粉丝即将到来的虚拟表演，并使他们能够预订门票。 此外，一些独立音乐人转而使用实时流媒体，以重现现场表演并产生收入。 Twitch意识到了这一不断增长的市场需求，与SoundCloud和Bandsintown合作，通过加快在Twitch上实现“会员”身份的途径来吸引音乐家，从而解锁了订阅等货币化工具和接收提示的功能。 SoundCloud也将在Twitch上发布自己的原始现场编程 。 一些音乐家已经转向Patreon之类的平台 ，向粉丝提供按月订阅的独家内容。 尽管这种直接货币化形式仍处于发展的初期阶段，但它们为将来提供了一种可能的混合形式，用于销售现场音乐。

Marked by a high level of differentiation, live performances demand a much higher level of personal interest and engagement from listeners than commodified consumption via streaming. This means a sense of personal agency needs to be reintroduced into music consumption to form distinguished affinity with artists that underscores the value of attending their live performances. In other words, most people would only consider paying to see the music acts that they care a lot about. When most music consumption is driven by nebulous algorithmic recommendations, it becomes harder for the music industry to monetize through live performance.

与众不同的是，现场表演要求听众的个人兴趣和参与度要高于通过流媒体进行的商业化消费。 这意味着需要将个人代理感重新引入音乐消费中，以与艺人形成独特的亲和力，从而凸显出参加他们的现场表演的价值。 换句话说，大多数人只会考虑花钱看他们很在意的音乐表演。 当大多数音乐消费是由模糊的算法建议所驱动时，音乐行业就很难通过现场表演来获利。

音乐的民主共创 (Democratized Co-Creation of Music)

Through this lens, the rise of TikTok and its impact on the music industry point to an interesting direction where music creation also becomes democratized. As a key ingredient in most TikTok videos, music underpins many memes that originate from TikTok and spread across the internet. After all, TikTok started as a lip-syncing app. Much has been written on the hit-making power of TikTok — one reporter aptly dubbed it “guerrilla radio for the smartphone generation.” Yet, one oft-overlooked aspect of its growing influence on music is the involvement of user participation at a mass scale, which injects a much-needed sense of personal agency back into music consumption without truly undermining algorithm’s influence.

从这个角度来看，TikTok的兴起及其对音乐产业的影响指出了一个有趣的方向，音乐创作也因此变得民主化。 作为大多数TikTok视频中的关键成分，音乐是源自TikTok并在互联网上传播的许多模因的基础。 毕竟，TikTok最初是一个口型同步应用程序。 很多已经被写上了命中的制定权的TikTok的-一个记者形象地将其称为 “游击收音机智能手机的一代”。 然而，其对音乐影响力不断增长的一个经常被忽视的方面是大规模的用户参与，这在不真正破坏算法影响的情况下，将一种非常需要的个人代理感注入了音乐消费。

One aspect of TikTok’s influence on music is the involvement of user participation at scale, which injects a sense of personal agency back into music consumption.

TikTok对音乐的影响的一个方面是用户的大规模参与，这将一种个人代理的感觉重新注入了音乐消费中。

While there is a sense of agency in creating personal playlists on streaming services despite the influence of algorithmic recommendations, TikTok is granting listeners a higher level of agency by giving them a platform to express their interpretations of any given song, Through TikTok, music creation becomes a living process, as published tracks get constantly remixed and repurposed to create a myriad of iterations, mostly only differing in visuals but different enough to be entertaining. Some digital-savvy musicians have leveraged TikTok to directly involve fans in their music creation. For example, Charlie Puth has repeatedly challenged fans to come up with lyrics for melodies he composed by using TikTok’s “duet” feature.

尽管有算法建议的影响，虽然在流媒体服务上创建个人播放列表时有一种代理感，但TikTok通过为听众提供一个表达对任何给定歌曲的解释的平台，从而使收听者具有更高的代理权，通过TikTok，音乐创作成为一个活生生的过程，随着出版的曲目不断地被混合和重新设计以创建无数次迭代，大多数只是视觉效果不同，但又足够有趣。 一些精通数字音乐的音乐家已经利用TikTok直接将粉丝吸引到他们的音乐创作中。 例如，查理·普斯(Charlie Puth) 反复向歌迷挑战 ，想出他使用TikTok的“ duet”功能创作的旋律歌词。

In TikTok’s universe, the key metric for measuring a song’s popularity is no longer how many times people have streamed it, but rather how many users have used it to create their own videos. On TikTok, memes are the new pop stars, and labels have little say in which ones will break out. Users are simultaneously consumers and co-creators, contributing to TikTok’s music hype machine as they consume and create content.

在TikTok的世界中，衡量歌曲受欢迎程度的关键指标不再是人们流过歌曲的次数，而是有多少用户使用它来制作自己的视频。 在TikTok上，模因是新的流行歌星，唱片公司几乎没有发言权说明将爆发哪些明星。 用户同时是消费者和共同创造者，他们在消费和创作内容时为TikTok的音乐炒作机做出了贡献。

The rise of streaming transferred the hit-making power from mass media to algorithms; now TikTok is ushering in a new era where listeners get to directly participate in the creation of hit songs. Although the influence of algorithms looms large in this type of crowdsourced discovery, given that the main feed on TikTok is purely algorithmic, the determining factor has shifted back to consumers. Some savvy artists have caught onto this trend and intend to capitalize on it by incorporating TikTik-friendly dances or music cues into their songs and music videos, although that is no guarantee for scoring an organic viral hit — it’s one thing for content creators to game search algorithms for clicks, and quite another to engineer a meme in order to promote a song.

流媒体的兴起已将轰动一时的力量从大众媒体转移到了算法上。 现在，TikTok迎来了一个新时代，听众可以直接参与流行歌曲的创作。 尽管在这种类型的众包发现中，算法的影响似乎很大，但鉴于TikTok上的主要提要纯粹是算法，因此决定因素已经转移回了消费者。 一些精明的艺术家已经抓住了这一趋势，并打算通过将TikTik友好的舞蹈或音乐提示融入他们的歌曲和音乐视频中来利用这一趋势，尽管这不能保证获得自然的病毒性打击-这是内容创作者玩游戏的一件事搜寻点击的算法，还有另一种用来设计模因以便推广歌曲的算法。

One interesting side-effect of this shift is that TikTok has turned music into signals of social cachet through its co-creative nature. Music tends to spread socially, as people typically discover music at events and parties or receive peer recommendations via social media or word-of-mouth. Many music platforms have attempted to incorporate this social component into their music discovery mechanism, but from Apple’s failed attempts (remember Ping or Apple Music Connect?) to Spotify’s underutilized social elements, few have successfully replicated the social spread of music. By contrast, TikTok has come closest to making music consumption social again, and it does so by going beyond real-life social graphs to algorithmically match different sounds to targeted audiences based on aggregated listener data. After all, memes are inherently social, and on TikTok, music is both the muse and the vessel for memes.

这种转变的一个有趣的副作用是，TikTok通过其共同创造的性质将音乐变成了社会声望的信号。 音乐倾向于在社会上传播，因为人们通常会在活动和聚会上发现音乐，或者通过社交媒体或口口相传获得同行推荐。 许多音乐平台都尝试将这种社交元素纳入其音乐发现机制中，但是从Apple的失败尝试(记得Ping或Apple Music Connect ？)到Spotify的未充分利用的社交元素，很少有人能够成功复制音乐的社交传播。 相比之下，TikTok最接近再次使音乐消费变得社交化，并且它超越了现实生活中的社交图谱，从而根据汇总的听众数据在算法上将不同的声音匹配到目标受众。 毕竟，模因本质上是社会性的，在TikTok上，音乐既是模因的缪斯，又是容器。

TikTok has turned music into signals of social cachet through its co-creative nature.

TikTok通过其共同创造的性质将音乐变成了社会声望的信号。

In response, record labels are moving quickly to sign artists with breakout tracks on TikTok, betting that their popularity will transfer to other platforms. Recognizing the promotional value of its platform, TikTok has begun to position itself as a music discovery platform and court emerging artists. Last week, it announced a new partnership with UnitedMasters, a company that allows independent musicians to pay a competitive distribution rate to get access to Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, Apple Music, and other platforms. By partnering with UnitedMasters, music creators on TikTok can distribute their songs directly to streaming services and other partners, therefore helping them better capture the buzz and profit directly from their songs going viral on TikTok. It is a smart move for UnitedMasters too, as the digital-native distribution company now directly benefits from TikTok’s growing influence ahead of any major label. Through this deal, TikTok starts to build out an ecosystem for creators who wish to capitalize on its co-creative, meme-driven vision for music consumption. If that rumored TikTok-branded music streaming service were to come true, TikTok would grow into a full-fledged music platform.

作为回应， 唱片公司正Swift采取行动，在TikTok上以突破音轨与艺术家签约，并认为他们的知名度将转移到其他平台。 TikTok意识到其平台的促销价值，已开始将自己定位为音乐发现平台和新兴艺术家。 上周，它宣布与UnitedMasters建立新的合作伙伴关系 ，该公司允许独立音乐人以有竞争力的价格支付发行价来访问Spotify，YouTube，SoundCloud，Apple Music和其他平台。 通过与UnitedMasters合作，TikTok上的音乐创作者可以将其歌曲直接分发给流媒体服务和其他合作伙伴，从而帮助他们更好地捕捉嗡嗡声，并直接从在TikTok上流行的歌曲中直接获利。 对于UnitedMasters来说，这也是明智之举，因为数字本地发行公司现在可以直接从TikTok在任何主要唱片公司之前的影响力中受益。 通过此项交易，TikTok开始为希望利用其共同创造，模因驱动的音乐消费愿景的创作者建立生态系统。 如果传闻中的TikTok品牌音乐流媒体服务得以实现，TikTok将成长为一个成熟的音乐平台。

数字创意革命先驱 (Herald of the Digital Creative Revolution)

Music was the first media sector to be disrupted by the internet. Long before the rise of Netflix and the remaking of the entertainment and news landscape by digital publications, the popularity of music piracy network Napster, and the resulting tug-of-war between Apple and record labels over the iTunes Store, ushered the music industry into a digital economy quicker than other types of media businesses. Music also entered the mobile streaming era earlier than video content and pioneered the all-access flat subscription model that dominates the media industry today. Because music has historically been ahead of the curve, emerging trends in the music industry may offer helpful indicators to where other sectors of the media business may be heading.

音乐是第一个被互联网破坏的媒体部门。 早在Netflix崛起和数字出版物对娱乐和新闻格局的改造之前，音乐盗版网络Napster的普及以及苹果公司和iTunes唱片公司之间的拉锯战就将音乐产业带入了比其他类型的媒体业务更快的数字经济。 音乐还早于视频内容进入了移动流媒体时代，并开创了如今主导媒体行业的全访问平板订阅模式。 由于音乐在历史上一直处于领先地位，因此音乐行业的新兴趋势可能为媒体业务其他部门的发展方向提供有用的指标。

The shift from physical copies to digital purchases unbundled albums into individual tracks, and the streaming model re-bundled the entire music catalog into monthly subscriptions. Now with TikTok, songs are further broken down into short clips of drops and hooks, designed to convey a certain mood and provide audio cues for visuals. Similar to how sports fans sharing highlights from a game or TV fans making gifs out of their favorite moments, meme culture strips songs out of their original context and contextualizes them in easily digestible, bite-sized clips. Music arguably has the strongest repeat value of all media products, and the TikTok model exploits that by pairing the same music clip with different user-generated visuals to enhance its repeat value.

从实物复制到数字购买的转变是将未捆绑的专辑购买成单独的曲目，并且流传输模型将整个音乐目录重新捆绑为每月订阅。 现在，借助TikTok，可以将歌曲进一步分解为水滴和挂钩的短片，以传达某种情绪并为视觉效果提供音频提示。 与体育迷分享游戏中的精彩片段或电视迷们根据自己喜欢的时刻制作gif图像的方式类似，模因文化将歌曲从其原始背景中剥离出来，并通过易于消化的，咬合大小的片段将其上下文化。 音乐可以说是所有媒体产品中最强的重复价值，而TikTok模型则通过将同一音乐片段与用户生成的不同视觉效果配对来提高其重复价值。

Following the co-creative trend championed by TikTok, music is becoming a part of digital creative toolkits for everyone to play with. For instance, everyone can now easily add any song available for streaming as the background music for their Instagram or Snapchat stories. As the attention economy peaks, music not only has to compete with other forms of media for attention, it is also converging with other creative formats. Established musicians are hosting podcasts, teaming up with live streamers to play video games, as well as partnering with gaming companies to create in-game music experiences. Similar to Disney’s strategy of monetizing its hero IPs across various business sectors, digital-native music brands such as Genius, COLORS, Lyrical Lemonade, and Kobalt Music are embracing diversification of revenue streams and format-blending in media creation.

遵循TikTok倡导的共同创造趋势，音乐正成为数字创意工具包的一部分，每个人都可以使用。 例如，每个人现在都可以轻松地添加任何可用于流式传输的歌曲，作为其Instagram或Snapchat故事的背景音乐。 随着注意力经济达到顶峰，音乐不仅必须与其他形式的媒体竞争以引起关注，而且还必须与其他创意形式融合。 知名音乐人将主持播客 ，与现场流媒体合作来玩视频游戏 ，以及与游戏公司合作来创造游戏中的音乐体验 。 与迪士尼通过各个业务部门将其英雄IP货币化的策略类似，Genius， COLORS ， Lyrical Lemonade和Kobalt Music等数字原生音乐品牌也希望在媒体创作中实现收入流多样化和格式融合。

As the attention economy peaks, music not only has to compete with other forms of media for attention, it is also converging with other creative formats.

随着注意力经济达到顶峰，音乐不仅必须与其他形式的媒体竞争以引起关注，而且还必须与其他创意形式融合。

The democratization of digital creativity is accelerating thanks to the unique circumstances created by COVID-19. More people are becoming digital content creators to show off their professional knowledge and creative talent, be it cooking, teaching, or painting, as they hunker down at home and lose conventional venues to monetize their skills. As an evocative and complementary component, music has long been a versatile storytelling tool that lends itself well to various multimedia creations. In a future of participatory content creation, the value of a media product will be judged by the amount of user content it inspires. The death of the author cannot be reversed, but a better attribution and payment system will need to be devised to credit and compensate the original creators. In principle, the aforementioned UnitedMasters and TikTok deal is a right step in this direction.

由于COVID-19创造的独特环境，数字创意的民主化正在加速 。 越来越多的人成为数字内容创作者，以炫耀他们的专业知识和创造才能，无论是烹饪，教学还是绘画，因为他们迫不及待地在家中迷失了传统的创收渠道，以利用他们的技能进行货币化。 作为令人回味和补充的组成部分，音乐长期以来一直是一种多功能的叙事工具，非常适合各种多媒体创作。 在未来的参与式内容创建中，媒体产品的价值将由其激发的用户内容量来判断。 作者的死亡是无法逆转的，但是将需要设计一个更好的归因和付款系统，以对最初的创作者予以认可和补偿。 原则上，前述的UnitedMasters和TikTok交易是朝这个方向迈出的正确一步。

As digital creative tools continue to spread, music, along with other forms of media, will become more collaborative and fluid, and the media industry will be better off embracing this trend than resisting it. For instance, Lady Gaga recently partnered with Adobe to launch an artwork competition with a $10,000 cash prize to promote its latest album Chromatica, providing fans with a set of visual assets to create new artworks using Adobe apps like Photoshop and Spark. As we settle into a new stage of the digital economy, expect to see more participatory campaigns that tap into crowdsourced creativity as a way to generate creative ideas, maximize audience engagement, and encourage organic social sharing.

随着数字创意工具的继续传播，音乐以及其他形式的媒体将变得更加协作和流畅，媒体行业将比接受这种趋势更好地接受这一趋势。 例如， Lady Gaga最近与Adobe合作发起了一项艺术竞赛，奖金为10,000美元，以宣传其最新专辑Chromatica ，为粉丝提供了一系列视觉资产，可使用Photoshop和Spark等Adobe应用程序创作新艺术品。 随着我们进入数字经济的新阶段，我们期望看到更多参与性活动，这些活动可以利用众包创意作为产生创意，最大化受众参与度和鼓励有机社交共享的方式。

In a future of participatory content creation, the value of a media product will be judged by the amount of user content it inspires.

在未来的参与式内容创建中，媒体产品的价值将由其激发的用户内容量来判断。

The same principle will also be prominently featured in the burgeoning “metaverse,” where participatory creativity is embedded in its world-building DNA. The “Party Royale” island in Fortnite as well as games like Roblox and Minecraft offer an early-stage glimpse into what a virtual world, mostly built upon user-generated creation in various forms of digital media, could look like. In a metaverse, all media assets, even branded ones, will become raw ingredients that contribute to a larger ecosystem of digital creation.

在Swift发展的“元宇宙”中，同样的原则也将得到突出体现，其中，参与性创造力被嵌入其建立世界的DNA中。 Fortnite的“皇家派对”岛以及Roblox和Minecraft之类的游戏提供了虚拟世界的早期印象，这些虚拟世界主要是由用户以各种形式的数字媒体创建的。 在一个虚拟的世界中，所有媒体资产，甚至是品牌资产，都将成为构成更大数字创造生态系统的原始要素。

To bring things full-circle, Napster, the piracy site that kicked off the digital transformation of the music business over twenty years ago, has recently been acquired by VR experience company MelodyVR, which aims to be the “destination for music in virtual reality.” So far, it has been focusing on distributing live music performances in VR, but if MelodyVR is still around when VR-enabled metaverses eventually start to take shape, they might just have a shot at becoming the LiveNation for metaverses — if someone one else doesn’t get there first.

为使事情变得全面，盗版网站Napster于20年前启动了音乐业务的数字化转型， 最近被 VR体验公司MelodyVR 收购 ，该公司旨在成为 “虚拟现实音乐的目的地”。 ” 到目前为止，它一直致力于在VR中分发现场音乐表演，但是如果在启用VR的metaverse最终成形时，MelodyVR仍然存在，那么他们可能只是成为metaverse的LiveNation的参与者-如果其他人没有不能先到达那里。

At the end of the day, TikTok is just one manifestation of the larger trends in digital creativity as it becomes increasingly democratized and participatory. Even if TikTok were to be banned in the U.S. tomorrow, it has left its indelible mark on the music industry, demonstrated a new viable model for music creation and promotion, and by extension, pushed forward the evolution of all forms of media.

在一天结束的时候，的TikTok是数字创意大趋势，只是一种表现形式，因为它变得越来越民主化和参与。 即使TikTok明天在美国被禁止，它仍在音乐界留下了不可磨灭的印记，展示了一种新的可行的音乐创作和推广模式，并由此推动了各种媒体的发展。

翻译自: https://medium.com/ipg-media-lab/what-tiktok-tells-us-about-the-future-of-music-business-1cdc8c18a2a2