Latest news with #forArtists
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
TikTok launches 'TikTok for Artists,' a new music insights platform
TikTok announced on Tuesday that it's officially launching TikTok for Artists, a new music insights platform that is designed to help artists build their careers. The official launch comes two months after TikTok was spotted testing the platform in select countries. The tool is built to help artists and their teams better connect with fans, improve their promotional efforts, and inform content creation on TikTok. The platform gives artists, their labels, and their teams access to data about the performance of the artist's music and posts and TikTok. These metrics include the number of views, posts, and creator engagements per song, along with similar insights into post performance. Other insights include information about an artist's followers, such as their age, language, and gender. TikTok for Artists also includes step-by-step guides to TikTok's tools and features, and additional support and resources, the company says. In addition, TikTok announced that it's launching a new "Pre-Release" tool that allows artists to promote upcoming album releases on TikTok. The feature lets fans pre-save albums directly to their Spotify or Apple Music library, where they will become instantly available to listen to upon release. TikTok plays a big part in driving music trends and viral songs, so it makes sense for the company to introduce a dedicated space to help artists better promote their content and drive fan engagement. TikTok for Artists could help artists expand their reach and grow their audience. It's worth noting that the launch of TikTok for Artists comes eight months after ByteDance decided to shut down TikTok Music, a music-streaming service that was being tested in a handful of countries. At the time, the company said it decided to retire the service in order to 'focus on our goal of furthering TikTok's role in driving even greater music listening and value on music streaming services.' The events of the past year show that TikTok is no longer trying to compete with services like Spotify and Apple Music, and is instead going to focus on being a platform for music discovery and promotion. TikTok for Artists is now available in Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina. The platform will be rolling out in other countries soon, TikTok says.
Sydney Morning Herald
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
This musician was getting millions of streams. Then fake tracks appeared under his name
'If this doesn't change, people are going to start training AI on your entire discography. Then they upload songs that actually sound like you. Fans go to your page, hear something that sort of sounds right — but it's shit.' Paul Bender (at right) with his band Hiatus Kaiyote: (from left) Perrin Moss, Simon Mavin and Naomi Saalfield aka Nai Palm. The problem, he says, is wilful inaction from distributors and streamers. Even basic password protection 'would solve 99 per cent of these cases overnight. Two-factor authentication would solve more. These tech companies are full of developers who could fix this in an afternoon. So far 'it's just them passing the buck — 'it's the distributor's fault, no, it's the platform's fault'. It's a copout. It just proves how demoralising this system is for artists.' Spotify, which commands more than 30 per cent of the global streaming market, acknowledged the fakes issue in 2023 when it removed tens of thousands of tracks uploaded by AI music startup Boomy. That followed pressure from Universal Music Group, its biggest licensor. The Sweet Enoughs' boutique label, Wondercore Island, has had less success. 'It took Spotify six weeks to lift a finger,' says label head Si Jay Gould. 'They're calling it a 'mapping issue' — as if four artists just happened to release terrible AI music under our name. 'There's no incentive to protect us. We're being impersonated, we're losing income, our brand is being damaged, and the response is: 'We've done what we can.' It shows how little they value artists.' Even now, though Spotify has uncoupled the four fakes from the Sweet Enoughs' profile, the tracks remain live under that name, ready to deceive fans looking for real music. Spotify declined to comment for this story. When asked about authentication systems, an Australian spokesperson referred us to the company's extensive Spotify for Artists educational manuals. The scale of hijacking 'can't be human', Gould says. 'The money's too marginal.' Like those old computer scams creaming fractions of cents from millions of bank accounts, 'it has to be automated. I assume they're targeting artists who do well in the algorithm — names the system likes.' Loading Industry indicators confirm a growing problem. Deezer reported that 18 per cent of its daily uploads in early 2025 were fully AI-generated. Music generator Mubert claims over 100 million AI tracks were created on its platform in the first half of 2023. The global Music Fights Fraud Alliance estimates 10 per cent of global streams are fraudulent, often driven by bots, fake profiles or click farms. Some distributors report fraud rates of up to 50 per cent, potentially diverting up to $US3 billion annually from artists. Now musicians are fighting back. Michael League, best known as leader of American jazz collective Snarky Puppy, says he has collected 'several dozen testimonials from artists of various genres and levels of visibility recounting their experiences with AI-generated music being uploaded to their account without their consent'. League has briefed the Recording Academy's New York chapter on the hijacking of his own solo artist profile. He says senior executive director Nick Cucci has indicated he will escalate the complaint within the Grammy organisation this week. 'I've been both shocked and horrified by the volume of messages I've received,' League says. 'It's like a silent epidemic in our industry.' Behind the languid chill of The Sweet Enoughs, Paul Bender is fuming. 'It's not resolved, it's multiplying,' he says. 'I'm f---ing ropeable … You're building towards a new album, and suddenly this steaming pile of crap lands in the middle of your Spotify profile. It's vile and disrespectful. 'There are people in this industry who seem to actively loathe musicians. It's almost sadistic. Real human music and AI slop are the same to them. It's all just a commodity. It's all just content.' Get the day's breaking news, entertainment ideas and a long read to enjoy. Sign up to receive our Evening Edition newsletter.
