We all remember 2020, the blank year, as many would call it, when many were stuck in their homes as part of forced lockdowns, wondering if this was the end of the world.

But a source of relief then was technology, notably social media.

More notably, a app that felt like it was designed specifically for lockdown; Tiktok.

Starting mainly as just an app for kids and teenagers to play around on, Tiktok blew up into a global phenomenon. Much like Twitter, Tiktok became responsible for sparking debates, spreading narratives and discussions.

Worldwide, there have been massive condemnations of Tiktok. Various countries including Senegal, Indonesia, Ethiopia, India, and some states in the United States have all placed full or partial bans on Tiktok.

Reasons for such bans include security (as it’s a Chinese company) as well as the spread of misinformation and "hateful messages".

In Ghana, Tiktok has sparked debates over its impact on the Ghanaian music industry. Various stakeholders, including Bright Dwomoh, CEO of Ghana Songs, have recently asserted that Tiktok “is collapsing the music industry."

Other stakeholders, such as dancer Incredible Zigi, came under fire for stating that “tiktok dancers were responsible for songs becoming hits” thus, they deserved awards.

The questions that arise are: how important is Tiktok today? How dependent is the music industry on Tiktok? and…. What happens if Tiktok gets banned in Ghana?

First, let's go to a time before social media when songs needed to be marketed using traditional means, someone had to make some calls to the media houses and DJs before a song could get played.

Kwame Baah, Digital Marketing Expert / CEO of Yve Digital & Get The Artiste tells GhanaWeb: “Mostly a song becoming a hit will come from gatekeepers. And when I say gatekeepers, mostly they are people who have a say in the industry or who have a say in the entertainment industry as a whole have a say, as in big radio presenters, good label heads, A and R's and all that.

"So all these people, they had a say in the hit of a musician because they are the ones going to tell the DJs to play the song.”

He further explains that social media marketing was a huge benefit to the music industry, especially independent artistes.

He added that the availability of social media had made it easier for artistes and managers to have a say in how and when their songs get released.

“So during this time, anybody can just blow and it has no formula. It has no formula, even though, yes, there are promotion strategies and all that, but it's a bit easier and it's a bit independent than you subscribing to people to make sure you blow.

"This time around, the artist or the management has a huge say in how he or she wants the promotion to go. We were doing more of traditional promotion, TV, radio, so now we are doing more of the digital marketing in terms of social media and other avenues,” he explained.

His views give some credibility to Incredible Zigi’s claim.

Most of the biggest songs of the past few years have garnered popularity on the app. Note “Love Nwantiti” by Nigerian act Ckay and Ghanaian sensation Kuami Eugene, Kelvynboy’s “Downflat” which blew up with its Tiktok challenge and other popular songs from West African artistes.

So then comes the big question: What would happen if Titok gets banned? Would the industry suffer?

“I honestly don't think it will affect the industry,” Kwame Baah explains. “We will just look for a different way to do promotion. It will only affect the industry when we are making more money on TikTok. But now the music industry is not making more money on TikTok.

"But then, who would suffer if TikTok goes down the drain? If you guessed “the TikTokers”, you guessed right.

“It's rather helping the songs to blow and then fetches us money on Apple Music, Spotify and the rest. It's only the content creators who are going live ... on the platform, that is making money. But in terms of the musicians, the revenue even coming from TikTok is low.

“So it's just helping our songs to blow. And the same way our songs were blowing before TikTok, that is the same way our songs will blow after TikTok,” he said.

So that's the verdict.

Tiktok is great for marketing. But not great revenue-wise for artistes. Thus, a ban on TikTok wouldn’t be the end of the world for the music industry. And it wouldn’t be the end of the world for social media influencers, either.

Various other platforms have their Tiktok-like features. Instagram has reels, YouTube has shorts, Snapchat has Spotlight, and even Pinterest has something similar.

All in all, people will always do what they do, they move on.

ID/SARA

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