Wheatus is joining TikTok’s war on music on the side of music, as frontman Brendan B. Brown thinks the social media platform is contributing nothing good to the music industry. The indie hitmakers are celebrating 25 years of “Teenage Dirtbag”, but they certainly didn’t get there by going viral on social media.
Speaking to ContactMusic, Brown first admitted that TikTok has its merits. It’s not bad at artist discovery and has led to many established bands finding new audiences with a younger generation. But all things considered, the bad tends to outweigh the good.
“I think [TikTok] can be [good for music] in the sense that it makes things easy to find, and in the sense that it introduces new artists,” said Brown. “Those are really positive things.”
He then added, “But the idea that a new artist would need to compete with themselves and with others for new content every day, I think that’s bad for music.” Brown continued, “I don’t think that that’s going to make things better.”
Competition in Music Won’t ‘Make Things Better’
True, an artist putting all their eggs in one TikTok-shaped basket often seems to lead to burnout and disaster. When the focus is on content creation to find new fans, there’s less energy to spend on making music and touring. This is especially true for emerging bands and artists who are trying to organically build a following.
Long-established popular artists usually don’t have to worry about making their own TikToks or Instagram Reels. There’s a social media team for that. But that’s not the case for everyone. Beyond just the energy and time suck, there’s Brown’s point about competition. Music shouldn’t be a contest to see who can get the most fans and the most money. Wheatus’ frontman has it right; forcing artists to compete against each other for attention on TikTok destroys the artistry of music in the first place. There’s room at the table for everyone, after all.
More often than not, TikTok is also great at beating the general public to death with a viral song until no one wants to hear it ever again. Which can’t be good for the state of music.
For Wheatus, a good song doesn’t have to go viral to be a success. Brown noted that, for him, good music is about contemplation and vulnerability, not trends or analytics.
“I think good songs come from meditation and contemplation and a long walk in the woods,” he said. “And they don’t come from having to worry about what your manager thinks of your most recent content.”
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