How indie artists can make money on TikTok

You’ve come to the right place if you’re an indie artist looking for a new way to make money from your music. This guide covers everything you need to know about making money on TikTok.

by Randi Zimmerman of Symphonic Blog

Are you on TikTok and wish you could make some money from your efforts? No problem! There are a couple ways you can make this happen in no time. From their official Creator Fund to independent marketing and more, here’s what you can do…

TikTok’s Creator Fund

Many creators complain about how much money, or lack thereof, they’ve made with the TikTok Creator Fund. However, they’re failing to keep in mind that a couple factors influence how much money you can rack in with the Creator Fund. From views to engagement and many other details, adhering to their community guidelines goes a long way.

Typically, users see around 2 to 4 cents per every thousand views. But if you regularly see a million views on your videos, you can expect a pretty penny in your account every year… and as we’ve all seen time and time again, consistency is key. The more you post, the better your videos will continue to perform over time. If you’re creating TikTok videos anyway, why not get paid for it?

To apply for the program, you have to meet a plethora of requirements. Some of which include:

• You must be 18 years or older.
• A legal resident of one of the 50 states, District of Columbia, or the territories and possessions, of the United States.
• Minimum 10K authentic followers.
• At least 100K authentic video views in the last 30 days.
• Post original videos in line with their Community Guidelines.

If these all sound like you, you’re ready to go. — Just open your account settings, click on Creator tools, then TikTok Creator Fund.

Then, just wait to be approved by their team and that’s all there is to it.

Royalties

Making sure you are collecting all the royalties owed to you across all platforms is an essential part of being an artist. On TikTok, it’s no different. However, while most DSPs pay creators based on the number of streams or views, TikTok has a very different model when it comes to royalties. TikTok pays royalties based on the number of videos created using your music (video views do not matter when calculating TikTok royalties).

• If you’re a Symphonic client, you’re in luck! We do all the work, collecting your royalties on your behalf and paying them right to you. If you haven’t already set this up, it’s very easy to do. We even wrote a whole post explaining how it works and how to do it yourself right here.

Live Stream Donations and Gifts

On TikTok Live, your fans can interact with you in real time and gift you virtual gifts or monetary donations. Whether you want to just get on and chat, play a new song, or give a behind the scenes look right before your show, you can go stream for as long as you want (although 30 minutes is the recommended maximum time).

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Influencer Marketing

As an artist with a distinct style, you are in a great position for sponsored posts or collaboration opportunities. Consider reaching out to brands who have a similar vibe or mission as you do, and spark up a conversation about how you can mutually benefit one another. This can range from either promoting their product in a video, doing a full review of said product, and more depending on the brand or product in mind.

Alternatively, you can do a version of this with other musicians within your TikTok community. From promoting each others merch to hyping up their upcoming show, this industry thrives of collaboration! And TikTok is no stranger to nurturing community.

Fans = Streams = $

Although many artists go viral on TikTok from sheer luck alone, there are many ways you can improve your chances and work with the algorithm to reach thousands of potential fans. In turn, you can translate those fans into followers and those followers into streams on Spotify, Apple Music, and more.

How? — Well, if your music is available on TikTok for other people to use, you’ll earn royalties ad exposure every time someone uses it in their video. In addition, if your other profiles are linked properly in your TikTok bio, people will be able to discover more of your work whenever they visit your profile. (Linktree is a great tool that gives you one link you can put in your bio that goes to everything you have to offer instead of having a million separate links.)

To wrap it all up…

No matter how good your music is, gaining recognition for your work on TikTok lies within how much effort you put into promoting yourself, making good content, and consistently posting on the platform. These efforts, however, will pay off… literally! In addition, authentically engaging with your audience, being creative, and being confident in what you have to offer will all help you grow your presence on the platform and, in turn, increase your potential to make money along the way.

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Still not sure how to get your music on TikTok? Check this out…

Good luck!