Better late than never: I'm on TikTok!
Crissi Cochrane
TL;DR: I’m on TikTok now! Please follow me if you’re on the platform!
There are so many different hats to wear as a musician - and fortunately, I pretty much love them all. Aside from the obvious roles related to writing, performing, and recording music, there’s also tasks relating to design, publicity, advertising, networking, videography, licensing, legal, managing social media... It’s a lot to do, especially if you find yourself in the fortunate position of also having a fulfilling family and home life that you’d like to enjoy.
So it’s no surprise that I took a bit of the scenic route in getting familiar with TikTok. As a creative person I know I have a bit of a responsibility to be an early adopter of new social platforms, but I was kind of hoping I might be able to avoid adding another platform to my life. But after reaching a tipping point where I’d heard the suggestion enough times, coupled with my husband’s gentle teasing that I can’t seem to figure out the similar phenomenon of posting regular Instagram stories, I decided to apply myself.
A few interesting facts about TikTok for y’all:
TikTok has about 1 billion active users. For comparison, Instagram has about 1.4B, and Facebook has 2.9B. I can’t find most of my favourite musicians on the platform, but that gives me hope that I might have an easier time trying to stand out, while the app isn’t yet oversaturated with musicians.
TikTok users are some of the youngest on social media. Most are between ages 18 and 24. On Instagram and Facebook, most users are between 25 and 34.
TikTok is actually an awesome platform for musicians, because anyone can re-use the music that they hear in someone else’s TikTok video. It makes it very easy for music to spread or go viral.
Whereas content on Instagram tends to be lifestyle-focused, highly edited, and curated to fit users’ aesthetics, content on TikTok is a lot more informal and casual, and most posts focus on trends, or challenges, especially musical ones, like duets, or blank verses that other users can fill in.
The trouble I have with Instagram/Facebook stories and TikTok is that I see the posts that perform best, and it’s always somebody’s face. Whether it’s meant to be casual, impressive, funny, vulnerable, or whatever, it’s basically always somebody…
1. looking at least moderately presentable,
2. in a well-lit room,
3 in a quiet environment.
And meeting those few simple requirements seems to be virtually impossible for me :( I’m a busy mom, I don’t have time to fix my face, and my house is rarely quiet and well lit. Plus, and this is probably just me massively projecting, but I find a lot of the aesthetic of these face-on videos seems really vain and self-absorbed. It’s all very “look at me, here is my face,” over and over and over again. I’m not into that, and I try really hard to avoid having that kind of vibe on my socials.
So, what to share? I downloaded the app and spent a few mornings scrolling through posts back in the spring, trying to get a sense of what I could add, and then I just… stopped.
Then, a few weeks ago, I started sharing some IG stories documenting the things I’d bake or make around the house, but I felt like it was too far outside the typical stuff I share on Instagram for most of my followers to care. I imagine they’re thinking “I don’t care about your Nutella crumble bars, where’s the music!?”
And then I had my lightbulb moment - these things might be perfect to share over on TikTok. Especially because it’s SO much easier to create video content there, where I can stitch together multiple videos with way more powerful editing tools, AND include my own music. And since I’m brand-new on the platform, I’m not upsetting anybody who’s been following me just for the sake of my songs.
Plus… there’s a rule in social media marketing that you don’t want to share the exact same kind of content on every single platform, or else there’s no point in people following you everywhere. If it’s the exact same content on Facebook as Instagram, Twitter, etc., then I could just follow you in one place and I wouldn’t miss anything. Different content on different platforms means you can entice people to follow you everywhere.
@crissicochrane A favourite rainy day craft at our house: making crystals with borax! #diy #craft #pompom #pipecleaners #crystals #borax #newmusic ♬ Just Friends (Stripped) - Crissi Cochrane
So now, anytime I do something crafty with my daughter, we document it with some video clips, and then I sit and relax in our backyard and stitch them together, with some of my own music in the background. It’s fun! I’ve always loved my crafting time, and little projects are so satisfying to me, and I’ve always wanted to document some of these things online. So it’s perfect!
I’m still going to try some of those look-at-me, here’s-my-face kind of videos eventually, but not while I’m 9 months pregnant and feeling like a giant toad. I’d love to share clips of me playing music at home, in a nice an intimate way in the future. For now, I’m sticking with my crafty DIYs, and sharing clips from some of the more professionally produced videos of me… and teasing the new HEAVEN music video coming September 11!