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Will TikTok continue to boost music careers now that Universal has removed songs from their artists? 

TikTok is celebrating Black History Month with playlists, conversations and live performances from Black artists. Leon Bridges has collaborated with Fort Worth native Keite Young to debut a cover of the gospel song “Like A Ship” penned by Pastor T. L. Barrett. Montreal producer KAYTRANADA  will premiere a new house track called “Caution.” Both songs were commissioned by TikTok and after their introduction on the platform, they will be available from the digital streaming services. TikTok has also partnered with @SongPsych to look at the history of Black Music. SongPsych is a new media brand that started on TikTok in 2020 as part of the Creative Learning Fund. 

Listen to a preview of “Caution” here. 

Listen to a preview of “Like A Ship” here. 

On February 26th, Snoop Dogg, Tyga and Saweetie will perform live on TikTok as part of the Make Black History Celebration at 8PM ET. 

TikTok, the popular video app, announces a deal with UnitedMasters the independent music distribution platform. The transaction makes UnitedMasters the first company of its kind to be integrated into TikTok. The partnership between TikTok and UnitedMasters will allow users to distribute music directly to other music-streaming platforms. TikTok will take all music from its creators and add it to their commercial library with the permission of the artists thereby giving businesses access to new sounds to use in their content. The two companies will work together to promote key artists on the platform. 

TikTok is growing as a place for new music and viral hits from unknown artists. Curtis Waters, Curtis Roach, Tai Verdes, Breland, Avenue Beat and BMW Kennyppococaine are some of the artists to preview music on the app. Other emerging artists like Shuba, Blu DeTiger and Kid Sistr use TikTok for creative live performances. Steve Stoute, founder and CEO of UnitedMasters explained in a statement how this partnership will benefit artists: 

“If you are a musical artist, TikTok is the best place for your music to go viral and UnitedMasters is the best place to sustain it while retaining full ownership of your work. s By combining the two, we create the platform for tomorrow’s stars who will be famous, fiercely independent and wealthy.”

Ole Obermann, Global Head of Music at TikTok also said, “TikTok artists who are creating music in their bedrooms today will be featured in the Billboard charts tomorrow. Our mission is to help those artists achieve their creative potential and success. This partnership with UnitedMasters gives us a turn-key solution to help artists who are born on TikTok to reach their fans on every music service.”

The company recently announced a $1 billion TikTok Creator Fund to help support ambitious creators looking to make a livelihood through their innovative content. TikTok has become the go-to staging ground that has helped previously little known or undiscovered artists like Lil Nas X, Ambjaay, StaySolidRocky, Powfu, BENEE, Y2K, bbno$, and many others find mainstream fame and dominate the charts.