After several editions of the Grammy With clear favorites for the Breakthrough Artist of the Year award, this Sunday’s competition is open, but whoever wins, many of the nominees have the platform to thank. TikTok.

The short video social network, very popular among teenagers, has gained a lot of weight in the world of music. For beginning artists, it is the gateway, and for established artists, an unavoidable means of promotion.

And while the American Recording Academy (NARAS), which awards the Grammys annually, isn’t known for imbibing the zeitgeist, the best new artist category has grown increasingly eclectic, reflecting the impact of Internet age in today’s music.

“Social networks have made the music industry much more receptive to the tastes of the public, instead of wanting to define from above who is the star of the moment,” Tatiana Cirisano, an analyst at MIDIA Research, told AFP.

The phenomenon is not new: Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber was discovered on YouTube and his compatriot Shawn Mendes made a name for himself on the Vine app. But “TikTok really blew up” in recent years, according to Cirisano.

“It’s clear that it’s an integral part of almost every artist’s strategy,” he said.

In a sure sign, the last two Best New Artist Grammy winners, American singer olivia rodrigo and the rapper Megan Thee Stallionhave been hugely successful on TikTok.

Among the nominees in this year’s category are rapper Latto, Muni Long and singer Omar Apollo, the son of Mexican immigrants, three performers whom the Chinese application itself has listed among the best emerging artists on its platform.

Brazilian Anitta, who rose to fame on TikTok with her sultry dance on “Envolver”, and Italians Maneskin, Eurovision rockers whose version of “Beggin” was a hit on the app, are also in contention.

Other 2023 Grammy nominees, including indie rock band Wet Leg, jazz duo Domi and JD Beck, rapper and singer Tobe Nwigwe, bluegrass artist Molly Tuttle and jazz singer Samara Joy, also boast many. followers in the application.

“That’s where my generation is,” Joy recently explained to NPR radio, claiming to have added more than 100,000 subscribers in a month after joining the platform. “People come up to me and say, ‘I found you on TikTok,'” she recounted.

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Most Grammy Awards have little or nothing to do with fanbase or commercial success. But in the category of revelation artist of the year, the main criterion is the ability to win over a large audience.

Therefore, it is the prize “in which people have the most impact”. And now, “90% of the artists who manage to make themselves known do so through TikTok“Cirisano said.

“TikTok is the new MTV,” summed up Cassie Petrey, founder of the digital marketing company Crowd Surf, referring to the popular chain of video clips that marked an era.

In the 2000s, the videos of the contenders for the best new artist award were repeated on that American music channel. Today “TikTok is one of the major media platforms of our time,” Petrey said.

The app is even changing the way record labels discover new artists, according to Cirisano. Instead of sending talent scouts to small shows, labels now hope that they “already have an audience and have worked their way up a bit on their own.”

In a way, Cirisano said, this has been democratizing, opening doors “to many artists who otherwise would never have had the means or resources, or who, only with a stroke of luck, could have caught the attention of someone in the industry.” “.

However, many artists complain about the impact of social networks on their mental health, or are afraid to spend more time on it than on making music.

Petrey stressed that while promotion is important, it’s not the artist’s job to strategize. “They just have to focus on the art (…) We remind them all the time,” she said.

And while there have been complaints among some in the industry that artists are adapting their music to be more socially-friendly, Cirisano believes those concerns are overblown.

“I think that in the end the good music It will always shine,” said the expert.