Music industry girds for looming US TikTok ban [Video]

TikTok has dramatically changed music discovery and marketing — a reliance the looming US ban on the popular app has underscored as the music world braces for an unknown future.

That the short-form video-sharing app might shut down in the United States starting Sunday has fostered a sense of “marketing apocalypse” across the industry, says Tatiana Cirisano, a music industry analyst at MIDiA Research.

For years TikTok has been an integral tool for most musicians, a jump-off point for artists looking to break out and an essential promotional platform for established musicians.

In an increasingly fragmented musical landscape, Cirisano says “Tik Tok served as sort of the one lightning rod where popularity could actually coalesce into a hit, and there actually could be these more mainstream cultural moments.”

Now, digital marketing companies say artists are scrambling to download and archive their TikTok content before the app goes dark — the …