The Young Female Artists Capitalizing on Their TikTok Virality

Highlights  Australian singer-songwriter Tones and I and North Carolina-born/Eastern Europe-raised rapper Ashnikko are some of the first notable case studies in TikTok virality. How are they capitalizing on it?

Mission    Good morning, it’s Rutger here at Chartmetric with your 3-minute Data Dump where we upload charts, artists, and playlists into your brain so you can stay up on the latest in the music data world.
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DateThis is your Data Dump for Friday, Oct. 18, 2019.

The Young Female Artists Capitalizing on Their TikTok Virality As TikTok’s popularity intensifies, so does the scrutiny, which is why the National Music Publishers’ Association recently claimed the platform “consistently violated US copyright law and the rights of songwriters and music publishers.”
Whether or not this is true, it’s clear the platform-on-the-rise, which is making its mark as a new breeding ground for discovery, is benefiting some creatives substantially.
We first noticed 19-year-old Australian singer-songwriter Tones and I’s “Dance Monkey,” for instance, on the TikTok charts a couple of months back. 
At the time, the Sony artist’s Spotify footprint was promising, but not exactly huge.
When “Dance Monkey” first came out in May, she had around 3.5K Followers.
Once July hit and the TikToks started pouring in, her Spotify Follower stats rose precipitously, from 15K in July to 30K in August, 70K in September, and 150K this month.
Four of the Top 44 TikTok videos are still sporting “Dance Monkey” soundtracks, and the song is still in the Top 200 on TikTok’s track charts. 
There’s a similar story happening with North Carolina-born and Eastern Europe-raised rapper Ashnikko, aka Ashton Casey.
23-year-old Ashnikko, who embraces Japanese anime and video game references, recently dropped the collaborative track “STUPID” with Yung Baby Tate, and her TikTok climb is stunning. 
Six of the Top 44 TikTok videos are already using her track, and she’s also in the Top 200 on TikTok’s track charts.
Right now, her stats across other platforms like Spotify are exhibiting a growth pattern similar to Tones and I’s when she first started carving out her TikTok niche, so all indications point to Ashnikko being an artist to watch going into 2020 — and not just on TikTok.
With edgy, stylish teenage phenom Billie Eilish having worked wonders for Universal — are Tones and I and Ashnikko, respectively, Sony and Warner’s rebuttal? 

Outro That’s it for your Daily Data Dump for Friday, Oct. 18, 2019. This is Rutger from Chartmetric.
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