TikTok Spotlight Uncovers Asian Indie Musical Acts

TikTok Spotlight is intended to “discover and support independent and unsigned artists,” according to the company. Artists can upload original music videos through the program’s portal till May 31 to compete for a number of prizes such as record deals and performance opportunities.

The campaign held in partnership with 21 record labels, including Sony Music, Spotify, Universal Music, and Warner Music. It has also recruited 26 producers, songwriters, and singers from Japan and South Korea as mentors and judges.

Music videos that artists upload will be promoted on a featured playlist for other users. Over the course of five months beginning from April 5, or what TikTok refers to as the first season of the program, the app will hold three rounds of judging to narrow performers down to five to 10 winners.

The first round will select the top 100 participants based on the number of plays their songs and music videos garner on TikTok as well as feedback from the judging panel. The second round will bring that number down to 18. The winners will be determined by a final round, including live performances and total play count on TikTok and Line Music, according to the program’s Japanese website.

Prior to this program, TikTok – owned by Chinese unicorn ByteDance – has made significant strides in both Japan and South Korea. The short video app collaborated with musicians in South Korea including the likes of BTS and Blackpink. It has also created more than 280 official hashtag challenges on TikTok Japan last year.

However, TikTok Spotlight’s trajectory could be complicated by demands from Sony Music, Universal Music and Warner Music for higher royalties for songs on Douyin and TikTok after contracts expire this spring, according to Bloomberg. With the two sides making little progress in negotiating new deals, support for the new program from the three labels remains uncertain.