Trying to keep up with the constant cycle of how music blows up has always been intriguing but has served as a constant conundrum to me. In 2019, platforms like Triller, Tik Tok, Musically and more have served as makeshift A&R platforms to test out what songs are hot or not. I reached out to Head of Music Playlisting at Triller — Cam Molina — for an interview so he could shed some light on the ins and outs of what goes into the behind the scenes of these powerful music marketing platforms.
– – – –
LL: What’s the process behind picking a song that you think that’s going to fit on Triller?
Cam: To be honest, it’s everything you know from paying attention to the videos that are going viral on Instagram and Twitter to checking the playlists on Spotify and SoundCloud. Even working with the music data company Indify recently has been huge for us and YouTube, of course — just being able to have all these different platforms and options to go look at stuff. I have a general idea of what I believe to be more of our brand of music and kind of content that would work best to the platform.
So a lot of it comes down to just being able to hear a song and be like, you know what, I think that’ll go; it has that downbeat, it has that chorus, and it has a hook that will make people want to dance to make content. A lot of it is just to feel and obviously, we have our ways of expanding in the other music genres and markets. But I guess our niche is hip-hop dance and culture. It’s the feeling that I have when I’m going through music. I’m just like if you can hit the woah to it or hit them folks to it, then something will like it and create content to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIQoD53KmpA
LL: How is it dealing with labels, management companies, and different artists that are trying to progress on the app? I feel like a lot of people don’t really know about that or see that side.
Cam: Yeah, a lot of the labels and distribution companies come to us from a perspective that playlisting is obviously a huge thing right now. We provide artists options outside of playlisting. I believe video influencer marketing is seen as the best way to further support and push for whatever you’re trying to promote music-wise. It’s one thing being able to get your fans to listen to the music, but it’s another thing to have them engage and possibly allow themselves to create viral dances.
However, the older generations own these labels and a lot of these companies so there’s a disconnect where the actual power lies and where it works. With Triller, it’s like educating them on the scene and the culture that exists around it because it’s powerful. These kids like Seth Vezer, Ayo and Teo, and Backpack Kid have been on the app forever and they’ve grown so much outside of it that people are willing to pay them these marketing budgets just to help. Co-promotion and partnerships are really just the names of the game right now. We’ve been able to get these artists to associate with Triller because of the way our brand has grown organically through the platform.
LL: I was talking to somebody last night and taking screenshots of different creators on Triller. I’d click on a random person’s profile and be shocked at how many views the videos were getting. It’s crazy because most artists that are making the music won’t even get that many plays. However, if you give the music to these influencers like Seth and the Backpack Kid, they can get you anywhere between 50,000 to a million plays on a video.
Cam: That’s what I try and tell these labels — there’s a whole market that has been created through video influencers. You have to be capitalizing not only on Triller but also on Tik Toc, Dubsmash, etc. if you’re really trying to grow. It’s interesting because we place ourselves in such a powerful position with these licensing deals that allow content to be shared across other platforms; that’s kind of how we position ourselves without getting flagged. A lot of these influencer campaigns have allowed us to put deals in place with the labels.
LL: How does the youth control the charts and the music in general? I look at songs like “Envy Me” by Calboy and it’s got 160 million plays on Spotify, but that has a lot to do with these kids dancing and making short videos on these apps. That content then helps elevate the songs to a higher status of notoriety — just look at “Old Town Road”, “Suge”, or “Ransom” for examples.
Cam: It’s interesting because social media has played a different role in the development of the younger generation, whether it be in their identity, their scene, their friends, or the culture that they’re into. A lot of these kids are so obsessed with the concept that they want to be influencers from the time they are 10 or 11 years old. From there, they have tools like Triller or any other video marketing platform to make cool connections and have people that want to work and interact with you.
These kids are smart for wanting to capitalize on their talents at an early age. They are controlling the art and music scene because this is what they are putting their heart and soul into. With the older generation, we’re much less likely to find success filming ourselves dancing to make money. It’s funny watching that kind of dynamic because in that sense, kids are just capitalizing on where they are in their lives — all they’re doing is following their passions for social media and music. They all want to be popular and all it takes is one kid to influence a few pockets of people at a time to be successgul. There’s no exact science behind it, but there are definitely effective strategies that can be used in blowing up songs on these platforms.
LL: Right, it’s really different because back in the day, you would kill to wake up and be on a blog like UHeardThatNew, 2DopeBoyz, HotNewHipHop, FADER, etc. Triller and video marketing, in general, have really brought a new aspect to the game where you don’t necessarily need all that. People’s attention spans are super short, so when they hear a 15 to 30-second clip of something they like, they’ll ask “what’s this song?”. From there, the growth fuels itself.
Cam: Exactly. “What’s that song?” is the huge question that I always tell people to aim for. People really notice the song in the background of a video, especially when it’s on a dance video where someone is hitting every beat. There’s definitely a psychological element to it.
On top of that, though, you don’t need people to just ask, “what song is that?”. You also need them to put the songs in their playlist and stream them so that the artist can make money. I’ve been trying to tell people you have to find a way to generate engagement with your content but also be able to shift your audience from one platform to another. With the right strategy behind it, that shift will happen from Instagram to Spotify, Instagram to SoundCloud, or even Instagram to YouTube. You just have to cast your net as wide as possible to stand a chance.