When people think TikTok, they think music. The platform has revolutionized the way artists release their work and connect with listeners – a community of over a billion music fans. With the Indonesian launch of TikTok Music, our new, integrated service for streaming full versions of the songs you've discovered, we're taking fans to the next level of listening. It's an exciting time for music-lovers, and it's all made possible by the dedicated team building the platform. We spoke to Tricia, Gale, and Matthew at the TikTok offices in Jakarta about their innovative work making TikTok Music unique and exciting to use.
"TikTok Music is effortless to use," says Tricia Dizon, the Country Group Head of TikTok Music in Southeast Asia. "By being integrated with TikTok, if a music fan hears a song they like in a video on the platform, they can press a button and be instantly redirected to TikTok Music to listen to the full song. It's a really fun, seamless way to discover music."
The team growing TikTok Music is as large and diverse as the platform's song collection. Some teammates come from a tech background, but many have prior experience and rich connections with the music industry.
"TikTok Music is very distinctive from other music platforms, because we have a lot of unique voices involved in building it," says Gale Dewo, a Product and Business Operations Lead on the team. "I encourage open brainstorming sessions within the team to cultivate the best ideas. Our team also explores other music services and offline events to understand what is working and what isn't."
This culture of open collaboration and curiosity helps the team look past what other players in the industry do and branch out from the way things have always been done.
"For example, our user interface is very distinctive from other music streaming interfaces." Dewo says. He describes an experience that is purely TikTok – you swipe up to explore different songs, personalized for your tastes, and even leave likes and comments on the music of your favorite artists. "This is a very social-minded platform. In fact, some musicians actually write back to connect with their beloved fans!"
"It's undeniable TikTok has completely changed the way people discover music," says Matthew Tanaya, who leads Artist Promotions in Indonesia. He has first hand experience in helping artists grow their audiences on the platform, and making their catalogues accessible is a vital part of that process. "Once people discover a song they love on TikTok, they want to consume it over and over again. And now we have TikTok Music, a streaming platform where you can immediately discover and enjoy the entire song."
In addition to Indonesia, TikTok Music has launched in Singapore, Mexico, Australia and Brazil, with ambitions for many more countries in the future. Like Dewo, Tanaya empathsizes that this growth would not be possible without a team that is plugged into what TikTok users are looking for from their music and dedicated to finding the best way to connect them with it.
"We have editors on our team, programmers, library members, we have people in label relations, and we all work together to tune in (no pun intended) to what our audience wants." The team explored different strategies to create engaging programs and promote artists to the right audiences – and they're just getting started.
If you're interested in joining the TikTok Music team, Tanaya, Dewo, and Dizon all agree creativity and passion to aim for new heights are vital qualities in any potential candidate. "By the nature of the industry that we're in, things change so quickly," says Dizon. "There's room for fresh ideas anywhere. TikTok never starts with constraints."
"Keeping an open mind is key. Don't limit your ideas from the start." agrees Dewo. "This is a place where big, bold ideas can flourish."
Does the work of revolutionizing the music industry through a fresh new platform strike a chord? Explore open positions on the team here.
