I love when songs for small artists on TikTok show up on my For You Page. 

Oftentimes, if I exceptionally enjoy the song, I’ll follow the artist in preparation for when they release it or to remember to listen to their other music. I’ve done this with creators such as David Kushner, Pablo Brooks, and Peach Martine. All of these artists have shown up on my For You Page, and I followed them in hopes that they would stay in my mind.

Consequently, these artists have created songs that I feel match my vibe of music the most. Some of these songs blow up incredulously. When this happens, I find the comments filled with people asking for a release date or where they can find the full version. This creates the perfect opportunity for artists to hit it big. 

David Kushner, for example, hit it big by releasing his music within a couple of months of it blowing up a lot. Kushner, with his 1.9 million TikTok followers, exemplifies how much releasing songs quickly can impact success.

Meanwhile, Peach Martine, although she has 1.1 million TikTok followers, has not mastered this art. Her song, “I Would Have Given You the Moon,” has amassed 430.6 thousand views and 73.7 thousand likes. While this may not be to the level some other artists have blown up, her comments are filled with people asking for her to release the full version. 

Martine created that video on Feb. 24th, 2021, and didn’t release the song until Jan. 28th, 2022. 

She regularly updates her followers on how many streams on streaming platforms her song has. The numbers are quite large, but not even close to what they could’ve been if she released the song sooner. 

Martine often gets shadowbanned: an unofficial ban from TikTok where she can still post, but her visibility has been reduced greatly so her videos show up less on people’s For You Pages. Martine has acknowledged her frequent shadowbanning and how it affects the number of streams she receives on new music.

Even though releasing her viral or semi-viral songs at a quicker pace won’t immunize her from shadowbanning, more TikTok users will be apt to listen to the song if they learn it’s coming out within the next couple of months.

Many of the reasons I find myself enjoying songs that come up on my For You Page is the relatability of them. If the song I find relatable and would like to frequently listen to doesn’t come out for a year, it’s highly unlikely that I’ll still find it relatable. Emotions and states of life change quickly and music is a comfort factor to any life stage or mood, especially if the lyrics or background music matches the feeling. 

As a TikTok user and lover of relatable music that surfaces on my For You Page, I am begging artists to prioritize releasing popular songs for not only their benefit and success, but for their current and possible future fans and followers.