Billboard’s singing competition on TikTok signals the industry publication’s plans to become a consumer-facing brand on the platform. Billboard NXT is a Samsung-sponsored singing competition that kicked off on TikTok in September, featuring 12 contestants selected by the publication’s editorial team competing in a hashtag challenge for the chance to win their own music video and print/digital cover feature. The competition asks contestants to participate in a series of weekly challenges while filming and editing them using the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G, and three finalists will perform at a livestream event on Billboard.com. Billboard’s TikTok competition is just one way the publication has been creating more consumer-facing programs: Billboard recently teamed up with Logitech to generate a monthly chart ranking creators on social media who have contributed to trending songs. TikTok’s impact on the music industry is only getting bigger, and aligning with the platform could be a boon for brands in the music industry to reach young consumers who are using social media to discover new hits—54% of whom have discovered a song/musician on TikTok according to YPulse’s music research. (Digiday)
