If you still need to claim your TikTok artist profile, then you are missing a beat. It may have only launched three and a half years ago. But the short video-based social media app has taken the world, and significantly, the music industry, by storm.
TikTok artist verification doesn’t come easily. You’ll first need to find out how to claim your TikTok artist profile. Then you’ll need to work hard to grow your followers. The app is hot property for those building a fanbase, but, you’ll need to stand out.
Read on to find out how you can earn your very own orange – or maybe even blue – tick and become an internet singing sensation without even leaving home.
How to claim your TikTok artist profile
TikTok’s popularity continues to climb and connects users with a global, expanding audience. It’s therefore a very relevant platform for posting content as a singer and musician. You can use it for clips of your performing, or exclusive behind-the-scenes content. You’ll need to be mindful of what and how you post though. As with any digital platform, it’s an excellent marketing vehicle.
You’re probably already familiar with the app. If not, download it and find out for yourself just how addictive it is. Users can view all sorts of content, which is super for singers, looking to get their snappy music videos in front of thousands, maybe even millions. Age is no barrier here, in fact, teens do really well on TikTok. 16-year-old US dancer, Charli D’Amelio, has over 100 million followers.
How do I claim an artist profile on TikTok?
Creating your TikTok profile is easy and proves to be a similar process to signing up for any other website. Once you’re set-up, you can operate in the name you’ve chosen – which should be your artist name, and the same across all your channels. However, creating a profile is not the same as claiming – or verifying – one.
Verification is all about proving you are who you say you are. After you’ve set yourself up with a profile that matches your artist or band name, you may want to find a way to let fans know you’re the real thing. This is especially important for well-known stars, for whom duplicate fake accounts invariably appear. This protects both the artist/creator and the end user.
How do I claim my music on TikTok?
You control what you upload. If you sing one of your songs or use it a video you post, then it’ll be automatically assigned to you. You can also use tunes from the app’s public catalogue, ensuring you’re not infringing any copyrights.
But what if other’s take your tunes and use them? The best way to make sure you’re credited anytime someone uses your music (and in many cases, that you receive royalties), is to sign up to a digital aggregator or music distribution site, like DistroKid. They’ll be able to claim it for you.
Tip: you can tell if a user is uploading sounds from the music catalogue, or something original as it’ll show on the sound icon at the bottom of their video.
TikTok artist verification
If you’re looking to become a verified TikTok user, there’s more than one way to verify your account.
It’s trickier to verify an account on TikTok than on other social media platforms. Traditional verification is reserved solely for celebrities and famous figures. But TikTok has its own second unique method of account verification that any user can try and gain.
You might not be able to get a blue verification badge on TikTok, but you can compete with other users to try and get your account verified as a “popular user”. What’s more, you’ll build your fanbase and have lots of fun in the process.
How to get verified on TikTok
Unless you’re a world-famous star, becoming a ‘popular user’ is the most realistic way to get your TikTok account verified. If you post lots of regular content that people love, TikTok has the power to select you as a popular user and verify your account using an orange tick.
TikTok hasn’t stated exactly how many followers you need to be verified as a Popular User, but you’ll need at least 100,000. To qualify you need more than lots of followers; you need to post regular, high-quality content that gets lots of views. The more views and comments you get on your videos, the more likely your account will be verified.
How do famous artists get verified on TikTok?
You can easily get a verified account if you’re a noteworthy public figure, celebrity or brand. TikTok will verify the accounts of famous people and businesses automatically with a blue tick.
This means that famous figures and brands will get verified on TikTok regardless of how many followers they have. These accounts have to be managed by the celebrities themselves though, not a fanbase, or they will be deleted.
TikTok artist profiles
If you’ve been looking at other artists’ profiles, you may be a little confused by the various ticks and symbols. Here’s what each of them means:
Crown
If you joined TikTok in the past few years, you might be perplexed by the crown badge that appears on some accounts. This is the logo TikTok used to use to indicate an official verified account, but this has since been changed to more traditional tick badges.
Blue Tick
As we’ve already discussed, the blue tick is a mark of verification on TikTok. It appears on the profiles of celebrities, famous musicians, brands, and news networks. This badge indicates that the profile is associated with that famous person and is not a fan page or parody account. The blue tick system is also found on other social media platforms.
Orange Tick
Some accounts on TikTok will have an orange tick next to their name. These indicate the accounts that have been identified as “popular users. The orange verification tick is given to influencers and popular creators on the network. It’s therefore used to set these creators apart from the blue tick celebrity profiles and the standard TikTokkers.
Creating a TikTok artist page
As a singer, you can use your vocal talents and your existing social media as a singer to boost your following. Once you’ve set up your TikTok page, there are a number of activities you can do, to increase your exposure and get noticed, like:
- Collaborate with other TikTok users (ideally those with plenty of fans) to pool your followers
- Incorporate trending songs and memes into your videos
- Post regular content
- Record high–quality videos
- Add hashtags to your posts
- Share your TikTok content on your other social media platforms and website
- Make use of the free analytics dashboard with insights, video view counts and audience demographics (this will help you figure out what you’re doing right – and wrong)
TikTok for artists app
A fantastic part of the TikTok experience is that you don’t need thousands of followers for your video to be seen. TikTok’s recommendations are more organic than some other platforms. Its algorithms focus more on what will be of interest to the user than on how successful the uploader has been. That said, more followers will put you ahead of the game, in terms of industry gravitas. But it’s not the be-all and end-all. This is good news for aspiring artists new to the app.
Being on as many social media platforms as possible is a great way to build your reputation as an artist. Even if you don’t manage to get a popular user verification badge on TikTok, it’s still worth setting up an account to increase your exposure and grow your fanbase. Plus it’s a whole lot of fun and gets you in the swing of making punchy music videos.
Related Questions
- Do artists get paid from TikTok?
Last year, the platform changed its rules, to now pay artists royalties. You’ll need subscribers to stream your music, and you then receive a proportional share of the revenue. It’s a similar system to Spotify and iTunes. As TikTok’s income changes, so will the amount you get paid per stream.
- How do you get 1000 followers on TikTok?
Increasing your followers is important on all social media platforms and the same principles apply across all of them. Engagement and great content are key. You can read our article to find out more, with tips on how to enlarge your online fan base.
- What happens when you get 1k followers on TikTok?
This number is an important milestone, as it’s at this stage you’ll be able to accept donations and host live videos – something that’s super useful as a musician. You’re also more likely to attract the attention of influential people in the music industry.
Have you claimed your TikTok artist profile yet? Did you get verified? Let us know and share your videos in the comments below.