Penelope McEvilly ’28
Isabella Winner ’28
With the rise of short-form video content on social media platforms such as TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels, music has often been the backbone of virality. Social media not only helps artists reach a greater audience and introduce people to new music but also allows fans and musicians alike to interact with one another and share creative inspiration among users. However, the rapid, fleeting nature of virality has sparked debates on whether these platforms are causing harm to the artistic value of music.
The greatest benefit social media has to offer is its accessibility. In general, social media allows people to discover more artists, learn things, and encourage people to make and publish their music. While streaming platforms do have options to find new songs and artists, social media helps people find artists that produce different genres and from anywhere in the world. It also helps people learn music. Jim Erwin Music Department Chair shares, “Things I do on piano now I [can] actually learn from YouTube shorts.” Social media also can encourage others to make music. Kayla Krasnick ’28 says, “I think it’s encouraged a lot more people to pursue music because they see all these other people being successful in their careers.” Indeed, many new artists today have built their careers and achieved mainstream success through garnering attention on TikTok.
Yet, the downsides of social media’s effects on music outweigh these benefits. A major criticism of short-form social media is its devaluing of art, where music has a short shelf life. Krasnick says, “I think it’s like a fad, you know, everyone’s using a sound. So, [if] someone uses it over and over, it gets repetitive… then it goes away.” Erwin adds that this rapid circulation of content and music that people consume is harmful to art: “I listen to a lot of stuff that really blows up and then goes away quickly because it’s just in this shifting feed. And intellectually, that’s anti-art.” Indeed, TikTok can be considered anti-art. When music becomes viral, only a short section of the song is known. This sound is used over and over again for a while until a new song takes over the spotlight. Not only does this pattern separate sounds from the original message or intent of the song, but it also makes music disposable and at times, generic.
While social media can expose one to a variety of music, most viral songs tend to be pop. This can make artists feel that they need to make that type of music as well. Krasnick notes, “I think [Tiktok] kind of popularized [pop], but it’s not very unique, and it makes people sound very similar that after a while, not everyone wants to hear.” Indeed, TikTok perpetuates pop’s influence on the music industry, promoting the creation of generic music that caters to the algorithm of music rather than creativity. Short snippets of songs becoming viral also make it so that people tend not to hear the whole song. Erwin notes, “When we’re talking about Sabrina Carpenter I had to listen to her whole album to realize how good she was. But my exposure to her was little snippets of ‘Espresso’ or ‘Please Please Please’ or those little sounds and I was only getting a snippet of what she was like as an artist.”
Another change that has been made is music becoming shorter. Erwin explains, “In my generation, an artist would put out an entire album, and it was almost like a symphony. There was an order of songs that people would do. The songs were longer. They weren’t like two and a half minutes. They were something like 6, 7, 8 minutes. [..] So social media is changing music, not necessarily in a bad way, but it’s just… the reality.” While this change isn’t necessarily good or bad, it is a development that has happened over the years.
Music is just one of the things social media has changed. Erwin says, “I mean, everything that’s evil and horrendous is on the internet, and everything wonderful and good is on the internet. So it’s almost like a Greek myth, you know, like Pandora’s box or something. It’s opened up everything.”
Photo courtesy of Carter Yearley ’25