NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — With the Supreme Court poised to hear arguments later this month about whether to allow a ban of the social media app TikTok, a Nashville music producer said the app is an added stream of income for many artists and one of the best ways for her to discover new talent.
“I’m always on the hunt for who’s the next artist, who’s the next thing,” said Grammy-nominated music producer Justine Blazer.
Just like many of us during the pandemic, Blazer hopped on the social media app.
“I just started discovering, ‘Wow, there’s like, a whole new world out here with all these independent artists…Cara Paige, Ashlie Amber, Lola Violet,'” Blazer recalled.
When asked how TikTok differentiates itself from other social media platforms, Blazer told News 2, “With TikTok, it’s its own thing, right? It’s its own unique algorithm, so when I search like ‘independent artists’ or ‘indie singer-songwriter,’ I’m going to get artists that are just that.”
Although TikTok has only been around since 2016, Blazer said it’s completely transformed the way some Nashville artists perform. She added that singer-songwriters not only play live at honky-tonks and other venues, but they also have a completely separate audience online.
“I go on there, I see live bands, I go through there, and I see ‘so and so’s live at Kid Rock,’ ‘so and so is live at Teddy’s Tavern’… and I love to watch those lives, and I’ll support them. I’ll send them a heart or I’ll send them a rose or whatever, and they make money off of that,” she explained.
Blazer added this extra stream of income for musical artists can be key. According to the Greater Nashville Music Census, low or uncertain pay ranked the highest in music career challenges.
“As artists here in Nashville, musicians here in Nashville, it’s tough to make a living. It’s tough. We rely on tips. We rely on everything we can,” Blazer said.
However, TikTok’s future in the United States remains uncertain. A nationwide ban is set to go into Jan. 19 unless the Supreme Court stops it after hearing arguments on Jan. 10.
President-elect Donald Trump recently asked the Supreme Court to delay the deadline on the ban so he can work out a deal that would save the app after trying to ban it during his first term in office.
“Even if they do ‘save TikTok,’ it’ll be interesting to see what that even looks like,” Blazer remarked. “Is someone going to buy it? Will it be the TikTok that we know, or is it going to be just a variation of it? All these questions are just going to be kind of to be determined, so we’ll see where this goes.”
