Lila Butterworth, Class IV and Taliah Wasserman, Class IV
Photo Credit: Personal
How Do Songs Become Popular?
Due to the increasing usage of social media and the role music plays in popular culture, the fact that there is a correlation between the popularity of songs and their presence on social media may not be surprising. However, the extent to which social media such as TikTok and Instagram have influenced what music becomes popular with today’s teenagers is greater than most might realize.
As teenagers are avid consumers of social media and popular music, 13 Brooklyn Latin discipuli ranging from class IV to class I were surveyed regarding some of TikTok’s most popular songs in the past three months. They were asked questions relating to their awareness of these songs and their opinions of them.
Some songs, such as Ice Spice’s “Boys a Liar” and SZA’s “Kill Bill,” maintain consistent good reviews, with 100% of participants knowing “Kill Bill” and then about 85% believing it’s a good song, with a similar ratio for “Boys a Liar.” However the majority of other popular TikTok songs listed are said to be overrated, with 100% of those surveyed knowing “Made You Look” by Meghan Trainor but only 7.7% actually liking the song and similar large gaps existing with other viral songs.
Other data collected shows that some students listened to trending songs just because they were viral and inescapable on social media. 23% of those surveyed said they listened to songs like Sam Smith’s “Unholy” and “Rich Flex” by Drake just because they were viral, compared to only around 7% of students listening to these songs because the snippets they heard on social media actually compelled them to.
These songs aren’t just popular on social media, many of TikTok’s viral songs are present on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the week of April 15, with three being in the top ten and 6 out of 7 placing in the top 30. Yet, the question remains, how exactly are these songs becoming so popular?
The pie chart below displays the methods with which discipuli discovered these songs:
Over half listed social media as their main method, with TikTok being the main platform of about 45% of those surveyed.
With this, it is clear that social media, especially TikTok, plays an indispensable role in promoting music, particularly with high school students, and songs that are “viral” may be so in part due to the app's algorithm and not because they are insanely well-liked.
How Do Music Platforms Get Used?
Out of all the music streaming services out there, Spotify and Apple Music are, by far, the most popular. Spotify currently has 489 million active users while Apple Music has 88 million subscribers as of 2023. Our school seems to mirror this trend with over 80% of the discipuli surveyed saying that they use Spotify the most, while the remaining say they prefer Apple Music. But what draws so many people to these platforms? Is it the features? Subscription plans? Or something else entirely?
A number of discipuli said they prefer Spotify because their family uses it. And it's true, Spotify does offer many subscription plans. But how do they compare to the ones offered by Apple Music? Spotify has 5 different types of subscriptions. The free plan includes a variety of tracks with ads included and a limited number of skips per hour. Spotify Premium has four tiers including Duo, Family and Student plans that vary from $4.99 to $15.99 a month. All Apple Music users pay a monthly fee with 4 different options. Similar to what Spotify offers including a Family, Student, Voice and Individual plan. Both platforms' subscription plans seem to match each other, so why does there seem to be a strong preference for one?
As of October 2022, Apple Music had the bigger library of songs, containing over 100 million tracks while Spotify only contained around 80 million. Even with this significant difference, Spotify makes up for it partly with their wide variety of podcasts, ranging from true crime to comedy, in a total of approximately 5 million titles, where Apple Music has none. Apple does own another app dedicated to podcasts but they only own around 2.5 million titles. Another appeal to Spotify is their flexibility on the content allowed on their platform. Where Apple Music forbids unsigned artists unless they have a direct partnership with an Apple-preferred distributor, Spotify allows independent artists to upload their own content as long as they do it themselves.
And finally, personalization. Both platforms contain the basic outline structures of a music streaming service. Apple Music and Spotify allow their users to like a song, share it and add songs to playlists automatically. Whereas Apple Music balances their products and your personal music array with Apple-curated playlists and radio, Spotify is more targeted to each individual listener and their musical preferences. Spotify proves to be more advanced when giving their users features that personalize their listening experiences. These include collaborative playlists, the ability to follow artists and new content recommended to you based on your listening history. While Apple Music does not have these things, the platform does have a more robust search-by-lyric filter as well as the best sound quality when it comes to listening to their tracks.
The question of which streaming service is better is up to personal preference but we can conclude that both are at the top of their game. With tens of millions of songs, podcasts and easy to access features, both Apple Music and Spotify are making our listening experiences in the 21st century more seamless than ever before.
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