TikTok partners with the cryptocurrency-based music platform Audius

Many of the young social media enthusiasts today are discovering new music via TikTok. Now, the leading social media platform has joined Audius, a streaming platform that is fast becoming one of the largest decentralized consumer applications.

The strange couple

The couple is particularly interesting considering that about a month ago, TikTok has taken additional measures to limit cryptographic content of influencers and creators on the platform. The sharing feature on TikTok has come into effect and will seek to give visibility to future artists on the platform by allowing them to upload music directly from Audius to TikTok. 

Audius has a roster of over 100.000 artists, including the major EDM exhibition, with artists such as Skrillex and deadmau5. The platform was founded in 2018 and launched in 2019 and uses the Ethereum and Solana blockchains. Audius has also surpassed five million monthly users in recent weeks; that number was less than one million in January, according to a Rolling Stone report.

Audius boasts an open network, platform governance and security around the artist's work. The Audius protocol even allows users to point the platform's native token on hosted services to earn revenue.

The new partnership opens the door to a new “TikTok Sounds” library on the social media app.

Learn more about Audius

The deal with TikTok is the first major consumer-facing partnership for Audius and could very well open the door to an influx of new music artists flocking to the platform given the streamlined ability to distribute content on TikTok.

Where do cryptocurrencies really come into play? Unlike traditional streaming players like Spotify, creators are not paid on a per-stream basis. Audius instead provides the fundamental infrastructure for artists to monetize their work, including through NFT sales.

Creators on the Audius platform can also be rewarded with the platform's native token, $ AUDIO.

Audius also offers Hedgehog, which is an “open-source client-side Ethereum wallet” that allows users to simplify dApp interaction.

Could Audius' decentralization and incentive alignment model affect TikTok's perspective on creators? TikTok has generally been envisioned as a creator-friendly platform, via tools like the TikTok Creator Marketplace, which allows creators and influencers a streamlined process to connect with brands and other partners for paid content opportunities.

Twitter and Reddit have been two of the most aggressive mainstream social media platforms in interacting with cryptocurrencies lately (both mainly via NFT). Could TikTok emerge as another major player in this space? Let us know in the comments section below.