Insights into the music industry - an interview with Michael Kümmerle

Michael Kümmerle has been working in the music industry for over 20 years. He knows the market, knows what makes platforms tick and, as Global Head of Music Partnership Development, continues to drive the development of the industry at TikTok. We spoke to Michael aboutwhy music plays such an important role at TikTok, how the collaboration with streaming providers works and what the plans for TikTok are going forward.

nextMedia: Hi Michael! A lot has happened in the music industry over the past few decades. How do you view this development?

Michael Kümmerle: The way we listen to music, the way we discover music and the relationship between artists and fans has changed fundamentally. Many chart successes now begin their journey on TikTok. The community decides which songs are popular, are shared and therefore reach the top of the charts. And this applies not only to new hits, but often also to classics that experience a revival through TikTok.

nextMedia: How has TikTok been able to contribute to this?

Michael Kümmerle: TikTok helps people discover new music and build a stronger bond with their favorite artists. And for us, "new" doesn't automatically mean newly released music. "New" also means that someone discovers music from the 80s for the first time, for example. That's a big difference to the past: today, the community has extensive access to music and a much greater influence on what music becomes successful or not. Trends and musical successes are created by moments. That's a big shift if we think back 10 or 15 years.

nextMedia: How do you see yourselves as a platform in the context of the music business?

Michael Kümmerle: TikTok is the platform for music promotion and music discovery. That is our top priority. More than every third number 1 hit that reached the top of the German single charts in 2024 had a viral moment on TikTok beforehand. In the USA, we also found that 84% of all songs that entered the top 200 Billboard charts in 2024 had previously gone viral on TikTok. This illustrates the impact the platform has on the music business.

nextMedia: Do you work with the labels on upcoming releases?

Michael Kümmerle: Yes. We have a partner set-up with all labels - and also with all publishers, because songwriters are also extremely important to us, e.g. we recently launched our TikTok songwriter feature in beta, so they can generate more attention for their works and compositions on TikTok. And finally, of course, we work directly with artists. We support them in the implementation of campaigns and have, for example, concluded ticketing partnerships so that they can also promote their concerts and sell tickets directly via the videos themselves. Basically, we want to help artists and songwriters become more successful - and not just on TikTok, but across platforms and businesses.

nextMedia: You mean the streaming providers?

Michael Kümmerle: Yes, also with the DSPs. We have created indirect added value for the downstream streaming services, and almost all providers are now involved, such as Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer and so on. This is important for us, because it ultimately allows us to make statements about how and why a song has become a success.

nextMedia: How exactly does that work?

Michael Kümmerle: Through a function that we launched at the end of 2023. It's called "+ to the music app". By clicking the "Add song" button in a video, you can easily save a song to the streaming service of your choice. Around one billion songs were saved via this last year.

nextMedia: Aren't you losing users to the streaming providers through this?

Michael Kümmerle: No. TikTok is a platform for music discovery and promotion, we are not a full streaming service. People should be able to discover the songs on TikTok and then listen to them in full length on their preferred streaming service. It also has a positive effect on all market participants, as more tracks make the breakthrough and become hits, so to speak, from TikTok via streaming services into the official music charts. The TikTok community and its superfans, who set the trends, are crucial here.

nextMedia: Do you have an example of what content offerings TikTok provides to superfans?

Michael Kümmerle: Last year, we launched "Spotlight" in the USA - a new solution for in-app promotion and fan engagement. The tool has also been available in Germany since this year, helping entertainment brands and studios to let fans discover their films and series and actively involve them in the community dialog. For example, interactive links can be embedded directly in videos that take users to the corresponding in-app pages. There they can find all the important information such as trailers, casts, streaming options and even movie tickets. Sony's use of TikTok Spotlight for "Venom: The Last Dance" was the most successful of its kind to date The campaign achieved over 43+ billion impressions, 533+ million daily video views and more than 20+ million creator contributions.

nextMedia: What challenges are you currently facing?

Michael Kümmerle: It is important to understand that TikTok is not a streaming service, but it is fully licensed and ensures that rights holders receive royalties when their music is used. Our goal is to help our partners make the most of the many commercial opportunities that TikTok offers. TikTok attaches great importance to protecting the copyright of artists. Labels are also increasingly seeing the potential for their artists and are increasingly seeking long-term partnerships with TikTok.

nextMedia: How does the debate about AI and copyright play into this?

Michael Kümmerle: Like the entire industry, we are following developments in the field of AI very closely and what this could mean for artists and the community on TikTok. Since last year, TikTok has been automatically recognizing and tagging AI-generated content as soon as it is uploaded - thanks to our partnership with the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA). We were the first content sharing platform to adopt this open standard technology.

nextMedia: What's next for you guys?

Michael Kümmerle: We want to continue to be an important interface between labels, artists and their fans. We have just launched our all-in-one music platform SoundOn in Germany to help artists increase their reach on TikTok, promote and distribute their music plus royalties and insights. There are some initial success stories with artists such as Ely Oaks and WizTheMc.

Thanks for the interview!