Yurr. Let me break it all down for you.

TikTok has completely changed the game for independent artists, and I say that not as a theory — but as someone who’s built a real fanbase, grown to 300k+ monthly listeners, and had songs take off all from short-form content. No label. No manager. Just strategy, consistency, and knowing how the platform works.

This isn’t a hype post — this is the real blueprint for artists trying to grow.

🧱 The Early Days: Don’t Expect to Go Viral Overnight

First thing you gotta understand — the early grind on TikTok is the hardest.

• You might post for weeks with no traction.

• You’ll overthink your content.

• You’ll feel like no one’s watching.

But that’s all part of the process.

In the beginning, your goal isn’t to “go viral” — it’s to create a style within a niche. You want someone to land on your profile, scroll, and instantly get a sense of:

• What your vibe is

• What kind of content you make

• What they’ll get if they follow

That’s how you build early trust. Your first few hundred followers will come from consistency in style.

These first steps can take time, it took me 7 months of posting consistently to get to around 3000 followers, however 5 months from then i was hitting 20k followers. You will be rewarded from your consistency. It's hard to say whether the tiktok algorithm really rewards consistency (I've had mixed results) however you learn alot with consistent posts and that's where I believe the growth comes from.

Several months later i now sit at just under 50k followers, so don't expect your growth to be linear.

🔍 Study What Works (But Make It Yours)

Before I found what worked for me, I spent time studying other artists/producers in my lane. If someone was popping in my niche, I’d look at:

• What kind of videos they posted

• What hashtags they used

• What their video lengths were (yes, that matters) not all niches are suited to longform tiktok videos

• How they formatted their captions

• How often they reused content or sounds

I’d literally take notes, not to copy, but to build my own understanding of the algorithm.

The trick is to learn the rules, then flip them to suit your personality and sound.

🧠 If Something Works — Don’t Change It

This right here is key.

Let’s say you post a video and it starts doing well — maybe it’s a freestyle clip, or a snippet teaser with a certain sound behind it.

👉 Don’t switch it up.
Don’t change the length, format, caption style, or sound. Keep repeating that format with small variations.

TikTok LIKES when creators “rinse and repeat” formats the algorithm already understands perform well.

You can change little things to keep it fresh, but keep the core exactly the same. That’s how you stack wins — not one viral post, but a run of posts that all perform.

This is the exact strategy that will put momentum behind your songs, but also gain you 1000s of followers per week once it's working with a particular song.

💬 Engage With Your Niche (But Keep Your Identity)

Another key move is engaging with others in your niche — not just fans, but other creators.

• Comment on relevant videos

• Follow artists with similar vibes

• Drop real feedback (not “bro check me out”)

• collab with them too

BUT — don’t overdo it. You still need to build your own lane. If you just echo other people’s content or energy too much, you lose your uniqueness. Think of it as “strategic networking,” not copying.

🧠 TikTok SEO Hack: Swipe Text Off Screen

Here’s a trick I’ve used a lot:

✅ Add keyword-rich text into your TikTok video e.g you make rnb music youd type (Rnb, Rnb Music, Rnb songs, Rnb sounds e.t.c) then swipe the text off screen on the tiktok editor so viewers can’t see it, but the algorithm still reads it.

This boosts your content in TikTok’s search-based feed, especially for people looking for new music.

🔗 Linktree & Calls to Action

Once you start gaining traction, people will click your bio.

Make sure your Linktree (or bio link) is organized:

• New songs section at the top

• All release section lower down

• Pre-saves (if relevant)

• Instagram/YT/socials at the top using linktrees socials function

Also: in your video captions, drop CTAs like:

“Song drops Friday 👀”
“Full track in bio”
“Pre-save link in my profile!”

Small details like that increase click-throughs and drive real streams.

🧠 Pro Tip: Tease Your Drops

One of the best tactics I’ve used is to tease songs before they drop — even weeks in advance.

You build hype by:

• Reposting the same snippet multiple times

• Building a story around the song (“should I drop this??”)

• Letting comments decide when to release (“50 comments and I’ll drop it Friday”)

People love being part of a moment — and teasing creates urgency.

Also when you release it, people will be much more receptive because they thought they werent going to get the full version of the song.

Go to most artists pages you;ll see a handful of comments saying things like: "Just drop it already" "why you always gate keeping" these are good for building momentum

🎯 Final Thoughts

TikTok isn’t just for going viral — it’s a legit marketing tool that many independent labels utilise in 2025 too

The key is:

• Build consistency in your content style

• Study what works, then make it your own

• Rinse & repeat winning formats

• Engage without losing your identity

• Use SEO, tease your music, and optimize your links

This platform helped me reach 300k+ monthly listeners and continues to grow my fanbase every day.

You don’t need a budget.
You don’t need a manager.
You just need strategy + execution.

If you’re serious about music, TikTok should be an every day deal.