If a tick’s song like a doctor’s dog goes viral, “Where will it go all the time?” Or Bo Burnham’s “Bezos Eye” wasn’t already stuck in the loop in your head, now they could be. Today SiriusXM has launched a TikTok radio channel, which features TikTok developers as channel hosts. The station is designed to sound “like the radio version of the platform’s ‘for you’ feed,” Sirius XM said. Pandora’s parent company, SiriusXM, announced the music channel in May, blowing up the launch via a curated Pandora playlist from influencers like Bella Porch, whose Millie B’s “Soph Aspin Send [M to B]” lip-syncing video tick.
In partnership with the TikTok app itself, DJ Habibeats (@djhabibeats) and DJ CONST (@erinconstantineofficial) will each go live on TikTok week while DJing on TikTok Radio. Other creator hosts on TikTok Radio — like Billy (@8illy), Cat Haley (@itscathaley), HINDZ (@hindzsight), Lamar Dawson (@dirrtykingofpop) and Taylor Cassidy (@taylorcassidyj), Lamar Dawson (irdirrtykingofpop) and Taylor Cassidy (aytaylorcassidyj) – “Tiktok Radiontend,”
For the first week of the station’s promotion, artists like Ed Sheeran, Lil Nas X, and Normani will be broadcasting. Music in Tiktok culture is so powerful that it regularly influences billboard charts – originally a “rumor” from Fleetwood Mac, published in 1978, that it appeared on the top 10 Billboard albums again in 2020 after going viral on TikTok. Even a Fortnight-themed parody of Estelle’s “American Boy” who was originally uploaded to YouTube in 2018 had a beautiful moment on the ticket.
“We are thrilled to launch Tiktok Radio on SiriusXM, which opens up to new listener’s artists and creators like this amazing group of hosts,” said Ole Obermann, Tiktok’s Head of Music Global Head. “Now SiriusXM customers will have a new way to discover the latest trends in music and be the first to hear the musical superstars of tomorrow. The channel embodies a song-breaking music culture that makes tickets so much fun and entertaining through video in an all-audio format. While SiriusXM subscriber base continues to grow it’s up 34% year-over-year from last year it’s still a dwarf compared to streaming giants like Spotify, which has 165 million paying users. SiriusXM reported a total of 34.5 million subscribers in the second half of this year, the highest ever, but even Apple Music and Amazon Music subscribers nearly doubled.
