For a very long time there has been a bit of a standoff between musicians and their legions of fans who'd like nothing better than to use a bit of their favorite song in their own video productions. Rights have been hard to secure and prohibitively priced to the point where most content creators just don't try obtaining them or go guerrilla and hope they don't get caught for a long time. That logjam seems to finally be breaking loose and the dammed-up river of creative content is about to become a torrent.

TikTok Universal Music Group Agreement

Recently, content platform TikTok has announced an agreement with music rights management behemoth Universal Music Group that permits TikTok users to access all, repeat: all, of UMGs content. This follows on the heels of several other agreements with firms such as Sony and Warner. Unlike notoriously-restrictive YouTube, TikTok has apparently decided to partner up with its content providers rather than rigorously police them for rights violations where everybody ends up the loser.

TikTok Revenue

Musicians can now get an extra stream of revenue for their work. Content providers now have access to high-quality material to enhance the production qualities of their output, and the large corporate entities which stand on both sides of the divide now have a perfect win-win situation for their own bottom lines.

Of course the devil is always in the details, but TikTok's aggressive pursuit of access to what appears to be all music everywhere signals that it wants to be the premier place for content creators worldwide. On the face of it, it seems that creators can now access these rights virtually automatically. How the TikTok Universal full catalog arrangement provides payment with the rights holders is not clear at the moment, but it appears that they are paying for the music rights on behalf of all their users and then getting repaid out of the profits generated from viral content.

The real question now is whether other content platforms will follow TikTok's example or are already doing so. With the near-simultaneous news that UMG has pulled access from TikTok competitor Triller, there is likely to be some significant deal-making action among other industry players in the near future. The possibility of bidding wars heating up cannot be discounted either if this proves to be a highly profitable move by TikTok.

Reddit recently announced its first major acquisition with purchase of Dubsmash, a TikTok-like social media site where users upload short-form videos. While the terms of the deal were not disclosed, Dubsmash recently raised $20.2 million from investors including Heartcore Capital, Lowercase Capital, Sunstone Life and Index Ventures among others.

From what has been publicly revealed about the deal, Dubsmash will continue to operate as a separate platform. The driver for the purchase is to integrate Dubsmash's video creation tools into Reddit which, while it has supported video uploads since 2017, has limited video editing tools with the videos posted on the site often hosted elsewhere.

All About Dubsmash

Dubsmash was launched in 2015 as a video app where users could lip-sync to popular music. It struggled in the first few years of its existence but in 2007 it pivoted to become a full social media platform and moved its operations from Berlin to Brooklyn. Since then it has seen increased popularity and now has the largest share of the US short-form video market aside from the leader TikTok, based on app installs. Reportedly Dubsmash also held talks with Facebook and Snap about a possible acquisition before the Reddit deal was inked.

About Reddit

Reddit was founded in 2005 in San Francisco and bought by Conde Nast the following year. In 2011 it was sold, though the parent company of Conde Nast, Advance Publications, retains a stake. Last year it raised some $300m in funding from range of investors, including Sequoia Capital and Andrew Horowitz, valuing it at over $3 billion. The company has 700 employees compared to Dubsmash's 12.

One of the distinguishing features of Dubsmash is that it has a large user base of Black and Latinx users who are credited as the main reason for the site's success. TikTok's highest profile stars are white and the New York times published an article earlier this year claiming dance moves by Black creators on the site were often appropriated by TikTok users without giving credit to the original creators which meant that they missed out on larger followings and brand deals as a result. Reddit said in a statement that it regarded the purchase of the company as a part of a greater effort on its part to be more inclusive - the company has faced criticism in the past for racism after allowing hate-speech to be hosted on the site.

Although first released in China for the Chinese market in 2016 as Douyin, TikTok quickly became a platform for entertainment around the world. By the end of 2020, it has launched the careers of thousands of personalities, many of whom are using the platform as a means to earn a living. In less than 36 months, TikToks millionaires have made some serious cash and are still doing so. Here are 7 of its top earners.

1. Spencer X

Earnings: $1.2 million
Spencer Polanco Knight, better known as Spencer X, initially promoted his beatboxing skills through YouTube, later combining his YT earnings with sponsorships to become a TikTok millionaire by the age of 28. After dropping out of college, Spencer X started his beatboxing career busking, and was even part of a bluegrass group. His popularity as a beatbox artist grew when he began posting on YouTube and on TikTok in 2019.

2. Michael Le

Earnings: $1.2 million

Michael Le, better known as JustMaiko was one of the pioneer content creators on Tik Tok, back when it was known as Musical.ly. Le is a dancer and choreographer who offers multiple posts on his Tik Tok account daily for his nearly 5 million followers. Other than creating dance and challenge videos, Le also earns through paid partnerships using Instagram and merchandise sales with his Shluv clothing line.

3. Josh Richards

Earnings: $2.5 million

Josh Richards is a Canadian Tik Tok star who is also currently the highest-paid male content creator on the platform. Richards provides content on Tik Tok, YouTube, and Instagram where he posts video clips of his performances. He co-founded Ani Energy and TalentX Entertainment and is the Chief Strategy Officer of Triller. He has accumulated north of 20 million followers on the TikTok application.

4. Loren Gray

Earnings: $4 million

Loren Gray is another Tik Tok pioneer - that is, she was on the platform back when it was known as Musical.ly. She started posting when she was just a 6th grader. These days, Gray is focused on her music career which she began promoting by creating content and building her TikTok followers. By the middle of 2020, she had nearly 50 million followers on the platform.

TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms out today. From trending dances to sketch comedies, social media influencers are really finding creative ways to make great content, brand themselves, and earn livable salaries. Still, the social media platform has not been without its challenges and controversy.

What Is TikTok and Why Is TikTok US In the Throes of Political Discourse

TikTok, in many ways, is like the popular Vine app we had a few years ago. Like Vine, TikTok is a video social media app where 'real short videos' take center-stage. The short-form video app has been the source of viral dances that have taken pop songs up the Billboard charts, as well as spearheaded viral political activism and satirical content. It is the virality of its content that has added to the app's popularity and rapid rise within the pop culture digital dynamic.

All things considered (including the shareability of its content to just about every other popular social media platform), all is good and well in the world of TikTok. Well, except for its owner, that is. The TikTok app is owned by Chinese company ByteDance. The concern is that user data can be handed over to the Chinese government if so required. The owners of TikTok has pointed to the fact that they are against such practices and would not hand over user data at the request of the Chinese or any other government. Still, the United States (US) government considers the app to be a national security threat and commands that the app owner meet the outlined requirements of risk being banned in the US.

The Ultimatum: The Only Solution the Trump Administration Will Accept

Even with the best efforts of the owners of TikTok to reassure the US government and other critics that the app does not use spy technologies nor is it a threat to national security, the Trump administration has laid down the gauntlet. The ultimatum is simply this, be banned in the US or be owned by a US company with user data being held and controlled on US soil - far from access by foreign governments and espionage. With the option to be US-owned, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

TikTok has rapidly gained popularity as a social networking app, especially among the young generation. As of 2020, the app has more than 500 million active users and was the most downloaded social media app in January. The number of users keeps rising steadily each day.

Just like in other social media platforms, Influencers are now making brand endorsements and earning good money from TikTok.

How Much Do Influencers Earn?

Generally, influencers earn between 200$ - 20,000$ per post depending on several factors such as product niche, audience country and brand affinity and engagement rate of the post.

Unfortunately, TikTok does not offer native ads options like its competitors. Settling on the advertising rate to pay influencers is, therefore, tricky for brands. It is usually a matter of negotiation with the influencer. Previously, a large following was deemed to translate to higher pay for influencers. However, the focus is now changing.

Brands have come to understand that a large following on social media can be bought. It is, therefore, not a decisive factor in deciding how much to pay influencers. Brands have now established that post social engagement is vital for a successful marketing campaign. These interactions between influencers and followers reveal the number of people interested in the brand or product.

Influencer Engagement and Earnings Calculator

As an influencer, knowing this social engagement rate gives you a clue of your account's value on the market. We understand this concern. Our Influencer Engagement and Earnings calculator will sort you out. It helps you understand your potential value as an influencer by approximating your TikTok's account social engagement rate.

The tiktok money calculator igface uses three factors to determine engagement rate; the number of likes, number of comments, and the number of followers. To decide on your social engagement rate, use the following formula;

(number of likes + number of comments/number of followers) × 100

The higher your engagement rate, the higher the chances of brands considering you for marketing deals.

Influencers must understand that this calculator is only for educational purposes and is in no way a tool by Tik Tok. It is just an opinion based on the popular view.

How to Make Money on TikTok in 2020

What is a TikTok Money Calculator?

So what is a Tik Tok Money Calculator? It is a very helpful tool that helps people understand how much they can earn from doing Tik Toks. It calculates your estimated earnings from your Tik Tok account. It looks at your following and how much views you get and gives you a very good and accurate estimate of what you will earning from that account.

This means if you have a lot of loyal and active followers, you will make a lot of money in this app. A lot of followers leads to a lot of views, and a lot views leads to a lot money coming from all types of sources, for example sponsors. This tik tok calculator is not exact however its estimates are very, I mean very close to the real amount you will earn from Tik tok. It gives you good estimates of your account value.

I put in my very own personal account to test it out because I was skeptical at first. But, when I got my results of my estimate earning and matched it with my actual earning, I was shocked how close it was. I am not messing guys, it just missed out by one digit before the decimal in the estimate. It also tells you your monthly results and gives you a graph to show if your earnings increase or decrease.

What I have noticed also from these beautiful detailed graphs is that if you loose followers or don't have that much of an audience then you get less income from that account. If you have less followers this means you will get less views and less companies will sponsor you and that finally leads to less income. This leads us to our next point.