Labels are putting pressure on social app TikTok to sign a new set of music-licensing deals, but they’re also finding the app may be fertile ground for talent-spotting. The latest example is Sueco the Child, an American rapper whose track ‘Fast’ has gone viral on TikTok, featuring in more than 2.7m clips in the app according to Billboard. That has helped it get 7.4m plays on Spotify and 3.1m views on YouTube so far.
Now his track’s TikTok fame has earned Sueco the Child a deal with Atlantic Records. “The kid is a f***ing star. We’re not in the business of signing artists that we don’t think are going to have a long, robust career,” said Atlantic’s Kevin Weaver. “He’s a producer, a songwriter, an artist. He’s so versatile and so much broader than just what you hear and see with ‘Fast.’” We’re also enjoying Sueco’s promise that the deal will help him move out of his dad’s house and sell his Mini Cooper. Be wary of labelling him a ‘TikTok artist’ though: ‘Fast’ was uploaded to SoundCloud first, so that platform will be surely claiming him as one of its own.
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Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…