These Charleston musicians are TikTok famous and use it to promote their art – Charleston Post Courier

A popular new video-based social media platform is providing local musicians with new opportunities to promote their material but not in the way you might expect.

A few Charleston-based artists have become celebrities of a sort on TikTok and are leveraging their newfound fame to stream more music, sell more merchandise and develop a larger fan base for when they go on tour. They aren't posting videos of themselves playing music, but rather trendy, humorous clips that have garnered viral attention.

Joseph Dubay scrolls through the social media TikTok app at his home in West Ashley on Monday, Feb. 10, 2020. Andrew J. Whitaker/Staff

TikTok is a video-sharing social networking service owned by Beijing-based ByteDance.

It's similar to Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, offering opportunities to follow and engage with other users and view a personalized feed. But TikTok is skewed toward a younger generation: 60 percent of its users are between the ages of 16 and 24. The largest demographic on Instagram, in comparison, is the 25-34 age bracket, which amounts to 35 percent of the app's users. The average age of a Facebook user is 40.5.

Since launching in 2017, it's become a new tool for content creators, a new way to socialize for teenagers and a new point of interest for marketers. Users open the TikTok app an average of eight times a day and spending around an hour on it, according to recent statistics.

About 90 percent of users are on TikTok every single day to post short video clips (the maximum length for a video is 15 seconds, though content creators can string four videos together) or watch billions of clips posted by others. A live streaming option allows for longer clips.

The app similar to a short-lived predecessor, Vine, but with additional features and algorithms has around 800 million active users in 155 countries.

Its reach provides ample opportunities to promote and sell products, and TikTok-specific marketing blogs have popped up all over the internet trying to explain how to take advantage of the new platform. Advertising campaigns start at $500 a day, while brand takeovers can cost between $20,000 and $200,000. Starting a hashtag challenge a popular way to reach millions of users can cost $100,000 or more.

TikTok's origins lie in music.

The app was formerly known as musical.ly, which was created as a space to make, share and discover short music videos. It was used by young people as a sort of karaoke outlet, to express themselves through singing, dancing, comedy and lip-syncing.

Joseph Dubay prerecords a video for the social media application TikTok, where he posts several times a day to his fans. Andrew J. Whitaker/Staff

TikTok's musical roots might be one of the reasons so many musicians have used it to discuss or perform their songs, upload tunes for use by others as background tracks, or link to music websites.

Charleston-based musician Joseph Dubay, 25, decided to take a subtle approach. He began by uploading comedic videos under the name @emojoseph. He makes them in front of his bathroom mirror, and they usually consist of short and funny one-liners. They've garnered quite the audience.

Some of his videos have gone viral, reaching millions of users almost instantly. As of mid-February, he had 70,000 followers and 2.1 million likes (more than Kevin Jonas of The Jonas Brothers). He posts an average of five or six videos a day and gets about 1 million views every week.

"There's a part of me that feels like I should not be excited by this," Dubay says with a laugh. "I'm a millennial, so I'm conditioned to still think to some extent that social media is bad."

Joseph Dubay tells short jokes in a video in his bathroom for TikTok on Monday, Feb. 10, 2020, in West Ashley. Andrew J. Whitaker/ Staff

Dubay's TikTok views indirectly have turned into cash flow. He's been racking up about 300 streams of his songs on Spotify each day and has grown his audience in just a couple of months from 250 listeners a month to almost 900. Fans have sent him money via Venmo and bought his merchandise.

"Social media is the way to build an audience, and you can't be sleeping on TikTok," Dubay says.

He's turned some of his most popular TikTok catch phrases into T-shirts, sweatshirts and coffee mugs phraseslike "Kind & Chaotic," "Chew Your Water" and "I Don't Trust Dolphins." He says he can sell up to $200 in merchandise a week.

Joseph Dubay with his TikTok livestream setup in his room on Monday, Feb. 10, 2020, in West Ashley. Andrew J. Whitaker/Staff

"It's all science," Dubay says. "It does not matter how good you are. You've gotta adapt. As soon as the algorithm says mirrors aren't funny anymore, I will change, and I will survive."

Another local band, Newgrounds Death Rugby, has a member on TikTok with more than 130,000 followers. Graham McLernon, 19, says he's met all his close friends on the app. His current roommate, Daniel Jorgenson, is a member of Newgrounds Death Rugby and was someone he followed on TikTok.

Joseph Dubay prerecords a video for the social media application TikTok, where he posts several times a day to his fans. Dubay is a musician in Charleston who uses TikTok as a way to build a character he developed in the app as well as to showcase some of his music. Andrew J. Whitaker/ Staff

McLernon didn't evenknow Jorgensonlived in South Carolina until they started talking more consistently; before he knew it, McLernon had a new best friend, roommate and bandmate.

"YouTubers andfamous Instagrammers put on a persona," he says. "All of them advertise this perfect, wonderful life theyre living and its so luxurious. But on TikTok, people are talking about bad days, they're finding ways to vent. It shows the good and bad parts, too. I feels like it shows you that no one is perfect and that's fine."

Joseph Dubay holds his guitar with his TikTok livestream setup in his room on Monday, Feb. 10, 2020, in West Ashley. Andrew J. Whitaker/ Staff

Like Dubay, McLernon (@toenailterry) promotes his music on TikTok with a degree of subtlety. He mostly focuses on comedy, which has supplied his large fan base. He has 133,000 followers and 5.9 million likes.

"I randomly spitball funny things in my head out of nowhere and spring up and grab my phone," McLernon says with a laugh. "Most of the time, they're very dumb and ironic."

McLernon says his TikTok fans didnt even know he was in a band until the group's album Hideaway was released and he shared it. One song from that album has more than 204,000 streams on Spotify. He admits he loves opening the app and seeing a barrage of hearts and "999+ followers, 999+ comments."

"I thought it was going to crash and burn, like, a year and a half ago, but Ill tell you, it is addicting," McLernon says. "That constant stream and seeing all those notifications is something else."

Joseph Dubay with his TikTok livestream setup in his room on Monday, Feb. 10, 2020, in West Ashley. Andrew J. Whitaker/Staff

Dubay and McLernon aren't the only ones whose music has gotten a boost from TikTok. Lil Nas X, the creator of country-rap hit "Old Town Road" (which has won two Grammys), got a big boost from the app that led to the success of his song.

I should maybe be paying TikTok, Lil Nas X told Time Magazinelast year. They really boosted the song. It was getting to the point that it was almost stagnant. When TikTok hit it, almost every day since that, the streams have been up. I credit them a lot.

Labels are even taking notice of performers on TikTok and signing them.

One example is 21-year-old rapper Stunna Girl and her song "Runway" that inspired the TikTok #RunwayChallenge and scooped up 4.4 million views on YouTube. Capitol Music Group signed a deal with her. Atlantic Records signed Sueco The Child, a blue-haired rapper whose single "Fast" began gaining traction on TikTok.

"It really is a marketing tool in ways that Vine wasn't," Dubay says.

Dubay knows that TikTok can play a role in his musical success, and bears that in mind as he writes new songs.

"Whatever's important to kids and teens is what's important to society," he says.

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These Charleston musicians are TikTok famous and use it to promote their art - Charleston Post Courier