TikTok and the Junos: how app support for artists like Dax turns into award nominations

Initially, Canadian rapper and singer/songwriter Daniel Nwosu Jr. — known in the music world as Dax — wasn’t thrilled about the app known as TikTok.

The 28-year-old native of St. John’s, N.L., nominated for Breakthrough Artist of the Year at Monday’s Juno Awards, said he first encountered the Beijing-based mobile app in the U.S. six years ago.

“My first experience was negativity,” said Dax during a phone interview. “Six years ago, when I was an overnight janitor, I had a song go viral called ‘Cash Me Outside’ and everyone was using the song, but no one knew I made it.

“So I was a janitor making $7.25 an hour watching my song go viral and getting no credit for it. It took me a while to get acquainted (with) it, but I gave it an opportunity during the pandemic. I didn’t want to create content; I just wanted to show people what I do.

“After showing all these crazy music videos I made, people really started to take to them. Then they started to do really well and it just went from there.”

Fast forward to 2023 and Dax has 6.7 million followers on the platform, although he says his YouTube videos — he’s released more than 189 of them — were probably more responsible for landing him a deal with Sony Music.

But he no longer discounts the impact of TikTok.

“If I’m being completely honest and even thinking logically, I don’t think I would be in this position without TikTok, “ Dax said of his Juno nomination. “I think TikTok is a great platform that really helps, especially artists like myself that like to interact … it’s almost like going straight to the consumer.

“So I think it’s played a huge role in my career. TikTok is amazing.”

He goes so far as to say it’s a necessity if you want to gain a following in today’s music scene.

“It’s a platform that you’d be stupid not to use,” he said.

“If you’re not using TikTok and your goal is to connect with people and impact them with your music, then not using it doesn’t make sense.”

Dax isn’t alone in expounding on the merits of a video-friendly app that was introduced in Canada in 2017.

Many of this year’s Juno nominees — relative newcomers like Tate McRae, Lauren Spencer-Smith, Faouzia, Ali Gatie and even veterans like The Weeknd, Justin Bieber and Avril Lavigne — have benefited from the buzz generated by their TikTok presence. And this isn’t the first year that the platform has peppered Canada’s major music awards show with nominees: previous contestants with TikTok followings include Jessia, Johnny Orlando, bbno$, Tesher, Powfu, 347aidan … the list goes on.

“Every year we see this and we certainly have for the last few years,” said Allan Reid, president and CEO of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and the Juno Awards.

“There’s breakout stories every year that we can correlate back to their support on TikTok.

“This year alone, someone like Dax with ‘Dear Alcohol’ has blown up. We saw a couple of years ago Jessia was the big story; she won Breakthrough Artist of the Year in 2022. Those moments are definitely happening and driving things.

“We see that directly with our partnership with TikTok for the Juno Fan Choice Award, which is selected from singles consumption.”

A 2022 report by eMarketer and insiderintelligence.com forecast there would 8.8 million TikTok users in Canada in 2023, increasing to 10.1 million by 2026.

And Reid said that impact is directly resonating with the Junos.

“In some cases, those consumption numbers directly relate back to how our nominations work,” he said. “That is the case with Breakthrough Artist and Breakthrough Group, as well as Juno Fan Choice and some of our other categories as well.”

Reid is noticing that, with the popularity of such social media platforms, an artist’s success can bypass the more traditional mediums of music discovery.

“There are platform-specific breakthroughs happening, where you can see somebody become a massive star on TikTok and not have any radio airplay,” Reid said. “And vice-versa.”

Reid added that it’s better to try to hit on all cylinders, combining social media success with radio airplay.

“When you’re hitting everything, that’s what really accelerates your stardom.”

Steve Waxman, a former Warner Music Canada vice-president who recently opened his own career guidance firm, agrees with Reid that budding artists should use every tool that’s available to advance their career, but he also has a caveat.

“People have a tendency to copycat,” he said. “If someone does something and is successful with something, they go and try and replicate it themselves, as opposed to just being authentic and original and doing things their own way.

“Use these tools to tell your story, not someone else’s story.”

SHARE: