Sure, Musical.ly’s song catalog and re-create functionality posed a promising viral marketing opportunity for music, but so what? I couldn’t find anyone to disagree with me on that. Then, I went deeper down the rabbit hole and began to suspect something that questioned even my own beliefs at the time

Max BernsteinJanuary 8, 2023tiktokComment

It’s Not Magic, It’s Marketing

The fantasy of your song going viral on TikTok is a seductive one. Gather influencer proposals from a half dozen agencies, have management pick their favorite, and voilà! Magic, right? Having been on the receiving end of thousands of these requests-for-proposal – and involved with many of the largest viral trends in Musical.ly and TikTok history – I’m writing to expose the flaws in the popular “spray-and-pray” approach, and to offer a measured alternative that relies instead on data: our new product offering, Lauunch.

Max BernsteinMarch 28, 2022tiktokComment

Making a Meme II "Old Town Road"

On February 15, 2019, a 20-year-old Massachusetts man heard a song on Twitter, ripped it from Soundcloud, and made it the soundtrack to a 15-second TikTok video of his transformation into a cowboy.

PodcastMax BernsteinSeptember 27, 2019tiktokComment

Making a Meme “The Git Up”

On May 10th, brothers Ajani Huff, 18, and Davonte House, 20, shot a 15-second dance video beside a lake near Syracuse, NY. They hatched plans to "make it trend" in pursuit of their larger goal of becoming “TikTok famous.”

PodcastMax BernsteinJuly 17, 2019tiktokComment