Tiktok - this is the name of the app that has grown many of the biggest hits of recent years. The clearest example is perhaps Lil Nas X, a completely unknown artist before he uploaded his country-rap song Old town road on Tiktok. The song was used in memes and dance clips, which led to lots of streams on the streaming services and a first place on the American Billboard list.

Other songs that have walked the same path are Say So with Doja Cat and Savage with Megan the stallion, who made Beyoncé herself wake up and hook on the hit train with a remix. The record company Universal music is working harder to get their artists and songs out on Tiktok, the app with over 600 million users.

Last year, we stepped up our strategy: we have hired a Tiktokare and we have decided to make a larger Tiktok initiative, says Lina Kellgren who is part of Universal's digital marketing team and works with Tiktok "all day".

Pays Tiktokare

Together with her newly hired Tiktok consultant, 19-year-old Frida Jernspets, who has many followers on the platform, they decide which part of the song is most Tiktok-friendly, cut it out and make it available on the app.

- Sometimes we use our own and the artist's Tiktok channel and sometimes we pay Tiktokare to activate our song. A Tiktokare often receives a monthly fee for uploading a certain number of songs, she says.

The more followers Tiktokaren has, the more it gets paid to use songs by one of Universal's artists. And Lina Kellgren sees that the collaboration is bearing fruit.

- Several of the songs we have focused a lot on have given very high commitment: likes, shares, comments and more searches on Spotify.

"Based all his success on music"

Compared to other social media, such as Instagram, Tiktok has a clearer music connection. Songs are used to create dance videos or memes or just as a background in short clips.

- Tiktok has in many ways based its entire success on music and the use of songs, says Lina Kellgren who clearly notices how the streaming figures on streaming services increase rapidly after a song has become big on Tiktok.