Are your clients using TikTok? How? What’s the response?
All of them are, to some degree or another. A few young artists who are growing quickly on the platform are Mackenzie Porter and Sean Stemaly. They’re both consistent, funny and engaging. They have also found fun ways to integrate new music they’re working on, in some instances before it even comes out.

If it’s done right, the release will be larger on day one because you found a fresh way to preview new music and get advanced feedback. In Sean’s case, that’s what he did with “Come Back to Bed.” We could sense how big the record was going to be by the amount of engagement there was. And the numbers were right. The minute that song was actually released, it was instantly big across all platforms. I’m sure it would have been big either way, but it was Sean’s social and TikTok strategies that made for the perfect launching pad.

Is physical a factor?
We’ve had some really interesting discussions about that exact topic when discussing Morgan Wallen’s highly anticipated follow-up album; date TBD. Now that the passionate physical base is identified in this digital world, it’s easier to super-serve them. Trying to make the fan’s trip to Walmart or Target more exciting than just getting to hear 10 new songs is our goal. That’s not enough for an artist at his level. We’ve been trying to flip the script in our minds as we develop our plan for him. For those willing to drive to a store to still hold a CD or vinyl, let’s make it worth it to earn their anticipation. In the end, it’s a huge marketing tool for Morgan and profile-building, even if we cut into our own margins in that specific vertical.