Three years after TikTok launched SoundOn, the music distribution service is giving record companies a run for their money.
The latest artist success story to be touted by the platform is UK rapper Tkandz, who’s having a viral moment with his track NOW OR NEVER with CXSPER.
Since its release in September, the track has been used in 1.5 million TikTok creations and garnered 3.36 billion views on the platform, which TikTok credits for the song’s recent appearance on the charts. The track reached No. 30 on the UK Official Singles Chart this week, its second week on the chart. It’s reached No. 12 in Germany and is in the Top 10 in Austria.
NOW OR NEVER has also made it to Spotify’s 100 most-streamed tracks and is the top global rap track on the platform, with Tkandz – who’s signed to Everything’s Yours Entertainment – at the time of writing the only UK rapper on Spotify’s Top Hits, the platform’s biggest playlist.
“NOW OR NEVER marks a defining moment for UK rap, showing just how far homegrown talent can travel when it’s given the right platform,” said James Cattermole, Head of Label Services EMEA at SoundOn.
“Tkandz and CXSPER are exceptional new artists, and it’s been incredible to see their record resonate with audiences worldwide. The success of NOW OR NEVER reflects an outstanding global effort from the SoundOn team, underlines the power of TikTok as a platform for music discovery and promotion, and that – inevitably – great music always rises to the top.”
John Vigorito, Owner of Everything’s Yours Entertainment, said: “NOW OR NEVER represents what happens when driven creatives unite behind a shared vision – it’s pure energy, focus, and ambition in one track.
“We’re grateful to SoundOn for their support in helping take this record to the world. Everything’s Yours Entertainment is here to stay, and this is only the beginning.”
NOW OR NEVER joins a growing list of hits coming out of SoundOn, a distribution and music services platform whose launch made many in the music industry wonder whether TikTok wants to become a music label.
“The success of NOW OR NEVER reflects an outstanding global effort from the SoundOn team, underlines the power of TikTok as a platform for music discovery and promotion, and that – inevitably – great music always rises to the top.”
James Cattermole, SoundOn
Other notable tracks released through SoundOn include WizTheMc’s Show Me Love, which reached No. 3 in the UK, while a Tyla remix of the track ran up 500 million streams on Spotify and helped WizTheMc gain more than 29 million monthly listeners. The track has now had over 9 million creations and more than 15 billion views on TikTok.
Meanwhile, Charlie Jeer’s Her Eyes reached No. 1 on Spotify’s Global Daily Viral chart last year and Austrian DJ Ely Oaks gained 770,000 TikTok followers and saw his track Borderline reach No. 17 on German charts after going viral.
Since it launched in 2022, SoundOn has seen more than 1.1 million artists register, of whom “hundreds of thousands” have released music and generated revenue on the platform. SoundOn recently expanded into Germany, having already been available in the US, UK, Australia, Brazil and Indonesia.
Amid sometimes strained relations with record labels – the music licensing disputes with Universal Music Group and Merlin being two key examples – TikTok has worked to stress its importance to the music business.
The company has boasted that 13 of the 14 tracks hit No. 1 in the US in 2022 were viral hits on TikTok first, while in 2024, 84% of the tracks on Billboard’s Global 200 were hits on TikTok first.
Last week, BandLab heralded the ability for today’s artists to be “global from day one” – amid the viral streaming success achieved by Tkandz (Ayotomiwa Akande).
The 19-year-old self-taught artist from Essex, England, is a frequent user of the free music-making app to experiment and share songs with his followers. He has over 63,000 followers on BandLab.Music Business Worldwide
