How Black Creators Stopped The Clock on TikTok

Yvonne Ile

doi:10.51191/issn.2637-1898.2022.5.8.60

How Black Creators Stopped The Clock on TikTok

Authors

Yvonne Ile Institute of Contemporary Music Performance / University of West London, London, United Kingdom Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51191/issn.2637-1898.2022.5.8.60

Keywords:

cultural appropriation, Internet, artistic plagiarism, social media, expression, TikTok, Black music, Black creators, Black TikTok, Black TikTok Strike

Abstract

Between June and July 2021, a number of Black creators banded together on TikTok and withheld from creating content – they went on strike. This sudden protest came after outcries from Black creators, who claimed that they created many of the viral dances on the platform, whilst their white counterparts received the accolades. I propose that this strike is a result of underlying bias, antagonisms and an unresolved history of musical and artistic plagiarism from Black creators. Inspired by how race is presented in the media and focusing on novel media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, I assert that creative works by Black creators and subsequently their ownership, use and replication, need to be studied within popular culture.

Author Biography

Yvonne Ile, Institute of Contemporary Music Performance / University of West London, London, United Kingdom

Yvonne Ile is a Programme Leader at The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance and a doctoral student at the University of Oxford, researching the impact of and connection between Blackface Minstrelsy and cultural appropriation on the Popular Music Industry. She received a first-class honours bachelor’s degree in Music Performance and Recording from the London College of Music (University of West London) and a master’s degree with distinction in Music Industry Management and Artist Development from the London College of Music. Yvonne is an Artist, Singer and Songwriter [performing under the name ‘Jael’ but also known as ‘Jael The Voice’], who poetically fuses experiences from her life in London with her deep, African roots. She is interested in Black music, Afro-diasporic culture, the impact of migration on communities, minstrelsy, the Black-British experience, and women in music.

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Published

15.07.2021

Issue

No. 8 (2022): Fighting for the Attention: Music and Art on Social Media I

Section

Articles

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How to Cite

How Black Creators Stopped The Clock on TikTok. (2021). INSAM Journal of Contemporary Music, Art and Technology, 8, 60–79. https://doi.org/10.51191/issn.2637-1898.2022.5.8.60