The current state of TikTok and music (ft. Kristin Robinson)

In conversation with Kristin Robinson, a reporter at Billboard covering all things music, business, and technology

Today I'm chatting with Kristin Robinson, who is a reporter at Billboard covering all things music, business, and technology. She's probably who I keep up with most when it comes to this intersection, and in our conversation we dive into some of our stories from the past few months as well as catch up on the current state of TikTok and music. Because, since its fruition in the US, it's had a chokehold over music discovery, which then directly affects streams, which then directly affects charts like the Billboard Hot 100, which is the industry standard. 

But TikTok culture changes significantly year to year, so we catch up on where it is today. We also catch up on technology and music more generally.

[Intro animation plays]

Jules: Kristin, I love your reporting. I came across you on TikTok.

Kristin: Thank you.

Jules: I have so many questions. I feel like we need to do this quarterly. Like I'm setting that as a precedent. There's just so much good coverage that you do, and I tried not to go too far back because we have a lot to talk about today. I want to start at your Charli XCX cover story, which came out last month. I saw that came out right before it started to mix with the Kamala campaign. In early July, her campaign wasn't even a thing yet, but that is when inklings of the Kamala X BRAT stuff started. Your story came out right before then. How relieved were you that was the case?

Kristin: I'm so relieved that that did not happen right as the story was coming out. I think it was only off by a few days. That would have been really bad, because I finished the story about a week before, maybe a little less than that. It would have been so bad if the story was already outdated by the time that it came out. I'm just really grateful that wasn't the case. Also getting into politics is just not something I was aiming for. What I was really trying to aim for was why BRAT was so successful and what the rollout was like. Kind of taking a little bit of a business/marketing angle on how this great album ended up breaking through when so many of her other great albums haven't done quite as well. I am relieved that politics did not have to be covered in that, because it would have made the story a lot longer.