New data from TikTok claims a €1.8bn impact on the EU music sector. Here’s how the platform measures its influence.

TikTok has released new figures claiming that its platform contributed €1.8 billion to music industries across the European Union in 2025, highlighting what it describes as its growing role in music discovery and commercial impact. The estimate appears in a wider economic impact report commissioned by the company, examining TikTok’s influence across several creative and commercial sectors in the EU.

According to TikTok, exposure generated on the platform helped drive increased activity across streaming services, live music, merchandise sales and related areas. The company frames this impact as indirect rather than direct payment, arguing that viral discovery and audience engagement on TikTok translate into downstream revenue for artists, labels, promoters and rights holders.

The report suggests that TikTok has become a key discovery tool for music audiences in Europe, with the platform pointing to its large EU user base and the speed at which songs can reach new listeners. TikTok claims that music trends originating on the app frequently lead to measurable increases in off-platform consumption, particularly on streaming services and in ticket sales.

TikTok’s wider findings also position the platform as an economic driver beyond music. The company estimates that millions of EU businesses use TikTok for promotion and customer acquisition, contributing to cross-border sales and job creation within the creative economy. Music is presented as one part of a broader ecosystem in which short-form video plays an increasingly central role.

However, the figures cited in the report are based on modelling and attribution rather than direct revenue flows, a point that continues to draw scrutiny from industry observers. Measuring the economic impact of discovery platforms remains complex, and some stakeholders question how much credit can reasonably be assigned to any single service within a fragmented digital landscape.

Still, TikTok’s latest claims reinforce how closely tied social video platforms have become to music marketing strategies. For many artists and industry professionals, TikTok is now viewed less as an optional promotional channel and more as a standard part of release planning, even as debates around transparency, compensation and platform power continue.

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