Tik Tok as the Art of the People

Art has a new meaning in the age of file-sharing and digitalization. It has become easier to make it the "art of the people" and replication has become more accessible and spread at greater speed. Walter Benjamin distinguishes this shift in perception by explaining the loss of aura, in other words, the loss of authenticity and originality. Art has reinvented itself to have hierarchies, made by capitalist entities that set standards for those who have the means of production and distribution to showcase their work to the public at large. Hito Steyerl explains how images that lack resolution are neglected and degraded for public appraise.

In today's post-modern era, we see the shift of creating content as true and valuable; but as a mass consumption process, where an individual may not be even considered an artist, a filmmaker or a creator. The tools available are endless; more so, that many companies reframe their business model to make their tools more intuitive and accessible for users. For instance, Tik Tok, a video-sharing social media platform that allows users to create, share and discover short music videos. It is popularly used by young people as an outlet to express themselves through singing, dancing, comedy, and lip-syncing. Influencers and celebrities are deemed to integrate this outlet to cater to new and existing audiences. They intend to promote their personal brand by guiding viewers to a particular side of a story, leaving other parts out. It funnels a specific perception of the content and persona presented, filtered by distraction as a mode of reception.

Something distinctive about these short videos is the ability to "copy and paste" the same theme by following a hashtag, for example. By watching others sing or dance to the same song, it limits one's ability of creative exploration. Moreover, the same recipe is used with minor alterations and videos of failure are encouraged for humorous viewing. The aura, as explained by Benjamin, is lost as a consequence of mass consumption. "To pry an object from its shell, to destroy its aura, is the mark of a perception whose 'sense of the universal equality of things' has increased to such a degree that it extracts it even from a unique object by means of reproduction"(Benjamin, 5). This piece of technology is consumed by the public, but at the same, the public is consumed by it.

The user interface is designed for quick and seamless navigation, scrolling away one's time to the very sameness and video replicas featuring different protagonists. Even though the quality is not good, the art is having multiple versions of the original version. As explained by Steyerl, "The poor image is no longer about the real thing – the originary original. Instead, it is about its own real conditions of existence: about swarm circulation, digital dispersion, fractured and flexible temporalities"(Steyerl, 8). Tik Tok is one of the platforms that perfectly describe the effects of temporality and being present in the now, showcasing mostly trending videos.

Given the mass exposure and rapid ability to disseminate a popular song or dance move, it poses a problem when a viral phenomenon becomes so popular is not accredited to its original creators. For instance, the Renegade challenge is a fast-moving 15-second dance to the song ‘Lottery’, which features popular moves. This dance quickly took off on Tik Tok but the creator was not given credit for the dance. As stated by the Copyright law in America, dance steps cannot be copyrighted. It was only after The New York Times wrote a story about Jalaiah Harmon, the 14-year-old creator of the Renegade dance when she started to get credit for it. While Jalaiah was finally given the recognition she deserved, the way social media operates makes it increasingly harder for these stories to succeed. This is only one example of the problems with content ownership and copyright when it comes to Internet phenomena.