Please Duet This

Collaborative Music Making in Lockdown on TikTok

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic forced millions of musicians worldwide to put their careers on hold, stop jamming together, and turn to digital media to make music during the lockdown. One such digital platform that has become popular among musical creators is TikTok, the breakout short video platform that has risen to massive prominence in recent years. Tiktok boasts several features that enable creators (TikTokers) to easily create new videos that directly engage other creators. One notable feature is ‘duet’ where creators record new videos that place them alongside other creators’ existing videos. Duets can be paired or chained together by numerous creators, each building on or adding to the previous video. Musical TikTokers have used this feature to participate, pass time and create new music in lockdown. This article explores instances of participatory culture and distributed creativity on TikTok and argues that TikTokers are using duet to overcome the precarity of creative labour in online digital spaces. Findings draw on qualitative interviews with musical TikTokers who have used the platform’s unique duet feature to connect, collaborate, and create while socially distanced.