Before streaming, the use of “million” had long been associated with RIAA platinum sales certifications, or a "million-aire" award for one million logged radio performances under the BMI airplay survey. As applied to streaming, however, the use of “million” was on a totally different economy of scale.

Consumer spending has always been the fuel to fund and sustain the careers of the creators and performers of popular music. From the coin in the jukebox, to the cash register at the record shop, to the venue turnstile, the music business has managed and maneuvered itself into a multi-billion dollar juggernaut fulfilling the needs and dreams of consumers and creators alike.

The year 2020 began as one of optimism. The longest bull run in stock market history had begun in 2009 and propelled the Dow Jones index to an all-time high on February 12, 2020. The four-year upward trend in both live and recorded music revenue appeared to be the harbinger of things to come…

TikTok was introduced in August 2018 as an adaptation of the already-existing Musical.ly app, which featured fifteen-second videos created by users lip-syncing and/ or dancing to existing music tracks. Chinese tech innovator and Tencent rival ByteDance had purchased Musical.ly for close to $1 billion in 2017, shut it down, and incorporated its technology into its…