José Saramago, the Portuguese Nobel Prize winner for Literature, did not start writing until he was 60 years old; Vincent Van Gogh didn’t start painting until he was 27… And the list continues to grow among different geniuses and artists who marked times.
During the pandemic, many people discovered – thanks to free time – new hobbies that had been dormant, but had never flourished. Beyond the pastry chefs who exhausted the flour from the shelves, there were others who learned music.
It is the case of Carmen de la Fuente (1992), who was forced by the pandemic to stop her work as an event organizer. So for a moment she had time to dedicate to herself and she decided to take the mixer and learn from it.
she counts to Business Insider Spain that he recorded himself to learn from his mistakes; what went well was published on TikTok, the platform that grew the most during the successive confinements.
Although he admits that it is “chance” to end up dedicating himself to the profession of DJ, he has already created a community of more than 240,000 followers on TikTok –as of the date of this article–, which has allowed him to play at festivals such as Arenal Sound.
The peculiar format that Carmen has created on TikTok: “It has a long way to go”
All platforms have been very welcoming to music artists who want to share their creations in different formats. However, Carmen acknowledges that she stays with TikTok. “It’s been the platform that got me off the ground, so I’m focused on it,” she adds.
Now, he not only focuses his efforts on the direct ones, in which his followers request songs, but also on a very peculiar format that he has created on TikTok, the first of its kind on the platform: a live podcast.
This is how TikTok is changing the music industry
“Starting in February, we will surely record all the podcasts live on TikTok. It had not been done yet and it has a long way to go,” Carmen broadcasts exclusively to Business Insider Spain.
In the podcast, Carmen was already able to talk with great artists, such as Josy Love, singer of the legendary reggaeton group La factoría.
But he also knows that, on the recommendation of other professional colleagues, It must have a presence on specialized music platforms such as SoundCloud or Spotifywhere it has profiles.
Although she only monetizes her performances, since she mostly creates remixes or mixes of other artists. “I don’t want to benefit from something someone else has done,” she explains.
In addition, he adds that he does not like to say what he charges, since he is “lucky” to have the support of TikTok, a platform thanks to which he received the offer of another festival, the I Love Reggaeton, sharing the bill with Tito el Bambino, Juan Magán or Alexis y Fidoamong others.
Now, Carmen represents a generation that has changed considerable points in the music industry. For example, Bizarrap does not have copyrights in its productions, so its songs can freely reach platforms like Twitch.
At this point, the TikTok DJ believes that certain issues can still be improved.
Copyright and the “visibility of artists”
Virtually all platforms send an alert to creators who use another artist’s song protected by copyright, unless you have the license for that audio.
Carmen believes that Bizarrap’s move to allow the reproduction of their songs on different platforms has not been a coincidence, since it allows greater “visibility” to DJsin this case.
“If it’s playing on Twitch, for example, in an Ibai live show, I think Bizarrap knows why it’s not going to claim those rights,” he points out. “I think it will end up evolving in this way and I’m sure it will become easier to use music and share it because it translates into visibility.”
Ultimately, the GM predicts that in the not too distant future there will not be so many barriers in this sense. She, for now, will continue “crossing borders through a screen” thanks to TikTok.
