Can TikTok give Nigerian veteran stars a means of profiting off their classics

There's no social media platform with the power of TikTok where a trend can rocket an old song from obscurity to global attention. In

Nigerian music, many stars have benefited from TikTok trends, which brought their music mass attention that translated to streams and commercial success.

TikTok's role of organically giving an old song a new lease of life has become the major benfit of the platform for musicans, especially veteran artists hoping to make a mainstream comeback.

In the past 3 years, old Nigerian songs have enjoyed a commercial resurgence thanks to TikTok.

First, it was CKay's 'Love Nwantiti' released 3 years earlier that was discovered by fans who used it to soundtrack a dancing trend that propelled it to unbelievable global success.

In 2024, Gentleman Mike Ejeagha's 40-year-old song 'Ka Esi Le Onye Isi Oche' enjoyed commercial success after it was used in a viral dance video by comedian Brain Jotter.

The biggest impact TikTok would have on an old Nigerian song and the career of a veteran star would be in 2025, when Skale's 10-year-old song 'Shake Body' became a global viral song after Barcelona FC star Lamine Yamal took a liking to the Afrobeats song.

With TikTok giving him a fresh run in the mainstream, Skales grabbed this opportunity with both hands by taking a trip to Spain, where he used his new affiliation with Barcelona to push the track.

The new demand for his music also took him on a tour of Europe for a revenue-generating drive most stars would wish for.

Following the sampling of Bright Chimezie's classic record 'Because of English' by Davido in his hit single 'With You' featuring Omah Lay, the song enjoyed a new lease of life that pushed it to Spotify's viral chart and culminated in the release of a new version decades later.

Recently, the trend "who dig this pit for me?" has taken over Nigerian TikTok. What many didn't know his that the song from where the trending line is drawn is from the 2003 gospel song 'Jump And Pass' by Ifeanyi Onyeachonam.

The successive resurgence of classic Nigerian songs on TikTok, which is a trend that extends to other global music industries, begs the question of how Nigerian veteran artists can harness the opportunity.

Making a comeback into the mainstream as a veteran artist has proven to be a very difficult endeavour.

TikTok is, however, proving to be a platform that propels veteran stars to mainstream fame, and more musicians stand to benefit from this.

The acquisition of the catalogues of veteran musicians is popular in some of the biggest music markets, where labels deploy TikTok campaigns to promote songs off the catalogue in the hope of getting viral moments that will translate into streams.

The trend of old Nigerian songs going viral on TikTok could motivate more companies to invest in catalogue acquisition, which they can back with marketing funds.

The rise in the sampling and reimagination of Nigerian classics also provides another pathway to mainstream resurgence for veteran stars.

Although the virality of songs on TikTok is shaped by marketing efforts, organic consumption still plays a major role.

At a time when music marketing is at an all-time high and making a comeback into the mainstream is increasingly difficult, TikTok's global reach is currently the biggest opportunity for Nigerian veteran artists to someday have their classics enjoy another commercial run and profit off their art.