tiktok in the mix

TikTok In the Mix is scheduled to take place in December. Photo Credit: TikTok

After executing a number of music-focused expansion initiatives on the year, TikTok is officially set to close out 2023 by hosting its “first-ever” crowd-based entertainment event, dubbed “In the Mix” and featuring performances from Cardi B, Anitta, and others.

TikTok emailed Digital Music News today about its foray into the live concert space. Now billing itself as “the home of music discovery and the place where creativity and collaboration thrive,” the platform has teed up In the Mix for Sunday, December 10th, at Mesa, Arizona’s Sloan Park.

Besides the aforesaid Cardi B and Anitta, the ticketed happening has booked as headliners Charlie Puth and One Direction’s Niall Horan. (Perhaps not coincidentally, Puth and Cardi B are signed to Warner Music, with which TikTok over the summer inked a far-reaching deal.)

Meanwhile, four acts enrolled in TikTok’s Elevate emerging-artist program, Isabel LaRosa, Kaliii, Lu Kala, and Sam Barber, are also expected to perform. In addition to these sets, the platform says it will “bring to life” its “famous For You feed, with a range of activities inspired by our community’s favorite trends.”

On the pricing front, the “all ages” event (which execs intend to stream on TikTok Live) will cost each in-person attendee a flat $60 for a general admission pass on the inner field, per TikTok. But $25 will afford one a general admission ticket to the venue’s outer lawn, with actual seats in the baseball park’s stands priced at $40 apiece, the same source shows.

Fans who follow the above-noted headliners on TikTok will receive a pre-sale code enabling them to begin purchasing tickets from the morning of Friday, October 27th, through the evening of Monday the 30th, the highly controversial video-sharing service relayed. The general sale will then kick off on the morning of Thursday, November 2nd.

In the Mix represents just the latest in a long line of music (and music-adjacent) endeavors from TikTok, which has to this point in 2023 debuted a new Creativity Program, a competition called Gimme the Mic, the previously mentioned Elevate emerging-artist program, and a separate Artist Impact Program.

Plus, the service’s ByteDance parent is continuing to build out its TikTok Music streaming offering and invest in AI music generation. Bearing in mind the points as well as the SoundOn operator’s presence on the distribution and promotion sides, it’ll be worth closely monitoring TikTok’s music-specific efforts across the remainder of 2023 and 2024.

Of course, it bears mentioning in conclusion that the much-scrutinized service – which is prohibited on government devices in the EU, multiple cities and US states, and more due to security concerns – is also engaged in several legal battles that appear likely to unfold throughout the new year. Most recently, Utah two weeks back sued the platform over its alleged “harmful impact” on children and teens.