Tommy Richman's "Million Dollar Baby" dominated TikTok, reaching #2 on the charts for two consecutive weeks. Taylor Swift and Post Malone edged him out in the first week, followed by Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us" in the second week. While not exactly an overnight success story, as we'll explore, this represented one of the fastest breakthrough debuts of the decade. In fact, it stood as the second-biggest chart debut since Oliver Anthony's viral controversial song that briefly captured attention before fading from public consciousness.

BACKGROUND

Spotify's got Richman labeled as abstract hip-hop, but his sound is much closer to Steve Lacey's bedroom pop world. His newer stuff especially has that wavy, lo-fi vibe, even though Spotify's algorithms are still categorizing him based on his older work.

His label situation is interesting - Richman signed to Brent Faiyaz's creative agency ISO Supremacy in August 2023, but there's more to it. ISO Supremacy is under Pulse Recordings, which is a major independent label. Pulse is part of Concord Entertainment, which handles infrastructure for lots of labels. Then all of this runs through Universal, who handles distribution and Spotify pitching. Think of it as layers: ISO Supremacy curates artists, Pulse handles daily operations, Concord provides the backbone, and Universal puts it through its system.

This kind of setup is common in the industry - these management-label hybrids working with bigger companies. I've been covering mostly indie artists, though some like Lay Bankz, Good Neighbours, and Dasha signed similar deals after going viral.

NOT AN OVERNIGHT SUCCESS

Richman's story goes back way before his signing to ISO Supremacy in August 2023. He'd been grinding since 2016, and looking at his Spotify numbers tells an interesting story. Back in 2020, he was sitting at just 3,000 monthly listeners. Things started picking up gradually, and by the time of his signing, he'd built that up to around 380,000 monthly listeners - already impressive. But post-signing is when things really exploded, climbing to 33 million monthly listeners.

What helped set him apart was his distinctive singing style, which you hear especially in his hooks. He'd been featuring on a lot of collaborations, and that unique voice would become crucial to his TikTok success.

UNIQUENESS GETS REWARDED

For years in pop music, there was this phenomenon of "generic girl voice" (and to a lesser extent, "generic guy voice") dominating label signings. But TikTok has really shaken things up in an interesting way. Artists with distinctive styles - take Steve Lacey's "Bad Habit" for example - are finding more success because TikTok users actively respond to and amplify fresh, unique sounds.

This democratization of music discovery means artists don't have to fit a traditional mold anymore. When people hear something that stands out as different or innovative on TikTok, they engage with it. It's one of the most exciting shifts in today's music landscape - unique voices are getting more opportunities to break through.

LABELS: OPPORTUNITIES VS GUARANTEES

Major labels can amplify success but they're not magic bullets. Take Chappell Roan - she was on Atlantic for years, dropping dozens of songs without breaking through. On the flip side, look at Melanie Martinez: even with massive streaming numbers at Atlantic, radio wouldn't touch her because she didn't fit their format. That's the thing about major labels - they have power, but it's not unlimited.

The infrastructure deals are interesting too. When Macklemore was blowing up, he kept his independent label but signed an infrastructure deal with ADA (Warner's system) to access radio promotion because his sound fit that format. It's all about leveraging the right tools at the right time.

This context matters when we look at recent success stories. Artists like Dasha and Good Neighbours broke through organically, with people just connecting with their songs. With Richman, there's clearly some extra industry muscle behind his rise.

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