Just five years ago, social media and music industries were separate entities trying to succeed in their separate — but neighboring — spheres.
Today those spheres fully collided, and Sara Hunt Berman (BBA ’17) works comfortably in the cross-over — arranging music licensing deals on behalf of TikTok.
As a project manager for label licensing with TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, Berman helps set the soundtrack for thousands of TikTok dance trends and fit checks. This January she returned to where her music career began — UGA’s Music Business Program at the Terry College — to talk to students about the importance of staying flexible and recognizing opportunities when they present themselves.
Berman received her bachelor’s degree in marketing and Music Business Certificate in 2017.
“I came to TikTok in 2021, and it had obviously exploded in 2020,” Berman said. “It’s been interesting to watch it grow into a symbiotic relationship — because obviously it’s such a huge part of the music ecosystem now.”
While at UGA, she was most interested in music publishing. She moved to New York after graduation and found a job at the music distribution house The Orchard, where she licensed music to end users and listeners on behalf of labels and artists.
At TikTok, she’s on the other side of the equation — licensing music for the service.
Berman negotiates licensing deals with music labels so TikTok can continue offering popular music as video soundtrack options. Over the last five years, platform has become a vital way that consumers find new music and new artists.
“There’s always some big existential threat that’s going to take down the music industry, and then everyone figures out a way to make it work,” Berman said. “You have to be adaptable and not get scared off by the next big thing. A year ago, everyone was freaking out about AI. How much have you heard about that recently? Not that much. Today, we’re like, ‘OK, let me use Chat GPT to plan my vacation.’”
Things change, but the backbone of the music industry — personal drive and the ability to build a network of equally passionate friends and colleagues — stays the same, she said.
“Everything you guys are doing right now is going to set you up well,” Berman said. “And — I think I hinted at this earlier — network. Go out and make friends. It is a small world, and everyone is in it because, hopefully, they’re passionate about music. So, get out there. The people you rub elbows with today will all come back around.”