The Echo Vol. 9 - Hugo is coming

WHAT’S GOOD?

This week’s Echo is packed with good stuff, but there’s an extra cool announcement at the end :)

GLOBAL TIKTOK TREND (SOUND) OF THE WEEK

LOCAL TIKTOK TREND (SOUND) OF THE WEEK
Spain

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN SOCIAL MEDIA:
TikTok globally launches TikTok for Artists

TikTok has globally rolled out TikTok for Artists this week after plenty of beta testing. TikTok for Artists is a a dedicated platform offering artists, their teams, and labels a comprehensive suite of music insights and promotional tools. The platform provides daily-updated analytics dashboards to track song and post performance, follower demographics, and engagement metrics.

It also introduces pre-release campaign tools, allowing artists to launch pre-save campaigns for upcoming tracks and albums directly from TikTok. You will also be able to pin videos to music pages, which we think will be super awesome.

DATA | THE WORLD OF MUSIC QUANTIFIED

Spotify’s weekly global top 5 songs

— #1. Ordinary | Alex Warren // 39.9 m weekly streams

— #2. Don’t Say You Love Me | Jin // 33 m weekly streams

— #3. Die with a smile | Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars // 32.5 m weekly streams

— #4. back to friends | sombr // 31.3 m weekly streams

— #5. Birds of a Feather | Billie Eilish // 31 m weekly streams

Spotify’s weekly global top 10 artists

— #1. Taylor Swift // Pop

— #2. Bad Bunny // Latin trap

— #3. The Weeknd // Alternative R&B 

— #4. Drake // Pop

— #5. Morgan Wallen // Country

— #6. Billie Eilish // Alternative Pop

— #7. Fuerza Regida // Varied // Regional Mexican

— #8. Kendrick Lamar // Hip Hop

— #9. Lady Gaga // Pop 

— #10. Arijit Singh // Playback Singer

TIKTOK VIDEO OF THE WEEK:
Sneaky ad for booking website

Views: 12,600,000

We chose this video as the TikTok of the week because of how great of an ad it is. Here’s why:

— #1. Great angles and lighting on the people. While the rooms may be a bit dark, the lighting on the person gives them attention.

— #2. The introduction of who Estera is creates a hook. Why does she introduce herself by saying “she booked the flights”? It makes you wonder who’s going to come next.

— #3. The pacing is super strong and keeps you engaged. There’s no BS anywhere and the good pacing makes you stick around. This is also true for the ad part.

— #4. Great relatability from people seeing themselves in their situation. Usually there’s one person who organizes a trip while someone else contributes in other ways :) People like seeing themselves in content and this situation is bound to make people share the clip to their friends and family.

— #5. The ad is sneakily transitioned to and provides real value. Because the creator has showed how the situation usually is, with one person having a big workload, the ad saying it streamlines bookings really makes sense. We’re super confident they got a lot of traffic from this clip.

MUSIC EVENT OF THE WEEK:
Download Festival

Download Festival 2025 is back at Donington Park in England, from June 13–15 for its 22nd edition. Download is known as the UK’s ultimate rock and metal destination, and it draws thousands of fans each year for its epic lineup and high-energy crowds.

This year’s headliners are Green Day, Sleep Token, and Korn, and they’re all making their first appearance at the top of the bill, bringing a mix of punk rock, modern metal, and nu-metal to the main stage. Over 100 other acts will perform across four stages, including big names like Weezer, Bullet For My Valentine, Jimmy Eat World, Spiritbox, and Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter.

Set in the iconic Donington Park, Download’s muddy fields, massive singalongs, and weekend-long energy will once again make it one of the most talked-about festivals of the summer.

TIP OF THE WEEK
Editing clips to the beat

Editing your short-form videos to the beat of music makes your content feel way more dynamic, even if viewers don’t consciously notice it. It’s one of those subtle tricks that instantly boosts perceived quality and keeps attention locked in, meaning retention will be higher (which the algorithm loves).

How to get it right

— #1. Choose sounds with a clear rhythm — Not all audio works. Use tracks with consistent, punchy beats you can cut to (like kick drums, claps).

— #2. Mark your beats ahead of time — Use beat markers or tap them out manually in your editing timeline. This makes the whole process smoother and more intentional, leading to better results.

— #3. Time your cuts / transitions to the beats — Hard cuts, zooms, or scene changes feel more satisfying when they land on a beat. It creates a sense of flow viewers feel, even if they don’t analyze it.

— #4. Use movement to match momentum — Pair fast-paced beats with quick cuts or motion-heavy clips. Slower tempos? Let the visuals breathe a little.

— #5. Don’t overdo it — Cutting to every beat can feel mechanical. Use it to highlight moments, not overpower them. You’ll just have to use some subjective taste to decide which beats you should cut to.

PARASITION: Campaign breakdown

THE DEVELOPMENT OF HUGO HAS STARTED

We’ve got some pretty exciting news to share with you all. The development of Hugo - an AI marketing operating system for music marketers - is well under way. It’s being built partly by Parasition and partly by a new team of software heavy hitters. We’re incredibly excited about this, and from here on we’ll share all updates with you right here in this newsletter.

What’s Hugo?

Hugo is a marketing operating system that knows your music label’s entire catalog. Hugo then constantly monitors all of social media to spot, present, and execute campaign opportunities across regions and formats. By using Hugo, your music will be more viral than ever, since all campaigns will be 100% optimized for success.

Here are some highlights of Hugo:

— Hugo scans the internet and social media at all times to instantly spot a new campaign opportunity.

— Hugo can assist you with all marketing-related questions. For example, you can ask “I want to promote this Drake song in France, how should I go about it?” Then Hugo finds all relevant trends and the strongest campaign opportunities.

— Hugo is connected to agencies and other campaign execution sources like Parasition and Meta Ads. You can simply ask for a campaign to be executed, and Hugo will deliver.

Does this sound interesting to you? Sign up to the waiting list and be one of the first to gain access.

ROUND-UP 

— Viral sounds on short-form platforms can be cyclical, meaning they come and go

— Dance-focused videos rely on a strong beat that’s easy to follow

— A build up in the sound is a great way to build anticipation and make people stick around longer

— TikTok for artists is a platform that will undoubtedly serve marketers well through awesome music insights and promotional tools

— Editing a short-form clip by cutting at the beat is a fantastic way to make the content better

— The AI marketing operating system Hugo is being rapidly developed, and it’s a game-changer for creating better music marketing campaigns

We hope this week’s Echo was interesting.

Do you work with music marketing and do you want to make your songs go viral? Then you should reach out to us at Parasition 🕺🚀

// The Echo Team