How a catchy tune became the soundtrack to the silliest TikTok videos | WBOI

For some entertainment, turn to TikTok, where you will find short videos of a fluffy cat Cuddle a fluffy dog, a toddler clutching a bag of Doritos as if it were a teddy bear or a penguin creating something Pinball print artwork.

You have to turn up the volume to hear what all of these contributions have in common: a song created ten years ago called “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” by Kevin MacLeod.

Although few people know the name of the song or the person who composed it, it has served as background music for the past decade Millions of TikToks and was played Billion times. It's also all over Instagram and YouTube.

The song's story illustrates one of the most important ways music and social media have shaped each other over the last decade – with the proliferation of viral, replayable songs that instantly convey the mood of a video on digital platforms designed to easily copy audio from video to video.

The man behind the monkeys

Kevin MacLeod is a prolific composer who got his start as a computer programmer. He composed songs for fun on his computer and in front of audiences at improvisational comedy shows.

MacLeod's compositions are what's known as “library music,” a collection of songs that content creators draw on to set their works to music. These are the tunes you'd never queue up on Spotify, but end up in the background of all sorts of things: Video games, Filmsand countless short videos.

“Usually I watch a YouTube video and the music sucks,” MacLeod says. “And I think, let me try to do something better.”

And as soon as he tries something better, he releases it for free.

In the early days of his career, MacLeod created his own licenses – not to protect his rights, but to give them away. MacLeod says his approach is to “find a license and then do the opposite,” adding clauses like “you.” have the right to use this for your personal things. You have the right to use this commercially. You may Sell ​​this thing in another product if you want.”

Then Creative Commons came and standardized royalty-free rights. While some composers and industry people argue Because such sharing undermines composers' ability to make a living, MacLeod says he just wants to get his work out into the world.

“I just want my stuff to be heard,” MacLeod explains. “You know, you have to make it as simple as possible.”

Soundtracks spread with two taps

In the early days of YouTube, users would post pretty much anything, regardless of copyright, they say Bondy KayeResearcher at the University of Leeds and co-founder of the TikTok Cultures Research Network.

But with the crackdown on digital fingerprinting programs like Content ID, Kaye says people have increasingly turned to royalty-free songs, including “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys.”

“And then you just follow that bandwagon all the way to TikTok,” Kaye says.

Kaye says that while YouTube allows users to upload new videos, TikTok makes it easier to create videos that build on existing content, with features that allow users to put a reaction video alongside the original, a short clip from it to make or reuse the music. (Instagram also includes a similar feature.)

“So if you happen to see a viral video, you can create and publish a new video with the same song with just two taps.”

The more people saw “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” TikToks, the more people made Also TikToks with “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys”.

Something magical about “monkeys”

TikTok said they couldn't give us all-time numbers, but Rankings from industry Viewers have consistently ranked “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” among the most-used songs on the platform in recent years. MacLeod says that of his 2,000 compositions, “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” accounts for half of all listeners.

Even with the Creative Commons license, he still earns over seven figures – mostly from other countries that don't always have the same payment protocol.

So is “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” just a song in the right place, with the right permissions, at the right time? Or is there something special about it that makes it such an appealing soundtrack to our favorite silly, happy highlights?

“The answer is both,” jokes Paula Harpera musicologist at the University of Chicago who writes about sound and the Internet.

Harper says that “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” subtly uses some classic music references, such as the booming bass line.

“There are examples from the 18th century where composers like Mozart use boom, boom, boom, boom,” says Harper, imitating the bouncy bass line, “to say this is silly, this is silly, this is a comic relief.” For example, she refers to Mozart’s first aria Don Giovanni, “Notte e Giorno Faticar” when, in a similar baseline, Leporello is introduced as “the goofy comic-relief servant character.”

Then there's a melody “that's definitely reminiscent of something like a.” Calliopelike a carousel,” says Harper. A good example, she says, is the circus march “Barnum and Bailey's Favorite,” which has the same basic structure of a light melody on an alternating bass line.

When “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” comes on, Harper says people probably don’t consciously think about old-fashioned circuses, and they do definitely I don't think about Mozart. But together the song plays with associations, we have to immediately evoke a mood.

Composer Kevin MacLeod admits that “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” is not musically exceptional. “I mean, the mix isn't particularly great. The instruments aren't particularly great… There’s nothing sonically interesting about it,” admits MacLeod.

But it brings these musical ideas together in a way that lets you know what's happening with, he thinks, a certain subtlety.

“It’s not about attacking you with comedy. You know, there are no clay whistles, train horns and cars honking,” laughs MacLeod. “People like it. People use it. And it serves its purpose.”

This “thing” has gone from platform to platform, from cat video to cat video. And no matter what happens happens on TikTokThe sound of “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” will probably stay with us for years to come.

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