I'm less concerned with artists bypassing record labels because "artists already get enough promotional value out of social media" (and they actually might if they're full-time marketers and part-time artists). If I were a label, I'd be worried that the death of radio and rise of personalization kills the demand for professionally written, produced, and recorded tracks, eventually replacing them with ephemeral, low-value TikTok videos. How are you going to find out about that latest Dua Lipa single if you're not hearing it anywhere? And why would you care?

Labels sell polished, high-value tracks to listeners, marketing services to artists, and to pay for this, they need a large market, broad appeal, and residual revenue. That's just not a match for TikTok. It's not that they're being disintermediated, it's that there isn't any value left for a middleman with short-lived, low-value niche products.