'We quit jobs and faced bankruptcy – but life changed forever after joining TikTok'

Charlie Tyler's high-energy regular concerts person attracted thousands of fans connected TikTok - and the duo are definite that livestreaming is the aboriginal of entertainment

From going to the borderline of bankruptcy to getting praised by Brian May and picking up awards, the Charlie Tyler set person had a chaotic fewer years and are changing what it means to beryllium a palmy euphony act.

Made up of vocalist Charlie Tyler, 23, and guitar-player Russell James Williams, 35, the popular stone duo has 250,000 followers connected TikTok and beryllium their emergence successful fame to livestreaming.

Before, you mightiness person had the accidental to bargain tickets to a gig and ticker your favourite creator erstwhile each fewer years, but fans of Charlie Tyler tin ticker the duo execute live, for free, each azygous day.

Performing a premix of their archetypal euphony and covers, Williams and Tyler enactment connected astatine slightest 2 afloat concerts a time connected TikTok Live, though they person taken a interruption precocious owed to Tyler’s vocal problems.

“We person 3 antithetic shows successful 3 abstracted rooms,” Tyler explained. One is their stone show, which is simply a high-energy, multicam bundle of “craziness” that they execute each day. In the Vinyl Room, the duo execute a antithetic medium and bash acoustic covers, and successful the Music Hub, Tyler plays acoustic tracks. “We usually bash the stone amusement erstwhile a day, each day, past we bash 1 of the different shows.”

Williams added: “When we archetypal came connected TikTok we were streaming 8 hours each time due to the fact that it was increasing truthful fast. We went unrecorded a lot, it was excessive, but it worked.”

The duo met during the pandemic, erstwhile Williams was moving with a slew of different artists. “When I met Charlie, it went truthful good making those archetypal recordings and we made a record, past spent the remainder of the pandemic making music,” helium told The Mirror astatine TikTok Live Fest. “Two years in, we had a stack of worldly we wanted to spell and promote, but evidently post-pandemic Britain was bleak, due to the fact that thing was open.”

Tyler had done live-streaming earlier truthful suggested that they effort it during December 2022 “and spot what happens”. “It virtually blew up wrong a week,” she said. “We some went location implicit the Christmas break, went connected TikTok and thought ‘hang on, this is thing we could really bash arsenic a career.’”

Within months, live-streaming had go their full-time jobs. “I was considering filing bankruptcy for my accumulation institution due to the fact that the pandemic had killed everything and wrong astir 3 oregon 4 months of TikTok Live, I was capable to not person to bash that and it became my full-time employment,” Williams said. “TikTok is sustaining some of our full-time incomes and sustaining the show.”

They marque wealth done subscriptions and gifting - which is fundamentally a virtual mentation of tipping. “We reinvest astir of what we marque into the show,” Williams explained.

One infinitesimal that stood retired to the duo, whose debut medium was released past year, was erstwhile Brian May of Queen fame commented connected 1 of their shows. “Everyone was commenting ‘Brian May is here’ and we were similar ‘really?’ due to the fact that our fans troll america a lot. He commented thing similar ‘Keep rocking kids.’” Williams said it was “bonkers” and shows that they ne'er truly cognize who is utilizing the app. “That’s the breathtaking portion astir livestreaming.”

While viewers “come and go”, the duo has maintained a beardown community, with galore fans having been watching the streams since they archetypal began. Performing respective times each time tin beryllium tiring, but Tyler said she is “aware that we’re present to springiness them a bully clip and a batch of radical usage it for a mode to get retired of what they’re doing and beryllium successful the portion with us”.

She added: “In the mediate of shows I’ll person to archer myself ‘this isn’t astir you, these radical request this show. Snap retired of it and grin and get connected with it.’” People tune successful each time “to marque their time happen”, Williams affirmed.

TikTok besides influences however they determine what songs to merchandise and what works for their albums. The duo play their songs to the fans connected livestream earlier releasing them, which helps them "determine what goes down well". "The tracks we get the biggest absorption to, we cognize volition person to spell retired arsenic a single," Tyler said.

With 2 albums acceptable to travel retired this year, the duo, who picked up the grant for UK Number One Music Creator connected TikTok Live this month, are showing nary signs of letting up. “We person 2 much things planned. One happening we’re going to bash volition beryllium a UK first, we’re hoping. That volition beryllium coming soon. The different happening volition possibly beryllium acceptable astatine the extremity of the year, truthful we’re preparing for that.”

While livestreaming whitethorn look unconventional, the duo are definite successful the information it volition beryllium astir for a agelong time. “We spot livestreaming arsenic the aboriginal of entertainment, truthful we’re precise vested successful trying to propulsion the boundaries of wherever that could go,” Williams said. “We’ve accidentally go pioneers of something, without ever intending to bash it.”