A rare wave of U.S.-China camaraderie broke out online in recent days as “refugees” from the popular short video platform TikTok poured onto a Chinese social media platform to protest a now-delayed ban on the service.

The data suggests an even larger shift to RedNote by U.S. users this week than was previously known, explaining its dramatic rise to the top of U.S. app store download rankings. R

The music industry, on par with millions of American TikTok users, is hesitant to accept the imposed Jan. 19 ban of the video sharing app.

In a fragmented music landscape, "TikTok served as sort of the one lightning rod where popularity could actually coalesce into a hit."

TikTok has dramatically changed music discovery and marketing -- a reliance the looming US ban on the popular app has underscored as the music world braces for an unknown future.