YouTube Music

The track, which is currently the #4 music video on YouTube, has also been seen more than 303 million times since it debuted just two months ago.

"For major stars, then, they generally earn a net gain from the fact that fans are sharing content, the problem lies further downstream with emerging artists who haven't passed the threshold of followers and subscribers where they can afford for their music to be shared," added Kuuskoski. Another consideration is that today's music fans aren't as focused on how high a song charts in Billboard, and instead pay far more attention to when and where they can respond to it in an on-demand way. "That's because consumers of the shorter version of the song in question are either going to like it, and then go find the full version, or not notice it, which doesn't necessarily drive people away." "For Miley Cyrus, using YouTube and other social platforms as part of her strategy is probably less about gaining a higher level of stardom, because she is already one of the most famous artists of her generation. She is one of those whose identity, and the evolution of her musical career is directly connected to her presence on social media." Up-and-coming artists may hope their singles can catch a similar wave via YouTube Shorts – even if it means the work is edited for those platforms.