Account restored for Erie TikTok star, 7, whose Metallica 'One' video got 40 million views

Seven-year-old Coen Krysiak of Millcreek Township, just about broke the internet earlier this week, with 40 million views of his playing the intro to Metallica's "One" on TikTok and Instagram combined.

That is, he was amassing views by the thousands, until TikTok shut down the account created by Coen's father, Ryan Krysiak.

More: Erie guitar player, 7, gathers 40 million views in 48 hours playing Metallica's 'One.'

"Someone reported the channel is what (a TikTok spokesman) told me," Ryan Krysiak said. "It was flagged because you're not allowed to have a TikTok account if you're under 13.

"I named the channel after Coen, but it's my channel, I created the whole thing and post the videos," Ryan Krysiak said. "They just need verification that an adult is running the channel. In the description, it says 'run by parent.' It's not Coen's account."

Ryan Krysiak had to jump through some hoops to get the channel open again.

"We had to appeal it and basically send them a picture of (my) drivers license and then the representative for TikTok agreed that there was no violation and went back and put it up," he said.

Find it at tiktok.com/@coenkrysiak.

Krysiak said he thinks the video went viral because Metallica is on a global tour right now and anything resembling their work is seeing heightened interest. He said it's OK for Coen to play the opening bars of the Metallica song because it's their own personal recording and he doesn't play the whole song.

It's happened before with TikTok

This has actually happened with Coen's work before. Ryan Krysiak, who owns Monochrome Studios, 3545 W. 12th St., (previously known as School of Rock), works with social media, including TikTok all the time. He's the bassist and manager for the Erie cover band First to Eleven, so he knows what will fly with social media and what to do if it doesn't.

"This is the third time," Ryan Krysiak said about the TikTok channel featuring videos of Coen and his sister, Quinn Krysiak, 9, playing pieces of popular rock songs. "It happened right when we started the channel and then about halfway through, again and right after the story (in the Erie Times-News, Monday) got published."

Ryan Krysiak said he understands where TikTok is coming from.

"They're just trying to make it a safe place for everybody," he said. "We have a company that takes care of First to Eleven, which manages their social media and revenue. Once Coen did well, and then got taken down, we had some firepower in our corner."

He figured it was only a matter of time before it would happen again.

"When some 40 million people see a video, someone's got to complain, right?"

He said it wasn't a copyright issue.

"The copyright rules are based off of using Metallica's recording of a Metallica song in the video," he said. "This was an original recording that we did. First to Eleven does covers, too, but our recordings usually allowed to stay up."

Surprised by the views

Ryan Krysiak said Coen was surprised to hear about how many views his video had gotten. The family just returned from a California vacation, which fell smack dab in the middle of all the TikTok activity.

"It did?" Coen Krysiak asked his father, according to Ryan Krysiak, who said his son just enjoys playing guitar and has several other videos that are getting good traction due to all the attention for "One." That includes a video he made with his sister, Quinn, of a part of Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine."

What does Coen Krysiak get out of all this, besides millions of adoring fans he's never met?

"We give him Robux," whenever the channel makes money, Ryan Krysiak said. For those of us who don't speak 7-year-old, "Robux" are the virtual currency of a video game called "Roblox," and he also likes to play "Car Dealership Tycoon," another video game.

Pauly Shore, Brian Deegan collaboration with Coen?

Ryan Krysiak said there have been a few celebrities who have expressed interest in playing a song with Coen, including Pauly Shore, and motocross phenom Brian Deegan, among others.

"We're trying to work something out with those," Ryan Krysiak said. Until then, Coen calls the shots, and his dad thinks he still wants to make music videos.

"We never force him to make a video," Ryan Krysiak said. "Whenever we find time to make some videos, whenever he's ready to make a video, we make one."

Contact Jennie Geisler at jgeisler@timesnews.com. Or at 814-870-1885.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Account restored for Erie TikTok star, 7, who plays Metallica 'One'