TikTok Expands with Launch of Music Streaming Service
Bytedance, the parent company of the popular video-sharing app TikTok, has made a foray into the music streaming industry. On Thursday, the company announced the launch of TikTok Music, a new subscription-based music streaming service.
The service allows users to sync their existing TikTok accounts, enabling them to search for and download tracks they discover on the video app.
Initially, TikTok Music will be available exclusively to users in Brazil and Indonesia. In a statement by TikTok’s global head of music business development, Ole Obermann, the company expressed excitement about the opportunities TikTok Music brings to music fans and artists, highlighting its potential for driving value in the music industry.
The statement emphasized that TikTok Music combines the power of music discovery on TikTok with a best-in-class streaming experience.
Subscribers to TikTok Music will enjoy personalized music recommendations, the ability to connect with like-minded music fans, access to real-time lyrics for singing along, collaborative playlist creation with friends, importing music libraries from other apps, and the ability to discover songs through lyric-based searches. Additional benefits include an ad-free experience and the option to download tracks for offline listening.
Bytedance had filed a trademark application for TikTok Music with the United States Patent and Trademark Office over a year ago. In October 2022, Billboard reported that the company was in discussions with major music rights holders, such as Universal Music Group and Sony, to launch its own streaming service in multiple regions.
By retiring its previous streaming service, Resso, which was introduced in 2020, Bytedance paves the way for TikTok Music to take its place in Brazil and Indonesia starting from September 5, 2023.
TikTok Music will face competition from established streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify. However, the advantage of having a large user base on TikTok provides a promising foundation for the new music streaming app.
