Is TikTok planning to launch a streaming music app? If so, it would be a monster.
TikTok has become monstrously important to the music industry over the last couple of years as users of the platform help break new songs and resurrect old ones (cf. “Dreams” and “Break My Stride.”) Now it’s starting to look like TikTok wants to get deeper into music.
The people who follow trademark applications have noticed applications for “TikTok Music” have been filed by ByteDance, the platform’s Chinese parent company.
In the US, The Verge reports the service “would let users purchase, play, share, and download music. It would also allow users to create, share, and recommend playlists, comment on music, as well as livestream audio and video.” A similar application was made in Australia back in November.
This wouldn’t entirely be new for ByteDance. Back in 2020, the company launch a streaming service called Resso in Brazil, India, and Indonesia. And if you look at the filing for TikTok Music, you’ll see that may of the features are the same. Some 40 million people use Resso across those territories, with massive growth coming from India (+304% from January 2021 to January 2022; Spotify’s growth in India for the same period was +38%.)
Such a music/video hybrid could be extremely popular. We’ll see.
