Music Industry

TikTok Music is now live in five countries. Spotify has to be concerned.

TikTok is a monster that has been done a lot of bend music consumption to its will. The company has now passed another milestone in its ambitions to become a streaming music service to rival Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and everyone else.

People love adding music to their TikTok videos, something they can do because the company has licensing deals with labels and publishers. But if you hear a song in a video that you’d like to investigate further, you have to leave the app and move to Spotify or wherever. But with TikTok Music, users will just be able to click through to the entire song without leaving the platform. You can see why TikTok is so big on their music plans.

TikTok Music evolved out of an existing service called Resso which was available in Brazil and Indonesia. After beta tests, it’s now open to everyone in Australia, Singapore, and Mexico. It also comes with a ChatGPT-powered “music discovery assistant” it calls Tonik. That’s supposed to help with various searches, including music news, concerts, and music-related stories.

There’s also a feature called “Party It” for group listening and “FYP Tuning” which involves “[swiping] right for a choice of music scenes and moods.”

One hiccup, though: Universal Music, the world’s largest record label, has yet to sign on. That means no Beatles, U2, Taylor Swift, Rolling Stones, Drake, or anyone else signed to the label. However, discussions are underway.

This is going to get very interesting.

(Via Music Ally)

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 39149 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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