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TikTok is joining the music streaming business

TikTok has launched a music streaming service in two countries.
TikTok is joining the music streaming business
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TikTok's short-form video content changed the social media landscape, and now, it's officially making its way into another media realm: Music.

On Thursday, the company announced it has launched its own "social music streaming service" called TikTok Music, starting in Indonesia and Brazil.

The subscription-only platform allows users to sync their existing TikTok accounts to a TikTok Music account, giving them access to download songs and stream the full versions. It's licensed by and includes catalogs from major record companies including Sony Music, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group.

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The new app seems to capitalize on the virality TikTok sounds can have. The app has become a huge place for music discovery since its start, helping launch the careers of an array of artists from Loren Gray to Lil Nas X and sending songs from unknown artists straight to the charts.

And just as TikTok has given apps like Instagram and Snapchat a run for their money, this new venture seems to take on Spotify and Apple Music with its offering.

Just like those apps, TikTok Music will give personalized recommendations, playlist collaboration, offline listening downloads and more. But it'll also still lean toward the more social side of TikTok with other user features like commenting.

TikTok Music takes the place of its parent company ByteDance's existing streaming service, Resso. The platform launched in 2019 in the same countries plus India and will cease operation in September. Existing users will be able to transfer data from Resso to the new TikTok Music app.

It's not clear if the music platform will come to the U.S. or other countries as of its launch.


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