TikTok Parent Company Set To Launch Music Service This Year

The parent company of popular video app TikTok is developing a paid music service that can launch as early as September, according to a report by Bloomberg. The service will directly challenge Spotify, Apple Music and a host of other local music streaming services in emerging markets. The report said that ByteDance Ltd, owner of TikTok, has already secured rights from T-Series and Times Music, two of India’s largest labels, according to executives with those companies.

ByteDance, based in Beijing, plans to initially launch the new app in a handful of territories, mostly poorer countries where paid music services have yet to garner large audiences, according to the report. The report further added that the new app isn’t named after TikTok, but ByteDance will try to convert some of TikTok’s audience into its paying customers. TikTok was the most downloaded free app in India in the first quarter of the year. ―News18