TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance has launched TikTok Music on mobile in Brazil and Indonesia. The new music streaming service offers the same $3.49 monthly subscription fee as Apple Music in Brazil and Indonesia.
TikTok is a very popular video-sharing social media platform. In 2021, TikTok became the first non-Facebook app to reach 3 billion downloads since 2014. The unprecedented success of the app’s video-centered format has inspired several apps like Instagram and Snapchat to redesign their formats and increase focus on video sharing.
Now, it appears that TikTok is looking to compete with established music streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify to dominate the industry.
TikTok Music to compete with Apple Music and Spotify to dominate the streaming service
Debuting in Brazil and Indonesia, the new TikTok Music subscription-only music streaming service will offer the following features:
- Diverse catalog of major record companies like Sony Music, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group
- Listen, download, and share songs
- Sync the service to their existing TikTok accounts
- Play the full version of viral Tiktok songs
- Discover new music with personalized music recommendations
- Access lyrics in real time
- Create collaborative playlists
- Import music library and songs via lyrics search
- Ability to identify songs like Shazam
- Support for offline listening
- Social features like TikTok notes to comment on songs, albums, and more.
More importantly, the service is available for an affordable $3.49 a month in Brazil, and $3.25 in Indonesia for iOS users and Android users will pay $2.96 per month in Indonesia for the first year, along with a one-month free trial.
The service is slightly cheaper than Spotify Premium in Brazil and Indonesia but is available for the same price as Apple Music. As the new service offers similar features, if not the same, as the three leading music streaming services, Apple Music, Spotify, and Amazon, it will be interesting to see if the new service is offering enough compelling features for users to switch.
Maybe in the future, the company might also add podcasts and radio stations to the service and expand it to other regions. Although ByteDance filled for the “TikTok Music” trademark in the United States in 2022, it does not mention it will launch in the country.
According to TechCrunch, when asked if TikTok plans to launch the streaming service in the United States, a spokesperson for the company said:
TikTok doesn’t have anything to share at the moment. “We are excited about the opportunities for TikTok Music, for music fans, artists and the industry, but we don’t have any more news to share on future plans,” the spokesperson said in an email.
