The music streaming market has a lot of competitors, but Apple Music and Spotify have pretty much become leaders in this segment. However, there’s a new player entering this game, and that’s TikTok. The owners of the popular social network now want to compete with Apple Music and Spotify with their new music streaming platform called TikTok Music.
TikTok Music is a new music streaming service
TikTok Music works pretty much the same way as other music streaming services. It lets users access a full catalog of songs and add them to a library. At first, TikTok partnered with major record labels, including Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony Music.
But to make the platform appealing, especially among teens, TikTok Music provides song recommendations and personalized curation to help users find songs that have gone viral on TikTok videos. There are options to create collaborative playlists, import music library from other platforms, and find a song by searching for lyrics.
There’s even a song identification feature that works similarly to Apple’s Shazam. TikTok Music also lets users interact with social features, which includes comments on songs and albums. Interestingly, the app also has an discoverability feature that lets users find song suggestions just by scrolling vertically, similar to what you can do with the main TikTok app.
However, there’s a catch. For now, TikTok Music is only available in Brazil and Indonesia. In Brazil, the monthly subscription costs $3.49, which is the same price as the Apple Music subscription in the country. Most streaming platforms adjust prices to make them more affordable according to each market. In the US, Apple Music costs $10.99 per month.
TikTok told TechCrunch that it’s pleased to introduce a new kind of service that “combines the power of music discovery on TikTok with a best-in-class streaming service.” However, there’s no word on when the platform will launch in other countries, such as the US.
Beating Apple Music and Spotify won’t be easy
A recent report revealed that Spotify remains the most popular music streaming service in the US, with over 44 million paid subscribers. Apple Music comes in second with 32 million paid subscribers. Globally, Apple Music has more than 80 million subscribers, while Spotify has around 200 million subscribers.
It’s unclear whether TikTok will succeed in this well-established market, especially with uncompetitive prices and restricted availability. However, the popularity of the TikTok brand might help boost the app among some of the social network’s users.
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