Following various reports over the past few months regarding the pending launch of a dedicated ‘TikTok Music’ service, more details have now come to light about ByteDance‘s unreleased service.
Code discovered within TikTok’s sister app Resso, which operates in India, Indonesia and Brazil, appears to suggest that ByteDance may allow users to sync activity between TikTok Music and Resso, TechCrunch reported on Friday (November 4).
The code, which TechCrunch found, read: “Your profile and activity on TikTok and TikTok Music will be synced and used to personalize your experience on both TikTok and TikTok Music. You can manage this by going to Settings.”
TechCrunch also found that ByteDance has launched a dedicated, “music.tiktok.com” site for certain regions including Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Malaysia and Singapore, suggesting that TikTok Music may launch in these markets first.
The news outlet noted that the site’s terms of service uses the “TikTok Music” brand.
It remains unclear whether ByteDance will test its TikTok Music service under the Resso brand globally or launch a separate app. The Wall Street Journal in October reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that ByteDance is working on ways that Resso could be integrated into the TikTok app.
In August, a former ByteDance employee reportedly told TechCrunch that ByteDance had planned on bringing the Resso service to more markets under a “TikTok Music” branding.
Most recently, TechCrunch says the TikTok Music website read: “Welcome to TikTok Music! TikTok Music, one of our Services defined under the TikTok Terms, is a music streaming service that allows users to listen to music.”
The latest report is just among several other signs that TikTok is gearing up for the launch of its own music-streaming platform.
Over the recent months, Music Business Worldwide has followed all the developments that point to the launch of a TikTok Music app.
Last month, MBW spotted at least six verified Twitter accounts for ‘TikTok Music’ for multiple global markets including Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand, Latin America, Singapore and Asia. All accounts share the same branding and messaging, stating: “Welcome to a new way to experience music.”
In August, MBW uncovered a US patent filed by Singapore-based TikTok Pte hinting at a music service. We also spotted that TikTok was hiring for staff to work on its ‘TikTok Music’ team, and one ByteDance job ad saying: “Resso or TikTok Music, is a music app for Gen Z that launched [in] 2020 in India, Indonesia and Brazil.”
Last month, citing people familiar with the discussions, the Wall Street Journal reported that TikTok parent ByteDance is in negotiations with record companies about expanding its dedicated music-streaming platform to multiple new markets.
Meanwhile, as noted by MBW a couple of weeks ago, new US financial data and comments from Sir Lucian Grainge at the Music Matters conference in Singapore last month suggested that tension is mounting over TikTok’s payouts to the music industry.
Speaking at Music Matters, Sir Lucian Grainge called on the music industry to “avoid repeating past mistakes” that had led to power imbalances with MTV and YouTube in particular.Music Business Worldwide
