TikTok has partnered with Kakao Entertainment-owned Melon to integrate the South Korean music streaming service to its ‘Add to Music App’ feature.
The feature launched in the US and UK almost a year ago and expanded to more countries over the past year. The tool allows TikTok users to save songs they discover on the platform directly to their preferred music streaming service, such as Spotify, Amazon Music or Apple Music.
With Melon now joining the roster of partnered services, “millions” of Korean music fans can now transfer their TikTok music discoveries to their Melon playlists, TikTok said on Wednesday (October 16).
The partnership comes as TikTok recently disclosed plans to shift its approach to the music streaming market by focusing more resources towards its ‘Add To Music App’ feature and shutting down its TikTok Music service. On November 28, TikTok Music will shut down in the five regions where it currently operates (Indonesia, Brazil, Australia, Singapore, and Mexico).
“Our new partnership with Melon means that millions more music fans in Korea will be able to save, share and listen again to music that they fell in love with on TikTok.”
Michael Kümmerle, TikTok
“Since the launch of Add To Music App, we have seen the TikTok community fully embrace the opportunity to save the songs they discover to the music streaming service of their choice,” said Michael Kümmerle, TikTok’s Global Head of Music Partnership Development.
“Our new partnership with Melon means that millions more music fans in Korea will be able to save, share and listen again to music that they fell in love with on TikTok.”
When users encounter a song they like in their TikTok For You Feed, they’ll see an ‘Add Song’ button next to the track name at the bottom of the video. Upon first use, they can select their preferred music streaming service. The chosen service then becomes the default for future saves, though users can change this preference at any time in their settings.
Minwoo Han, head of the Melon Business Department at Kakao Entertainment Corp., said: “We believe that our partnership with TikTok, which is the leading social media platform for music discovery, will be incredibly popular with our existing users and attract more music fans.”
“We believe that our partnership with TikTok, which is the leading social media platform for music discovery, will be incredibly popular with our existing users and attract more music fans.”
Minwoo Han, Kakao Entertainment
“As a leading music streaming platform, we will continue our efforts to enhance the value of music together with other major partners in each sector.”
The move aligns with TikTok’s broader ambitions in the music industry. Back in June, MBW learned that TikTok is planning to acquire and invest in music rights, forming an in-house Music Content Investment Team with a global focus. Additionally, TikTok has been actively exploring the field of AI music, with its parent company ByteDance conducting extensive research through its Speech, Audio & Music Intelligence (SAMI) team.
All these moves come as TikTok aims “to become the most influential music platform for the next generation of music enthusiasts to express themselves and connect,” according to a job posting for a Los Angeles-based ‘Product Manager, Music Copyright’, which MBW spotted earlier.
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