TikTok, the popular short-form video platform, is set to terminate its music streaming service, TikTok Music, on November 28. This closure will affect users in five countries: Indonesia, Brazil, Australia, Singapore, and Mexico.
As reported by Music Business Worldwide, this decision is part of TikTok's strategic shift to emphasize its 'Add To Music App' feature. This functionality enables users to save music tracks discovered on TikTok directly to playlists in their favorite audio streaming services, thus facilitating a smoother music discovery process.
Ole Obermann, TikTok’s Global Head of Music Business Development, explained the rationale behind this decision:
Our Add to Music App feature has already facilitated hundreds of millions of track saves to playlists on partner music streaming services. We will be discontinuing TikTok Music at the end of November to concentrate on enhancing TikTok’s role in promoting music listening and adding value to music streaming services for the benefit of artists, songwriters, and the industry.
TikTok Music was launched in Indonesia and Brazil last summer and was licensed by all three major music companies, serving as a successor to ByteDance's earlier platform, Resso. The app expanded to Australia, Singapore, and Mexico in October 2023; however, its initial launch in these regions was hampered by a licensing dispute that prevented access to Universal Music Group’s (UMG) catalog. This issue has now been resolved.
The discontinuation of TikTok Music signals a significant shift in TikTok’s music strategy, aligning with its goal of improving user experience and driving increased music streaming activity across other platforms, ultimately benefiting artists and the broader music industry.
Credit:Pulse.
