You might have discovered — and danced to — new music on TikTok.
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TikTok has spawned viral hits such as “abcdefu,” by Gayle and “Say So” by Doja Cat. Music labels have even reportedly forced their artists to make TikToks, and accusations have been rife against “industry plants” on the app.
Now, the social media platform’s parent company is leaning into its ability to boost music by potentially integrating the streaming service it already owns (but is not available in the U.S.) with TikTok, as well as meeting with music labels about plans to expand its streamer’s reach, according to a Wednesday report from the Wall Street Journal.
ByteDance, the Beijing-based parent company of the popular short-form video app TikTok, already operates a music streamer, called Resso. It’s available in India, Brazil, and Indonesia.
But ByteDance hopes to make Resso a part of TikTok, the WSJ reported, citing “people familiar.” Expanding its streaming music services — perhaps under the moniker “TikTok Music,” which Insider first reported in July it had filed a patent for — will make it a competitor to Apple Music and Spotify.
Spotify’s shares dipped on the news, Yahoo Finance reported.
TikTok claimed last July that 75% of its users find new musical artists through the app.
Tiktok launched in 2016, in the form of Musical.ly, where people lip-synced music in videos, and has since run where Vine walked, pushing a focus on short-form videos on competitors like YouTube and Meta. The companies have developed Shorts and Reels, respectively.
This is the second piece of news this week about TikTok’s expansion into more industries. The social media service is looking into building its own e-commerce and fulfillment operation, Axios reported Tuesday.
Elon Musk said he wanted to use Twiter, a company he is slated to acquire, to make the “X” everything app, like WeChat in China.
TikTok might be barrelling ahead of him, at least in the U.S.