Following its massive success in the social networking space over the past couple of years, TikTok owner ByteDance is reportedly looking to get into the music streaming business. The company is believed to have already acquired streaming rights from Indian record labels like T-Series and Times Music, and a new report from FT now claims that the company is also in talks with Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music for global licensing deals.
The report further says that the service may be launched as early as next month, but only in select markets like India, Indonesia and Brazil. The company is also reportedly planning a foray into the US, but that is only likely to happen after it has acquired the rights from the global music labels. Meanwhile, ByteDance’s music streaming app will also include “a library of short video clips for listeners to search through and sync to songs as they listen”, the report added.
There’s no further word on the subject at this point, so we don’t know either the name of the app or the subscription plans, but it won’t be a stretch to believe that the pricing will be at least on par with that of Apple Music and Spotify, both of which cost less that $10 per month in the US, and even lower in India.
Given that it has to compete against popular incumbents like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Gaana and JioSaavn in India, ByteDance will have its work cut-out as it tries to gain a foothold in what is already an extremely competitive market. That being the case, it will be interesting to see if the company will be able to convert current TikTok users into paying subscribers of its music streaming service.
