ByteDance seem to be preparing with Spotify and Apple Music as the company has filed a trademark application with the US Patent and Trademark Office for a service called, TikTok Music. According to Business Insider, the filing suggests that users would be able to purchase, play, share, and download music with the new service.
TikTok Music would allow users to create, and recommend playlists, comment on music, as well as livestream audio and video. Furthermore, ByteDance has described the service as having advertising services, perhaps implying that there will be an ad-supported option like Spotify’s free tier. However, we’ll have to wait and see what it announces, if it launches the service at all.
It bears mentioning that filing of a trademark does not guarantee the launch of TikTok Music as ByteDance may end up scrapping the entire project. However, this isn’t the first time the company has ventured into the music industry as the TikTok app in Brazil comes with a button that redirects users to Resso that allows them to listen to full version of a song in any TikTok video.
In November 2021, Resso had over 40 million monthly users across India, Brazil, and Indonesia, while the number is likely to grow in the future. ByteDance may end up developing its new TikTok Music service based on the Resso framework, or it might come up with something entire new, but we we’ll have to wait and see what the company decides.
If ByteDance does launch TikTok Music, it might have a profound impact on the music streaming industry and giants like Spotify and Apple Music just like the company changed the way social media sites operate.
Read more: TikTok Is Bringing Mini-Games Into Its App.