Will TikTok soon establish its own music streaming service, which will compete head-to-head with Spotify and Apple Music, which currently dominate the field today?
The answer, apparently, is positive.
The social media monster, which actually started out as a humble app called Musical.ly that has music as an integral part of its DNA, has filed patent applications in the US and Australia under the name TikTok Music.
In the requests, which were submitted in recent months but only revealed now, it was clarified that the new service will allow users to "play, purchase, share and download music, songs, albums and lyrics", as well as "stream audio and video content, upload and edit cover images of playlists, and publish Comments on music, songs and albums".
In addition to this, the patent applications state that the service will also "stream content in the fields of entertainment, fashion, sports and current affairs" - fields that actually differentiate it from the competition, which focuses on music and podcasts.
In other words, TikTok's new service is expected to do everything a proper music streaming app should do and more, only this time it will be branded as part of the world's leading social media powerhouse for young people.
Looking over her shoulder.
Spotify, photo: Reuters
It is important to note that Beatdance, Tiktok's parent company, already operates a similar music streaming service called Resso, but this service is only available in Brazil, India, and Indonesia (in these countries, Tiktok is only able to play a part of a certain song, and basically directs Resso to play the full piece of music).
It is not yet known whether TikTok Music will be based on Resso's existing technological infrastructure or whether it is a completely new product, but it is expected that things will become clear in the coming months with an official announcement.
To be sure, Spotify and Apple are already looking over their shoulder.
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