TikTok launches subscription-based music service to take on Spotify, Apple

20230515 tiktok — Critics say the popular platform allows Beijing to covertly collect users' data and influence their opinions - something the company denies. Image Credit: Reuters

New Delhi: Amid the growing Twitter-Meta fight over Threads app, Chinese short-video making app TikTok has launched a subscription-based music streaming service to take on market leaders Apple and Spotify.

The subscription-only music streaming service called “TikTok Music” has been launched first in Brazil and Indonesia.

The service replaces ByteDance’s existing streaming service, Resso (which is available in India too), which will shut down on September 5 in Brazil and Indonesia.

Existing Resso users can transfer their accounts to the new app “with the click of a button”.

“We are pleased to introduce TikTok Music, a new kind of service that combines the power of music discovery on TikTok with a best-in-class streaming service. TikTok Music will make it easy for people in Indonesia and Brazil to save, download and share their favourite viral tracks from TikTok,” Ole Obermann, global head of Music Business Development at TikTok, said in a statement.

TikTok Music lets users sync the service to their existing TikTok accounts and listen, download and share songs, reports TechCrunch.

The service includes the catalogs of major record companies, including Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music.

A TikTok Music subscription costs $3.49 a month in Brazil, and $3.25 for iOS users in Indonesia.

Android users in Indonesia need to pay $2.96 a month for the first year, then $3.25 afterwards.

TikTok Music doesn’t include a free membership option, but offers a one-month free trial.

TikTok Music lets you play full versions of viral TikTok songs, discover personalised music recommendations, access lyrics in real time, create collaborative playlists with friends, import your music library and find songs via lyrics search, said the report.