A night shot of Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Photo credit: Bayu Syaits
After months of speculation, TikTok Music has officially launched and is available to fans in Brazil and Indonesia as a replacement for ByteDance’s Resso.
Beijing-based ByteDance launched its long-awaited “social music streaming service” in those countries today, about a week after the debut of its AI-powered music creation app Ripple.
Armed with licensing deals from all three major labels, TikTok Music will replace the aforementioned Resso platform on September 5, according to executives, although the older of the services is expected to remain live in the meantime. In addition, TikTok Music abruptly scrapped its free tier in early May and only offers a paid option in Brazil (population 214 million) and Indonesia (population 274 million), according to higher authorities.
Given the significant global reach of established players like Spotify and Apple Music, monthly prices of TikTok Music are comparatively cheap across countries. While a Spotify subscription costs R$19.90 (currently $4.04) per month in Brazil, the IFPI TikTok Music, the ninth largest music market in the world, costs customers R$16.90 ($3.42) per month.
And in Indonesia, where TikTok itself says it’s ready to “invest billions of dollars” in the coming years, TikTok Music’s subscription costs Rs.49,000 (US$3.23) per month, up from Rs.54,990 (March 3). $.61) per month for Spotify. (The latter also has a “mini” plan in Indonesia with ad-free listening on mobile only, priced at Rs. 2,500/US$0.16 per day.) Also, Android users in Indonesia pay Rs $.96) per month for the just-released streaming app, according to company officials.
As a test version, the streaming service TikTok offers new users in the countries one month free of charge; Spotify also offers a free month in Brazil, but only allows new subscribers in Indonesia two premium months for the price of one.
Notably, users of the debut platform will be able to store tracks included in videos on TikTok itself and then stream them — a feature that could prove significant given the proliferation of music on the controversial short-form service for a number of reasons.
“We’re excited to introduce TikTok Music,” said Ole Obermann, Global Head of Music Business Development at ByteDance, of the launch, “a new breed of service that combines the power of music discovery on TikTok with a world-class streaming service .”
“TikTok Music will make it easy for people in Indonesia and Brazil to save, download and share their favorite TikTok viral tracks. “We are excited about the opportunities that TikTok Music offers for both music fans and artists, and the great potential it has to create significant value for the music industry,” concluded the former Warner Music Group CEO.
While it’s unclear when exactly TikTok Music will be available in additional countries, licensing talks (particularly with the Big Three) are expected to have a major impact on the schedule.