In a bold move to expand its reach beyond viral videos, TikTok launched its music streaming service – TikTok Music to a select group of users signing up for a closed beta testing. This strategic shift follows the successful debut of the app in Indonesia and Brazil just two weeks back. By leveraging its vast user base and influential algorithms, TikTok Music seeks to challenge established players in the market such as Spotify and Apple Music, TechCrunch reported.

TikTok subscription-only music streaming app is now available for download in three more countries including Australia, Mexico, and Singapore.

TikTok Music Streaming App

Testers enjoy a three-month free trial on the music streaming service leveraging TikTok’s powerful algorithms for personalized recommendation. TikTok Music beta is available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, but can also be accessed by visiting music.tiktok.com.

“We are inviting users in Australia, Mexico, and Singapore to participate in the TikTok Music closed beta test from today,” TikTok said in a statement.”

The music streaming platform allows users to sync to their existing TikTok account, making the onboarding process seamless. TikTok Music subscribers can access real-time lyrics, collaborate with their friends on playlists, import their music library, and search for particular songs using lyrics.

This enhances the music discovery experience through the social media platform, allowing users to play full versions of viral TikTok songs.

TikTok Music “combines the power of music discovery on TikTok with a music streaming service offering millions of tracks from thousands of artists,” the press release shared with The Verge stated.

By tapping a Shazam-like feature, users can identify the music they are listening to, not to mention, TikTok-like social features such as notes “that users can express themselves through comments and connect with other music lovers,” the TechCrunch report added.

TikTok Music Streaming

In addition to key features like music download for offline listening and sharing, the service brings under one roof catalogs from leading record companies like the Warner Music Group, Sony Music, and the Universal Music Group (3 of the largest labels in the world).

In Brazil, a subscription to TikTok Music has been priced at $3.49 per month. However, in Indonesia, iOS users pay $3.25 a month while Android users are charged $2.96 a month for the initial subscription year but the price tag will increase to $3.25 from the second year onwards.

TikTok Music also offers a one-month free trial offer, which allows users to opt out of the service.

The price of a TikTok Music subscription in Australia is AUD11.99, equivalent to $8.16 monthly. In Mexico, it’s priced at Mex$115, which corresponds to $6.86, and in Singapore, it costs S$9.90 or approximately $7.48 per month.

“We are now beta testing TikTok Music in Australia, Mexico, and Singapore, and will have more news to share on the launch of TikTok Music in the coming months,” TikTok said in an emailed statement.

When Will TikTok Music Launch in The US

TikTok Music is currently available in five countries and in beta, giving a select group of users in Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Indonesia, and Singapore a sneak peek into what the competitive ByteDance-owned company has in store for music lovers.

As confirmed by The Verge, the company is mum on when it intends to launch TikTok Music in the US. However, potential users in the US can rest easy with the remark TikTok made in the press release that there will be “more news to share on the launch of TikTok Music in the coming months.”

ByteDance lodged a trademark application for TikTok Music in Australia in November 2021.

This was followed by another application filed in the US Patent and Trademark Office in May of the same year. Despite concerns from the US government, these moves demonstrate ByteDance’s intent to bring TikTok Music to the American market.

TikTok Music To Take on Spotify

TikTok success in the social media market has left companies like Meta and Twitter now X, running for their money. Moreover, the predominantly video-sharing platform is also a big name in the music industry, propelling songs to become global hits, with synonymous challenges.

Song and artists’ discovery have been a success story since the platform’s launch in 2016. Other music streaming services list the trending TikTok songs into playlists, a feature that may have compelled the Chinese-owned to try its luck in the music industry.

TikTok’s launch into the music industry could threaten the market position of other companies like Spotify, which has recently hiked the price of its premium subscription to $10.99 per month in the US.

With over 500 million users globally, 40% of which have subscribed to the premium plan, Spotify is the largest music streaming service in the world. Following the adjusted prices, the platform’s Duo Plan increased to $14.99 from $12.99 while the family plan rose to $16.99 from $15.99.

While the above prices apply to the US market, according to TechCrunch, the changes also affect other international markets like the European Union, the UK, Asia, South and Central America as well as Oceania.

Meanwhile, TikTok appears to understand that its new platform will have to offer compelling services to compete against a dominant Spotify. Already, TikTok Music’s monthly subscription is slightly cheaper than Spotify Premium in both Indonesia and Brazil.

Spotify has started to stagnate in revenue over the past few quarters, potentially leaving room for TikTok Music to swoop in and take Spotify’s users, especially as it raises its prices.

Spotify annual users 2016 to 2023 (mm) | BusinessofApps

If TikTok Music aggressively leverages the TikTok app and its compelling features, it may start to eat into Spotify’s revenue, which after a 21% increase in 2022 holds at $12.9 billion. According to Insights provided by BusinessofApps, the revenue has tripled in the last five years.

Spotify quarterly revenue 2016 to 2023 ($mm) | BusinessofApps

According to DataReportal, Mexico ranks as the fourth-largest market for TikTok, boasting 62.4 million active users aged 18 and above. This places Mexico after the United States (116.5 million), Indonesia (113 million), and Brazil (84.1 million) in terms of user numbers.

ByteDance is confident that TikTok Music will push other streaming services like Resso in Brazil and Indonesia with users allowed to seamlessly export their accounts.

The launch of TikTok music could generally take the world by storm, considering the platform’s $1 billion monthly active users. Leveraging such a vast audience could topple Spotify’s dominance in the music streaming industry.

However, TikTok is facing regulatory pressure in the United States, with the country considering banning the app. Some countries like India have already banned TikTok over data privacy issues.

Although it is too early to tell how TikTok Music will take off, with a full launch in Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, and Singapore the company will gauge the reception at a global scale.

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