ByteDance, the Chinese Internet technology company and parent to the viral video app TikTok is reportedly planning a launch a new music streaming service as soon as this fall.
According to a Bloomberg report, the company is developing a paid music app to challenge top industry services such as Spotify, YouTube Music, and Apple Music.
ByteDance is already familiar with music licensing through TikTok, which is likely to help it make similar deals or extend current deals to the new service. It has deep relationships through TikTok with over 800 China labels. Moreover, it has reportedly already secured contracts with some of India’s largest record labels, including the remarkable T-Series label from Bollywood. It is still unclear whether or how this deal will have an impact on the T-Series distribution agreement with Spotify.
Despite struggles in India, with 217 million monthly worldwide users and 100 million paid subscribers, Spotify remains a clear leader on the streaming scene. But Bloomberg also points out that Spotify lacks untapped markets in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, as regions make up only 10% of Spotify’s base.
Bytedance aims to launch the app as early as this fall, with apparent plans to launch it first in India. People familiar with the situation told Bloomberg that Bytedance primarily wants to roll out the app in countries where other paid music services have not yet accumulated a substantial user base.
Bytedance declined to confirm that there is a music app in the works, but Bloomberg reports that the company has a full-fledged demo app showing it to executives in the music industry.
