Tuna Cetin
After becoming the most downloaded app worldwide for two years in a row and surpassing Google as the most visited website in 2021, TikTok is now preparing to rival Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming platforms with its new ‘TikTok Music’ service.
First reported by Business Insider, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance filed a trademark application for the service with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in May this year. While the Office has accepted the application, it has yet to assign an examining attorney who will decide whether TikTok Music is eligible for the trademark registration. The company also filed the same application in Australia in November last year.
According to the application document, TikTok Music’s downloadable mobile, desktop and tablet apps will let users ‘’purchase, play, share, download music, songs, albums, lyrics, quotes, create, recommend, share his/her playlists, lyrics, quotes, take, edit and upload photographs as the cover of playlists, comment on music, songs, and albums.’’
The service will also allow users to go live, access podcasts and radio content, and include a karaoke function, according to the filling.
TikTok has already had a remarkable impact on the music industry by allowing more than one billion users to discover new music on their FY pages. The company previously announced that nearly 430 songs gained 1 billion video views on TikTok, and 175 songs which went viral on the platform ended up on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2021.
In fact, apart from its main platform, ByteDance has a separate music streaming app too. The Resso app, which was first launched in March 2020, is currently available in select markets including India, Indonesia, Brazil and China. According to Sensor Tower’s data, it generated 42.3 million App Store and Play Store downloads from January to May this year. The app allows users to discover songs and albums on a TikTok-like interface, make comments on them and upload photos as their cover images, similar to what TikTok Music promises in its filling.
As reported by TechCrunch, a former employee of ByteDance said that the company had plans to expand the Resso app to global markets including the United Kingdom and Australia, under the name ‘’TikTok Music’’.
The US Patent and Trademark Office will assign an examiner for ByteDance’s application within the next six months. If approved, the service is expected to be a big rival to music streaming apps like Spotify and Apple Music, which currently don’t offer social features like commenting on songs that TikTok Music promises.
Earlier this year, TikTok also launched a music distribution platform called ‘SoundOn’ to let music makers upload their titles to TikTok, Resso and other major platforms.
The company has also recently launched HTML5 mini-games in partnership with gaming studios, as part of its efforts to make a major push into mobile gaming.
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