A nighttime shot of Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Photo Credit: Bayu Syaits
After months of speculation, TikTok Music has officially launched, becoming available to fans in Brazil and Indonesia as a replacement for ByteDance’s Resso.
Beijing-headquartered ByteDance rolled out its long-awaited “social music streaming service” in the mentioned nations today, about one week following the debut of its AI-powered music-creation app, Ripple.
Equipped with licensing pacts from all three major labels, per execs, TikTok Music will replace the aforementioned Resso platform on September 5th, though the older of the services is expected to remain live in the interim. Additionally, with Resso having abruptly dropped its free tier in early May, TikTok Music is solely offering a paid option in Brazil (population 214 million) and Indonesia (population 274 million), higher-ups disclosed.
Bearing in mind the substantial global reach of well-entrenched players like Spotify and Apple Music, TikTok Music’s monthly prices in the nations are comparatively inexpensive. While a Spotify subscription costs R$19.90 (currently $4.04) per month in Brazil, which is according to the IFPI the ninth-largest music market in the world, TikTok Music will set customers back R$16.90 ($3.42) per month.
And in Indonesia, where TikTok proper says it’s poised to “invest billions of dollars” in the approaching years, TikTok Music’s subscription costs Rp 49,000 ($3.23) per month, against Rp 54,990 ($3.61) per month for Spotify. (The latter also has in Indonesia a “mini” plan, complete with ad-free mobile-only listening, priced at Rp 2,500/$0.16 per day.) Plus, Android users in Indonesia will during the first year of their subscriptions pay Rp 44,900 ($2.96) per month for the just-released streaming app, according to company officials.
On the trial side, TikTok’s streaming service is offering new users one month free in the countries; Spotify likewise offers one month free in Brazil, but only enables new subscribers in Indonesia to have two months of premium for the price of one.
Notably, the debuting platform’s users can save and then stream tracks included in videos on TikTok itself – a feature that could prove significant for multiple reasons given the prevalence of music on the controversial short-form service.
“We are pleased to introduce TikTok Music,” ByteDance global head of music business development Ole Obermann communicated of the launch, “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. We are excited about the opportunities TikTok Music presents for both music fans and artists, and the great potential it has for driving significant value to the music industry,” finished the former Warner Music Group exec.
Although it’s unclear when exactly TikTok Music’s set to arrive in additional countries, licensing talks (particularly with the Big Three) are expected to factor heavily into the timetable.