TikTok to End Music Streaming Service
By Movieguide® Contributor
Roughly two years after its launch, TikTok is shuttering its music streaming platform TikTok Music.
“We will be closing TikTok Music at the end of November in order to focus on our goal of furthering TikTok’s role in driving even greater music listening and value on music streaming services, for the benefit of artists, songwriters and the industry,” said Ole Obermann, the global head of music business development at TikTok.
The platform initially launched with the key feature of allowing users to add songs they heard on TikTok directly to playlists. This feature, however, failed to launch the app to competitive heights. Instead, TikTok now allows users to add the songs they hear on the platform to playlists on their preferred music streaming service.
“Our Add to Music App feature has already enabled hundreds of millions of track saves to playlists on partner music streaming services,” Obermann boasted.
“We want to create less work to get to the audio you love,” added Spotify’s global head of consumer experience, Sten Garmak, about the Add to Music App feature. “That means being everywhere our users are and creating seamless ways to save songs to Spotify to enjoy when and how they choose to listen.”
TikTok Music has also faced heavy criticism in recent months over allegations that it was not properly compensating musicians or adequately protecting them from AI. The dispute between TikTok and artists like Taylor Swift, Adele and Justin Bieber was eventually resolved after monthslong talks between the two sides.
TikTok Music will go offline on Nov. 28.
While TikTok Music was never all that popular, its closure is certainly good news for other music streaming services who struggle to turn a profit as is. Spotify, for example, has laid off a significant number of its workforce in the past year while also hiking prices twice in an effort to consistently turn a profit.
Movieguide® previously reported on music streaming:
2023 was the greatest year for the music industry ever, but rather than going to the artists, most profits landed in the pockets of streaming services.
According to a year-end study from The Recording Industry Association of America, last year was the eighth consecutive year of growth for the music industry, with revenue topping $17.1 billion. As is the current trend with all entertainment, streaming was the top dog, accounting for over 80% of all revenue.
Within the streaming space, subscriptions for services like Spotify were by far the largest pull, with the average number of subscribers over the year landing just below 97 million. Collectively, subscriptions generated over $11 billion in revenue.
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