TikTok owner ByteDance is in talks to launch a music streaming service to rival Spotify and Apple Music as the social media video app hits 1.5 billion downloadsBeijing based ByteDance is in discussions with major music labelsIt is talking to Universal, Sony and Warner about global music licencesThe service will reportedly cost less than the $10 charged by SpotifyTikTok, owned by ByteDance, has been downloaded more than 1.5billion times
Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube could soon face competition from China, as the owner of popular social video app TikTok plans to launch its own music streaming service.
Beijing-based ByteDance is reportedly in talks with major music labels including Universal and Sony, in the hope of securing global licencing deals for its new service.
The company hasn’t formally announced the service yet, but a report by the Financial Times says it will likely cost less than the $10 a month charged by Apple and Spotify.
ByteDance is looking to launch its service as soon as next month – initially in emerging markets such as India, Indonesia and Brazil, before rolling it out in the United States, people close to the company told the FT.
Beijing based ByteDance, which owns TikTok (pictured) is in talks with major music labels including Universal, Warner and Sony about licencing music for the new service
In addition to on-demand music, ByteDance’s app will include a library of short video clips for listeners to search through and sync to songs as they listen.
The company’s main product, TikTok, which evolved out of an earlier app called Musically, features music prominently.
The app, which is popular with teenagers, features 15 to 60 second video clips of comedy sketches, dance challenges and people lip-syncing to popular songs.
TikTok is free to download and free to use. It has has been downloaded more than 1.5 billion times from the App Store and Google Play, according to SensorTower, a company that monitors app downloads and usage.
TikTok is particularly popular in India, which may be why ByteDance is planning to launch its music streaming service in emerging markets first.
A third of the app’s 1.5billion downloads have come from the subcontinent, followed by just over a tenth from China, where it is made.
TikTok has has been downloaded more than 1.5billion times from the App Store and Google Play Store, according to SensorTower, a company that monitors app downloads and usage
It is currently the third most downloaded non-gaming app, with 614 million downloads so far this year.
Of the top five non-gaming apps, TikTok is the only one not owned by Facebook.
It is currently behind WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger for downloads this year, but ahead of the Facebook and Instagram apps.
Earlier in November, the company unveiled a smartphone called the Nut Pro 3. It has a four-sensor camera and will cost around $400, although the company has not yet announced a release date.
It’s thought the device will come pre-loaded with software owned by ByteDance including Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
WHAT IS TIKTOK? 
TikTok is known in China as Douyin where it was launched in 2016
Tik Tok is a Chinese social media app where users can live stream, create short videos and music videos and Gifs with a host of functions.
Tik Tok’s tagline is ‘Make every second count’.
It was the most downloaded app in the US in 2018 and the world’s fourth most downloaded app in 2018, ahead of Instagram and Snapchat.
TikTok is known in China as Douyin where it was launched in 2016 and then made more widely available around the world in 2017.
Douyin is still the version of the app used in China, available to download separately to TikTok.
Last year, the app was merged with popular music video lip-syncing app Musical.ly, also with headquarters in China.
Most children use the app to film themselves lip-syncing to chart hits.
It offers users a raft if colourful modification and editing tools including overlaying music, sound, animated stickers, filters and augmented reality (AR) for creating short videos.
The Beijing based social network has more than 500 million active users and the company is now worth more than $75 billion (£58 billion).
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