TikTok developer ByteDance to launch music streaming service in India next month

ByteDance Technology Co Ltd, the company behind TikTok-- a popular short-video making app is going to enter the music streaming business with its own service from next month. ByteDance's music streaming app will make its way to India, Indonesia and Brazil before entering the United States, according to this report.

As reported on Financial Times which cites "people familiar with the matter", the company is already in talks with music labels such as Sony Music, Universal Music & Warner Music for the license to their catalogue.

The TikTok developer will also add a video section in the music streaming app which will consist of short video clips, perhaps sourced from TikTok. Moreover, listeners will also be able to "sync to songs" as they listen. This could be an indication that the music listening app could also bring some of the TikTok features to the table, allowing users to record lip-sync videos.

ByteDance's music streaming app doesn't have a name yet, however, the monthly pricing is expected to be below $10, which is what players like Spotify and Apple Music charge their users.

Having said that, in India, where even Spotify and Apple Music offer their services for less than $2 per month, local players like JioSaavn, Gaana and Hungama are the go-to options for most users and costs less than $1.40 (Rs 99). Other streaming services like Amazon Music and Airtel Wynk come bundled with Amazon Prime subscription and mobile plans for Airtel customers.

So, it would be interesting to see how the music streaming app by ByteDance makes a foray into the Indian market, which is also the company's biggest market for the highly popular TikTok lip-sync video making service.

Just recently, Sensor Tower reported that TikTok has registered 1.5 billion downloads on both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store with India accounting for 45% of the installs.