TikTok Owner ByteDance Advances Music-Streaming Service on Mainland

ByteDance, operator of popular short video-sharing platform TikTok and Douyin, its Chinese version, has launched a music-streaming app as it seeks to compete with market-leading platforms operated by Tencent Holdings and NetEase, The South China Morning Post reported Friday (April 15).

Dubbed Qishui Yinyue, which means soda music in Mandarin, the app was updated Wednesday (April 13) following its release in March.

Qishui Yinyue operates similar to Resso, the music-streaming app ByteDance introduced in some overseas markets three years ago.

“Soda Music is an app built on Douyin’s continuous efforts in music,” a Douyin spokesman said in a statement. “Douyin launched it as a stand-alone app to better serve our users as well as artists in the industry.”

Today, the service provides more than 10 million music songs, according to the app’s landing page on the App Store. It allows Douyin users to sync their favorite music lists on the short video app.

The app is still beta phase, which requires an invitation code.

ByteDance’s entrée into the mainland’s music-streaming market comes at a time when there’s a lack of more exclusive music-licensing deals in place.

Earlier this week, research firm Insider Intelligence reported TikTok is expected to increase its net U.S. ad revenue by 184% this year, or nearly $6 billion.

Related: Report: TikTok US Ad Revenue to Grow 184% in 2022

The report also predicted that ad revenues for the video-sharing app will drop to a double-digital growth trajectory beginning in 2023 and top $11 billion by the following year.

Meanwhile, Insider Intelligence also said the report shows TikTok “gaining on some more-established digital ad sellers.”

This year, the platform will take in 2.4% of the nearly $250 billion companies spend on digital advertising in the U.S. That’s just a percentage point behind YouTube and more than what Snapchat and Twitter will get from ads combined.