Spotify has a challenger on the horizon: TikTok Music
TikTok is working tirelessly to make all your favorite apps obsolete. First, it came for Facebook and Instagram. Next up: Spotify.
The video app already has a strong hold over what music flourishes and what music fails in 2022. So it isn't particularly surprising that TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, filed a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for "TikTok Music" in May, according to patent filings uncovered by Insider.
TikTok Music would let people buy, play, share, and download music, and create, share, and recommend playlists. Sounds a lot like all of the features we love about Spotify! The main difference, it seems, is that you'll also be able to comment on music and livestream audio and video, according to the filing.
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But Spotify will be a tough app to beat, even by a behemoth like TikTok. While other apps and platforms faltered, Spotify has maintained a "healthy" and "strong" music advertising and podcast ad growth, according to Bloomberg. Snap Inc., Roku Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. (which owns Facebook and Instagram) have all experienced crushingly slow ad revenues, plunging down in double digits. And Spotify has been spared, likely because it has a smart business plan and provides users with exactly what they want.
It's unclear when TikTok Music would actually launch — or if it will at all. A patent filing does not automatically equal a platform rollout.
Either way, a Spotify versus TikTok throwdown would be a delight to watch.
Christianna Silva is a senior culture reporter covering social platforms and the creator economy, with a focus on the intersection of social media, politics, and the economic systems that govern us. Since joining Mashable in 2021, they have reported extensively on meme creators, content moderation, and the nature of online creation under capitalism.
Before joining Mashable, they worked as an editor at NPR and MTV News, a reporter at Teen Vogue and VICE News, and as a stablehand at a mini-horse farm. You can follow her on Bluesky @christiannaj.bsky.social and Instagram @christianna_j.
