The parent company of TikTok, ByteDance, has filed a trademark application for ‘TikTok Music,’ as reported by Insider on 28 July.
The application was filed by TikTok with the US Patent and Trademark Office on 9 May. According to the last update which was done on 13 May, the office will be assigning an attorney in six months to examine the request.
What to know about TikTok Music
It may have social media-like features
TikTok Music is all set to be a music streaming service positioned to compete with streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music in the US market.
As per the application, TikTok will be able to “purchase, play, share, download music, songs, albums, lyrics” and “create, recommend, share his/her playlists” on mobile and tablet apps once the trademark is approved.
The document also indicates that TikTok Music may also act like a social media for music fans with features such as commenting on songs and albums. It is noteworthy that music streaming giants, including Spotify, do not have this feature.
TikTok influences song popularity
According to Fortune, the top curated playlists on Spotify and Apple Music mostly feature songs that originally went viral on TikTok.
Fortune says that many of the much-hyped songs such as Doja Cat’s “Say So” have gained a boost in popularity owing to TikTok’s trending dances and songs.
Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill,” a song that was featured in Stranger Things season 4, also got a revival on TikTok.
Citing a TikTok report, Fortune said that around 430 songs used as TikTok sounds surpassed 1 billion video views in 2021 alone. Over 175 songs appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 after they appeared as trending songs on TikTok.
The US application follows a ‘TikTok Music’ trademark application by ByteDance in Australia in November 2021.
Music streaming is not new to ByteDance. Its service known as Resso, is a streamer which is available in India, Indonesia and Brazil. The service was launched in 2020. Resso allows users to create playlists, share songs on social media and interact with the community within the app.
Insider had earlier reported that the monthly active users on Resso grew phenomenally by 304 percent between January 2021 to January 2022 in India alone, while Spotify grew only by 38 percent in the same period.
(Main image credit: Solen Feyissa/@solenfeyissa/Unsplash; Featured image credit: Hello I’m Nik/@helloimnik/Unsplash)
