TikTok now lets Apple Music subscribers play full songs without leaving the app
TL;DR
TikTok partners with Apple Music to let subscribers play full songs directly in the app via a 'Play Full Song' button, using Apple's MusicKit. The feature is exclusive to Apple Music and includes a new 'Listening Party' for real-time social listening. It aims to enhance music discovery and streaming integration, rolling out globally soon.
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TikTok has partnered with Apple Music to allow subscribers of the streaming service play full songs without leaving its social network, the company announced on Wednesday. Apple Music subscribers who discover a song they like on their TikTok “For You” page or Sound Detail Page can tap the new “Play Full Song” button to open up an Apple Music player to listen to the full track.
TikTok, which is known for driving music trends and viral songs, said the new feature is designed to make it easier to go from the moment of discovery to deeper listening.
It’s worth noting that TikTok doesn’t allow users to play full songs from other streaming services, including Spotify.
The new feature is built using Apple’s MusicKit, which means full-length song playback takes place on Apple Music, so streams are paid within the streaming service.
TikTok and Apple Music are also introducing “Listening Party,” a new feature that lets fans listen to songs from their favorite artists in real-time. Fans can interact with each other and with the artist during the session, which TikTok says will allow for a more social way to experience music.
The new features are launching worldwide over the coming weeks.
The announcement comes as TikTok’s popularity has influenced the music industry and how people discover new music. TikTok once tried to capitalize on this by launching a streaming service, before eventually shutting it down. It has since focused on driving music fans to its app for discovery.
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For instance, TikTok has an “Add to Music App” feature that lets users save a track they’ve found on the app to their preferred music streaming service. The app also has a “Share to TikTok” feature that allow users to directly share tracks from Apple Music and Spotify to the short-form video app.
To aid discovery on its platform, TikTok launched a “TikTok for Artists” music insights platform last year that is designed to help artists and their teams better connect with fans, improve their promotional efforts, and inform content creation on TikTok. The platform gives artists, their labels, and their teams access to data about the performance of the artist’s music and posts and TikTok.