TikTok is launching a new Add to Music App feature, letting users save songs found on the app to third-party music services.
The feature is being rolled out in partnership with music streamers Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music as a means to increase the utility of the app for discovering new music.
The exact terms of the partnership have not been disclosed. The feature will initially be limited to the U.S. and U.K. However, users around the globe will gain access to it over the next few months.
The feature takes the form of an “Add Song” button next to the track name at the bottom of a TikTok video, which will prompt users to select their preferred streaming service the first time they click it. They can then save the track to a new or existing playlist in the app of their choice.
The new feature “[creates] a direct link between discovery on TikTok and consumption on a music streaming service,” said TikTok’s global head of music business development Ole Obermann in a statement, “making it easier than ever for music fans to enjoy the full-length song on the music streaming service of their choice, thereby generating even greater value for artists and rightsholders.”
TikTok has its own streaming service, TikTok Music, currently available in Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico and Singapore – though there are no plans to launch it in the U.S.
It has also been looking to monetize music through its SoundOn service, allowing artists to directly upload songs to the main app and earn royalties from their use by creators. SoundOn also allows artists to distribute their songs to Resso – a streaming app owned by TikTok parent ByteDance – Apple Music, Deezer, Joox, Pandora and Spotify.
