TikTok to discontinue its music streaming service in November

TikTok has announced it will shut down its music streaming service, TikTok Music, on November 28. Launched as Resso in 2019, TikTok Music was ByteDance’s attempt at capturing the music streaming market, of which Apple Music and Spotify are the biggest players. It made several attempts to woo customers through high-stakes deals with labels such as Universal Music Group NV, but the adoption failed to take off, surprisingly when TikTok became the most popular social media app in several markets, including the US.

“We are sorry to inform you that TikTok Music will be closing on 28 November 2024,” reads a notice on TikTok Music’s website in Indonesia, Brazil, Australia, Singapore, and Mexico – the markets where the app is currently available. The company said existing subscribers can continue to use the service till November 28, after which their auto-renewals will be cancelled. TikTok will also accept refund requests from users in certain cases.

Instead of abandoning its users, TikTok will allow users to export their playlists and music to competing platforms, such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music, through the “Add to Music App” feature. “Our Add to Music App feature has already enabled hundreds of millions of track saves to playlists on partner music streaming services. We will be closing TikTok Music at the end of November in order to focus on our goal of furthering TikTok’s role in driving even greater music listening and value on music streaming services, for the benefit of artists, songwriters, and the industry,” said Ole Obermann, global head of music business development, TikTok.

TikTok Music debuted as Resso in India and then in Indonesia. After its main app was banned by the government, owing to security reasons, TikTok continued offering its music streaming service in India until the adoption slowed down significantly. The government eventually banned Resso earlier this year. ByteDance rebranded Resso to TikTok Music in 2023, while launching it in more markets.