In November 2024, TikTok Music, the streaming service launched by social media giant TikTok, will officially shut down. This news surprised many, as the app was seen as a natural extension of the parent platform, designed to turn viral music trends into a business opportunity. However, despite TikTok's large user base and its potential as a music discovery tool, the streaming app has not achieved the success hoped for. Let's take a closer look at the reasons behind TikTok Music's closure, its impact on the music industry, and what lessons we can learn from this experience.
An Ambitious Experiment
TikTok Music was launched in 2023 as a dedicated music streaming platform, intended to compete with industry giants such as the Spotify and Apple Music. The idea behind the service was simple yet powerful: capitalize on the success of the TikTok as a music discovery tool and transform it into a standalone platform for listening to full-length songs.
The app aimed to provide users with a complete music experience by combining the features of the TikTok, which had made thousands of artists famous, with a dedicated streaming interface. In theory, this formula should have attracted a large user base, already accustomed to discovering music through the TikTok. However, despite the initial promise and excitement, the TikTok Music never quite found its place in the highly competitive music streaming market.
Why is TikTok Music shutting down?
One of the main reasons for TikTok Music's closure is the extreme saturation of the music streaming market. Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music dominate the industry with significant market share and an established user base. These platforms offer not only a vast music catalog, but also advanced music discovery tools, personalized playlists, and a proven user experience.
TikTok Music, despite having the advantage of a pre-existing user base over TikTok, failed to sufficiently differentiate itself. While it had recommendation algorithms already known to be effective on TikTok, the streaming platform didn't offer anything innovative enough to push users away from their established music listening habits on other platforms.
Music streaming platforms face significant monetization challenges. Music licensing costs are high, and platforms must balance the number of paying users with the number of users who use the service for free, which is often supported by advertising. While TikTok has an effective advertising model on its main platform, replicating this success on TikTok Music has proven more difficult.
Furthermore, most TikTok users engage with music passively, through short clips, rather than as listeners of full songs. This behavior has complicated the transition to a paid subscription-based business model or advertising while streaming full songs, thus limiting TikTok Music's ability to compete with established services.
TikTok Music has failed to establish a clear, distinctive identity. While TikTok is known for its ability to uncover new musical talent and turn unknown songs into viral hits, the “Music” version of the app has failed to fully leverage this potential. Users have continued to prefer music discovery on TikTok itself, turning to external platforms for full-length listening. This lack of integration between discovery and listening has been a major limitation for TikTok Music.
Impacts of the Closure
For TikTok Music users, the closure is obviously a disappointment, especially for those who had become accustomed to using the platform for their music listening needs. However, most users will not be significantly impacted, as most listeners are likely already using other streaming platforms.
TikTok itself will continue to play a central role in the discovery of new songs and artists, even without TikTok Music. The core platform has never been in question, and the closure of the streaming service should not negatively impact the music discovery features, which remain one of TikTok's strengths.
Emerging artists were probably among the most disappointed by the news of TikTok Music's closure. The platform represented an opportunity to monetize their music directly within TikTok, capitalizing on the platform's natural virality. With the closure, artists will have to return to relying on other streaming platforms to earn money from their songs.
However, TikTok remains one of the most effective platforms for music promotion. Even if TikTok Music closes, the parent platform will continue to provide visibility for artists, giving them the opportunity to reach a large, global audience. Artists, however, will need to find new strategies to capitalize on this visibility and encourage users to convert into paying listeners on other platforms.
The Future of TikTok and Music Discovery
Despite the closure of TikTok Music, TikTok's role in music promotion is not expected to change significantly. The platform will continue to be a go-to platform for discovering new artists and songs, thanks to its powerful algorithms and ability to make any content go viral.
One possible direction for TikTok could be to strengthen collaborations with streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music. Rather than competing directly, TikTok could better integrate its music discovery features with existing platforms, offering a smoother transition between discovering a viral song on TikTok and listening to it fully on other platforms.
Additionally, TikTok may explore new ways to support artists' monetization, such as through live streaming features or virtual events, which allow artists to directly interact with fans and generate revenue.
How to promote your music?
The closure of TikTok Music is a sign of how complex the music streaming market is and how difficult it is to compete with established giants. However, TikTok continues to be one of the most powerful tools for music discovery, and its ability to make songs go viral represents a unique advantage for artists and musicians.
Artists will have to adapt to this closure and continue to use TikTok as a promotional tool, but look for new ways to monetize their viral success on other platforms. If you are an artist or music industry professional, it is crucial to have a clear strategy to address these challenges.
I specialize in copyright management and digital distribution, and I can help you create the right strategy for your journey in the music industry. If you'd like to discuss the opportunities that may open up for your artistic career, you can schedule a meeting with me to plan your growth strategy together.
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