Snapchat

WSJ: Snapchat planning to compete with TikTok, add deeper music integration

Chance Miller | May 25 2019 - 8:18 am PT

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As TikTok continues to prove incredibly popular around the world, Snapchat is looking to expand its support for music. The Wall Street Journal reports that Snap is in talks with record labels to “expand the ways users can include music in posts” on Snapchat.

Snap already licenses some music on a case-by-case basis. Now, however, the company is looking to expand its music access with broad rights to Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group. This access wouldn’t be for an on-demand streaming music service like Apple Music, though.

Instead, Snap’s deals with labels would allow Snapchat users to incorporate music into their creations. This feature is currently offered by both TikTok and Instagram, both of which have eaten into Snapcaht’s user base. The Wall Street Journal report explains that TikTok is taking advantage of low-cost licensing deals for its music features:

ByteDance has been operating under low-cost licenses worked out with Musical.ly, a short-form video service it acquired in 2017 that lets users create lip-syncing music videos. ByteDance merged Musical.ly with TikTok last August and has since ballooned to some 700 million to 800 million users across its apps.

TikTok has been the most downloaded iOS app for the last five quarters, and it’s clearly starting to affect big names like Snapchat and Instagram. Earlier this month, Instagram overhauled its IGTV interface with a new TikTok-like algorithmic feed.

It’s unclear when Snapchat is aiming to roll out new music features to users. Today’s report cautions, however, that Snap is still in negotiations with labels and that it hasn’t actually finalized the licensing agreements.

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