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TikTok Music could mean competition for Apple Music and Spotify

TikTok Music could be Apple Music and Spotify’s latest competitor, as TikTok’s parent company ByteDance just filed a trademark application for its possible music streaming service in the United States.

First spotted by Business Insider, this could mean that the social media giant could be readying to compete with Apple Music and Spotify in the near future.

As mentioned by the publication, TikTok is already a hub for discovering new music. In addition, it helps turn songs into the mainstream and to the top of charts like Billboard 100, Spotify Viral 50, and Apple Music curated playlists.

The TikTok Music trademark was submitted in the US in May. It could be used for “a variety of goods and services including a mobile app that would allow users to purchase, play, share, download music, songs, albums, lyrics.”

Other possible use cases for “TikTok Music” in ByteDance’s application include an app that would allow users to “live stream audio and video” as well as the ability to “edit and upload photographs as the cover of playlists” and “comment on music, songs, and albums.”

If that turns out to be the case, Apple Music and Spotify would have serious competition. TikTok, for example, is the only non-Facebook app to surpass 3 billion downloads globally and, again, is a huge booster for artists to be discovered.

“Typically a company the size of TikTok or ByteDance is only going to file trademark applications for items that they’re seriously considering,” trademark attorney Josh Gerben of Gerben Law Firm told Insider. “If you look back through any major company’s trademark filings, you’ll see ones that they filed that never came to fruition. But a lot of times they do. And a lot of times it’s something they’re seriously working on.”

Do you subscribe to Apple Music or Spotify? Would you be willing to switch to TikTok if its music streaming service ever comes to life? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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