Popular social media app TikTok has announced the discontinuation of its music streaming service, TikTok Music. The service, which had been operating for less than a year in select countries including Indonesia, Brazil, Australia, Singapore, and Mexico, will cease operations from November 28.
A notice on the TikTok Music website expresses gratitude to users for their support and enjoyment of the platform.
Ole Obermann, who heads global music business development at TikTok, explained the decision to Billboard Pro. He highlighted the success of TikTok’s “Add to Music App” feature, which has facilitated hundreds of millions of track saves to playlists on partner streaming platforms. The “Add to Music” function enables users to easily save songs to various streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music.
Obermann stated that shutting down TikTok Music will allow the company to concentrate on enhancing TikTok’s role in promoting music listening and generating value on other music streaming services. This strategy aims to benefit artists, songwriters, and the broader music industry.
It’s worth noting that earlier this year, TikTok faced challenges in the music industry when its licensing agreement with Universal Music Group (UMG) came to an end, resulting in music from some of the biggest artists in the world including Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish being removed from the platform.
