TikTok is teaming up with streaming music services, including Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Music on a new feature that will allow users to save directly to their preferred streaming music app the songs they hear in TikTok videos. The addition comes at a time when TikTok’s influence is increasingly a factor in music’s top charts and the discovery of new artists. Its impact can also be felt in Spotify’s TikTok-inspired redesign of its app earlier this year, which revamped the app with short-form discovery feeds for music and podcasts.
Now, TikTok’s new “Add to Music app” feature will begin to appear as a button that says “Add Song” next to a track name at the bottom of a TikTok video in the For You Feed, allowing users to save the song to their streaming music app. The first time users tap this button, they’ll be able to set which music service they prefer as their default.
Apple Music was not disclosed in TikTok’s press release about the feature, but is visible in the screenshots provided. TikTok confirmed retroactively to its news going live that Apple Music is indeed part of the feature.
For Spotify, TikTok users in both the U.S. and the U.K. will be able to save songs to their “Liked Songs” playlist. In addition to setting up the default upon your first interaction with the new feature, you also can find the option on the Settings page under “Music.” More markets will be supported over time, Spotify says.
Once enabled, you’ll be able to tap an “Add to Spotify” button in TikTok anytime you come across tracks you like and want to hear again as you browse through your For You Feed. You also can access the feature from an artist’s Sound Detail page.
Similar functionality will also be available for Amazon Music listeners, also in the U.S. and U.K. In this app, the TikTok songs will be added to a “TikTok Songs” playlist or another playlist of your choice. On Amazon Music, however, the feature will be limited to Prime members and Amazon Music Unlimited customers, while Spotify will support both its free and paid (Premium) users.
Apple Music, meanwhile, is a paid service only, so will only be offering this feature to paying subscribers.
The feature will require both the TikTok app and the user’s streaming music app to be updated to the most recent version in order to work. Spotify notes the feature is arriving to both its iOS and Android apps, starting today, and joins its other social integrations, including those with apps like BeReal, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter (now X).
It’s interesting to see TikTok working with streaming services to enhance their offerings at the same time that parent company ByteDance is flexing its own muscles in the streaming music game. With the expansion of its streaming service, TikTok Music in countries outside the U.S., the company is leveraging its popular short video app as fodder for a music rival of its own.
But in the meantime, Spotify remains a top music app in the U.S., in terms of monthly listeners — in second place behind YouTube, and tied with Amazon Music, according to data from one study of U.S. usage. In addition to being the dominant streamer worldwide, Spotify also drives much of U.S. culture around music, thanks to its flagship personalized playlist, Discover Weekly, curated editorial collections and its popular year-end review, Spotify Wrapped. Amazon Music, meanwhile, has traction thanks to its tie-in with the popular Prime subscription, which gives it a foothold in the U.S.
That means that TikTok, at least for now, needs to work with its competitors on integrations like this, not ignore them.
“TikTok is already the world’s most powerful platform for music discovery and promotion, which helps artists connect with our global community to drive engagement with their music,” said TikTok‘s global head of Music Business Development, Ole Obermann, in a statement about the launch. “Add to Music App takes this process a step further, creating a direct link between discovery on TikTok and consumption on a music streaming service, making it easier than ever for music fans to enjoy the full-length song on the music streaming service of their choice, thereby generating even greater value for artists and rightsholders,” he added.
TikTok has partnered on other music efforts before now. Last month, for example, it teamed up with Billboard to launch a top 50 song chart. And, earlier this year, TikTok launched a new program to identify rising artists in the music industry. It has also offered artists the ability to show off their talent in a live music competition in August and September as it grows its reputation as a hub for music discovery.
The “Add to Music App” feature is currently rolling out to users in the U.S. and U.K., with more markets to follow, notes TikTok.
11/14/23, 10:28 AM ET: Confirmed with TikTok that Apple Music is part of the feature. We understand the original omission was a request from Apple.
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