TikTok took another step to integrate itself deeper into the music streaming ecosystem on Thursday (Nov. 7), as Spotify and Apple Music users gained the ability to easily share songs on the short-form video app — posting them to their For You Page, for example, or sharing them via DM.
When TikTok’s popularity exploded in 2019 and 2020, it seemed like a competitor to many of the older streaming services. Suddenly users didn’t want to leave the addictive short-form video app to listen to songs elsewhere. TikTok proved to be especially effective at driving music discovery for younger listeners.
So it wasn’t surprising that, when Spotify celebrated new features at its Stream On event in 2023, executives poked at TikTok — “There’s a disconnect between where music is being teased and where music is actually being streamed,” for example — without naming it. In recent months, however, two platforms that once looked like rivals appear increasingly interested in collaboration.
In November 2023, TikTok unveiled the “Add to Music App” to serve as “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 lengthy song on the music streaming service of their choice,” as Ole Obermann, TikTok’s global head of music business development, said in a statement at the time. In addition, TikTok shuttered its own streaming service, TikTok Music, in September.
At the same time, Spotify has said it is newly focused on finding ways for users to share the music they love. For a long time, “sharing was generally seen as an afterthought to the core features on the Spotify platform,” Priscilla Chan, associate director on the business development team, explained in a blog post in September.
“Now, these partnerships and features are vitally important drivers of the viral loop of growth for Spotify,” she continued. It’s all part of the platform’s goal of “being everywhere where our existing and potential users are” to “extend our global reach.”
