Now, Spotify and Apple will have to battle the unicorn behind Tik Tok

• ByteDance, the publisher behind the video social network — TikTok — plans to try its hand at music streaming in India.
  
• The company has already secured rights from Indian record labels and is poised to make its move.
  
• So far this year, two new companies have entered the music streaming space in India — making TikTok the third new entrant to try and battle it out.
  

The world’s most valuable unicorn, ByteDance, seems unfazed by the recent TikTok ban with larger plans for India on the horizon.

The company behind TikTok is reportedly planning to try its hand at music streaming. ByteDance has even secured the requisite music rights from Indian record labels — T-Series and Times Music — according to Bloomberg.

Valued at $76 billion, ByteDance only intends to release its music service in its overseas markets on the authority of sources that spoke to the South China Morning Post.

The plan is to target emerging economies, like India, where there’s still a large untapped market of internet users.

India’s intiatable demand for music

The demand for music in India seems to be intiatable with YouTube adding three million users within the first week, Spotify gaining one million members and Gaana becoming the first music app to reach 100 million monthly active users in India.

And, ByteDance wants a piece of the pie.

Sources that have seen ByteDance’s app in action told Bloomberg that the music service isn’t going to be just another clone of Spotify or Apple Music.

It’s unclear whether that will be enough for the company to make its mark considering that the Indian streaming market already has more than ten recognisable companies battling it out.

The music streaming space in India has the local players — Gaana, JioSaavn and Wynk — and there are the global players — Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music and Spotify. ByteDance will be the first big-name Chinese company to step into the ring.

See also:
Apple Music is now cheaper than Spotify in India

Spotify silently launches in India with premium membership options starting at ₹13

Amazon Music might soon be free for users as streaming wars continue in India