or even YouTube Music. In the same vein, you’d probably associate TikTok to short video clips rather than full music tracks. But that may change in the future, according to a trademark application by its parent company ByteDance.
Business Insider first reported on the the discovery of the TikTok Music trademark application late last week. The trademark application comes with a description of a mobile app that allows users to “purchase, play, share, download music, songs, album, lyrics”. The trademark was filed in the US on 9 May, but the report states that the same was done in Australia all the way back in November last year.
While TikTok Music, should it launch with the name, may be something new, it’s not a first for ByteDance. The company already has a music streaming platform called Resso, although this only operates in three countries – Brazil, India and Indonesia. And according to The Information, in the first one specifically, music that appear in TikTok clips get a button that guides users to the full track on Resso.
And while the trademark filing mentions the ability to buy music, it’s worth noting that it’s not something that’s available across the board right now. Spotify used to sell songs and albums in certain markets, but have done away with it entirely, whereas Tidal still allows subscribers to buy albums in addition to their subscription. You can sort of do this with Apple Music too, since the company directs you to iTunes.