Bytedance secures music rights from T-Series, Times Music to launch music app by July

A month after its report of launching music streaming app, Chinese most valuable unicorn Bytedance has now secured music rights from T-series and Times Music to start offering music services in India.

The company plans to introduce the new music app, which is yet to be named, soon in most of the countries including India, said people close to the development.

The on-demand music app is said to have video and song catalogue. It is reported to be paid service, similar to global music players Spotify and Apple Music, as per Bloomberg report.

Entrackr has in April reported about the development in regard to Bytedance music app. Bytedance, which is valued about $76 billion, has put over 100 people to work on the app, which is expected to be launched by July.

Entrackr queries seeking detail about the Bytedance India plan did not elicit a response.

Chinese firm relies on machine learning and is constantly working to develop and incorporate AI into its products. In India, the Chinese firm has about 300 million MAU across three of its main products- TikTok, Vigo Video and Helo.

Bytedance recently revealed its plans to invest $1 billion in India business, counting it as one of its largest markets.  It has also appointed Sameer Singh CEO of GoupM as Vice President, Monetisation in India. He will be responsible for client deals while handling the advertising, sales and marketing strategies across all of ByteDance’s products in India.

Meanwhile, music streaming is still nascent and at a growing stage in India. And this fits in its large ambition to cater to every single need of Indian users, from short video to music listening.

In the last couple of years, India has emerged as a battleground for video and audio streaming services firms. This is largely due to the rising number of smartphone users and the availability of cheap data.

Swedish streaming giant Spotify and Youtube entered the Indian music market two months ago. Spotify, during its first-quarter result, claimed to have over two million monthly active users in India.

Comparatively, YouTube Music app has been downloaded more than 15 million times in the country a month after its launch. It is considered a bit flexible and available in more languages than other music apps available in India.

In India, these global players will compete with Amazon Music, JioSaavn, Gaana, and Hungama. Gaana, which has also emerged as the most favoured app as per a sturdy, recently announced its active users to be over 100 million.

According to Deloitte study, online music listening market is expected to cross $273 million by March 2020. Currently, there are more than 150 million online consumers on online streaming apps.