{"id":973699,"date":"2019-11-24T08:44:39","date_gmt":"2019-11-24T15:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=916871"},"modified":"2019-11-24T08:44:39","modified_gmt":"2019-11-24T15:44:39","slug":"why-spotify-may-soon-have-a-big-tiktok-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/music-news\/why-spotify-may-soon-have-a-big-tiktok-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Spotify May Soon Have a Big TikTok Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are you dead? Let\u2019s find out: Watch<\/span> this video<\/span><\/a>, which went viral on TikTok<\/a> this week, and see if you don\u2019t chuckle.<\/span><\/p>\n

For those untrusting types who refrain from clicking the link above: It\u2019s a human, clad in a dinosaur costume, petrifying members of the public. What can I say? It\u2019s an oldie, but a goodie.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s it doing here, in a business-focused column about TikTok\u2019s threat to Spotify<\/a>\u2019s dominance in music? Well, for one thing, I thought it might put you in a cheery mood. Plus, more pertinently, it demonstrates that what you\u2019re about to read should be consumed with the following caveat: not every sensation on TikTok today is music-led, despite the fact that most top TikTok influencers \u2014 whether via lip-sync or dancing \u2014<\/span> use music as a vital component of their appeal.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Last week,<\/strong> we learned from trusted mobile activity monitor Sensor Tower that TikTok has now been<\/span> downloaded more than 1.5 billion times across the world<\/span><\/a>. Considering that, according to estimates, there are<\/span> only 3.3 billion active smartphone users<\/span><\/a> globally today, this is an impressive milestone \u2014 doubly so when you consider that TikTok only took off in 2017, following parent Bytedance\u2019s<\/span> $800 million acquisition of lip-sync app Musical.ly.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, the<\/span> Financial Times<\/span><\/i> revealed more details<\/span><\/a> last week about Bytedance\u2019s upcoming on-demand audio streaming service \u2013 a.k.a its direct new rival to Spotify (which we reported on in<\/span> this column<\/span><\/a> last month). According to the <\/span>FT<\/span><\/i>, this TikTok sister product will arrive as soon as December 2019 in three key emerging markets \u2014 India, Brazil, and Indonesia \u2014 with a U.S. launch to follow. It will apparently differentiate itself from Spotify, Apple Music, et al., with a focus on \u201cencouraging sharing and virality,\u201d including the use of short video clips.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Popular on Rolling Stone <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

At least one senior Spotify exec has already seen the service, or at least some screenshots of it, and was left impressed. Spotify CFO Barry McCarthy <\/span>remarked that the yet-to-launch Bytedance app<\/span><\/a> has \u201csome really clever social features\u201d while speaking at the RBC Capital Markets Conference in New York on November 22nd.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are some key reasons why Spotify may soon be talking about TikTok, and Bytedance\u2019s music app, in rather less jolly terms\u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. TikTok is (probably) already more popular than Spotify \u2014 especially in vital emerging markets like India<\/b><\/p>\n

Sensor Tower has provided <\/span>Rolling Stone<\/span><\/i> with new data regarding both TikTok and Spotify\u2019s popularity to date \u2014 although its numbers for Spotify only go as far back as January 1st, 2014. Since that date, estimates Sensor Tower, Spotify has been downloaded globally across iOS and Android some 864.3 million times; in the same period, TikTok has seen 1.52 billion downloads.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the first nine months of this year, says Sensor Tower, TikTok was downloaded 519.7 million times worldwide; Spotify, meanwhile, was downloaded 158.1 million times, one-third as much as TikTok.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to reiterate that TikTok is not a music app <\/span>per se<\/span><\/i>. But if, as the <\/span>FT<\/span><\/i> article hints, Bytedance can build a strong link between its new music offering and its existing social-video empire, TikTok\u2019s global reach and brand strength could cause Spotify real headaches.<\/span><\/p>\n

That will be particularly true in India \u2014 a market where Spotify launched in February, and which has been earmarked as an essential territory for growth by Spotify boss Daniel Ek. According to Sensor Tower stats shared with <\/span>Rolling Stone, <\/span><\/i>TikTok\u2019s popularity is miles ahead of Spotify\u2019s in India: In the past quarter (Q3, to end of September), TikTok was downloaded 76.2 million times in the market; Spotify\u2019s India-based download count was an eighth of this size, at 9.3 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

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2. TikTok and discovery<\/b><\/p>\n

In the past few months, Spotify\u2019s vision for its future prosperity has become clear. Part of its plan is, simply, podcasts, and<\/span> how they can improve its advertising revenue growth while reducing its total content costs<\/span><\/a>. Yet the other essential part of Spotify\u2019s strategy revolves around user discovery of music and how, as the biggest player in the streaming space, Spotify can<\/span> \u201ccontrol the demand curve,\u201d<\/span><\/a> as Ek infamously once put it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Boasting of Spotify\u2019s current market leadership versus Apple and Amazon, incoming Spotify CFO Paul Vogel said last week, \u201c[Rule] number one: You need to break first on Spotify.\u201d Bytedance might have something to say about that. <\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to driving the early popularity of global hits like Lil Nas X\u2019s \u201cOld Town Road,\u201d Blanco Brown\u2019s \u201cThe Git Up\u201d and Regard\u2019s \u201cRide It,\u201d TikTok has also fueled the popularity of viral breakthrough tracks in recent months like Ashnikko\u2019s \u201cSTUPID\u201d \u2014 which ended up pulling in 2 million streams a day on Spotify and<\/span> topping its Global Viral 50 chart<\/span><\/a>. This pattern \u2014 TikTok igniting virality of a track, which is then manifested in Spotify plays \u2014 is good news for Spotify in the short term. But it is also a clear indication of Spotify <\/span>losing<\/span><\/i> control of the \u201cdemand curve\u201d for new music\u2026 to a fresh competitor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t forget what the <\/span>FT<\/span><\/i> said about Bytedance\u2019s upcoming music app \u2014 that it will \u201cencourage sharing and virality.\u201d This suggests that lessons have been heeded from TikTok\u2019s huge impact in setting recent entertainment trends.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. TikTok is the future of music (if you believe Facebook)<\/b><\/p>\n

Tamara Hrivnak, head of Music Development & Partnerships at Facebook, is a very smart executive. Earlier this month at the Paley Center in New York, as <\/span>quoted in this column<\/span><\/a>, she predicted that the future of digital media would be \u201cvideo-first and interactive.\u201d She then suggested that \u201cit makes a whole lot of sense for Facebook and music to build that version of the future together.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And there is no doubt that Facebook, with its 2.47 billion monthly active users, will play an enormous role in shaping the music business<\/a> of tomorrow. But, according to Hrivnak\u2019s rules, so will TikTok.<\/span><\/p>\n

TikTok\u2019s popularity to date has largely been propelled by the fact it combines the thrill of new-music discovery with elements of interactivity, involvement, and community. It sounds as though Bytedance is working carefully to ensure that this winning combination also comes across loud and clear in its new Spotify-rivalling music app.<\/span><\/p>\n

Further evidence is now coming to light that Bytedance also wants to bring these elements into real-life scenarios:<\/span> The <\/span>Bangkok Post<\/span><\/i><\/a> reported on November 21st that TikTok has expanded into selling concert tickets direct to fans in Thailand, as well as promoting local live events.<\/span><\/p>\n

As one senior music exec who has seen elements of the yet-to-launch Bytedance music app told me the other day: \u201cIt\u2019s not exactly Streaming 2.0, but it\u2019s definitely something close to Streaming 1.5. For the first time, we\u2019re seeing something that, if Bytedance gets the launch strategy right, might give people a real reason to cancel their Spotify subscription and switch to another service.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Tim Ingham is the founder and publisher of <\/em>Music Business Worldwide,<\/a> which has serviced the global industry with news, analysis and jobs since 2015. He writes a weekly column for \u201cRolling Stone.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are you dead? Let\u2019s find out: Watch this video, which went viral on TikTok this week, and see if you don\u2019t chuckle. For those untrusting types who refrain from clicking the link above: It\u2019s a human, clad in a dinosaur costume, petrifying members of the public. What can I say? It\u2019s an oldie, but a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-973699","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 00:30:36","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KFMU Solar Powered Radio","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/973699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=973699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/973699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=973699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=973699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=973699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}