TikTok has entered into a partnership with Apple Music that will let subscribers on the streaming platform listen to full songs without leaving the social media app, the company announced on Wednesday. Apple Music users who come across a track they enjoy on TikTok’s “For You” feed or on a Sound Detail Page can now tap a new “Play Full Song” button, which opens an Apple Music player so they can hear the complete track.
TikTok, a platform widely recognised for shaping music trends and helping songs go viral, said the new feature is meant to make the jump from discovering a track to listening more deeply much more seamless.
Notably, TikTok is not offering the same kind of full-song playback integration as other streaming services, including Spotify.
The feature has been built using Apple’s MusicKit, meaning full-length track playback occurs through Apple Music itself, so streams are counted and paid for within Apple’s streaming platform.
TikTok and Apple Music are also rolling out a new feature called “Listening Party,” which allows fans to hear songs from their favourite artists together in real time. During these sessions, fans can interact with each other and with the artist, offering what TikTok describes as a more social way to experience music.
Both of these new features are set to roll out globally in the coming weeks.
The announcement comes as TikTok continues to have an outsized influence on the music business and on the way listeners discover new songs. The company had previously tried to build on that influence by launching its own streaming service, but later shut it down. Since then, TikTok has focused more directly on using its app as a music discovery engine.
For example, TikTok already offers an “Add to Music App” feature that allows users to save a song they find on the platform directly to their chosen music streaming service. The app also includes a “Share to TikTok” feature that allows users to post tracks directly from Apple Music and Spotify into the short-form video platform.
To further support music discovery on the app, TikTok launched a “TikTok for Artists” insights platform last year. That service is intended to help artists and their teams connect more effectively with fans, strengthen their promotional strategies, and guide content creation on TikTok. The platform gives artists, labels, and their teams access to performance data related to the artist’s songs, posts, and overall activity on TikTok.
