TikTok has teamed up with Apple Music to let subscribers play full songs directly from the social platform, announced on Wednesday. When an Apple Music subscriber discovers a song on TikTok’s “For You” page or Sound Detail Page, they can press “Play Full Song” to open an Apple Music player to enjoy the complete track.
TikTok, famous for setting music trends and making songs viral, aims with this feature to smoothly transition discovery moments to full listening.
Notably, TikTok doesn’t offer full song play from other services like Spotify.
Built using Apple’s MusicKit, this feature ensures full-length playback happens within Apple Music, guaranteeing streams are paid to the service.
Additionally, TikTok and Apple Music are launching “Listening Party,” enabling fans to simultaneously listen to songs and engage with artists, creating a more interactive music experience.
These updates will launch globally in the coming weeks.
The move coincides with TikTok’s growing influence on music discovery. Although TikTok once tried launching its own streaming service, which was later shut down, it now focuses on music discovery within its app.
For example, TikTok offers an “Add to Music App” feature to save tracks to any streaming service of choice and a “Share to TikTok” feature to transfer songs from Apple Music and Spotify directly to TikTok.
To enhance music discovery, TikTok introduced the “TikTok for Artists” music insights platform last year. It assists artists and their teams in connecting with fans, boosting promotion efforts, and creating better content for TikTok by providing access to data on music and post performance.