• by Colin Kirkland , July 18, 2023

TikTok has announced a “wide-ranging” partnership with Warner Music Group that will provide the ByteDance-owned entertainment app, along with its billion-plus global users, fans and creators, access to Warner's massive catalog. 

The deal aims to generate new revenue, marketing, and insights opportunities for Warner’s artists and songwriters while deepening their engagement abilities with TikTok’s audience, many of whom are passionate music fans.

Insider has called TikTok an “essential promotional tool for music artists and record labels,” with marketers' ability to hire TikTok influencers to boost visibility, as old and new songs go viral by rising organically through the app's algorithm.

Due to TikTok's inherent promotional capabilities, artists and songwriters will now have expanded access to brand partnerships through the social app, as well as integrated monetization features like merchandise, ticketing and digital goods and services.

The companies have also agreed to a licensing deal for TikTok Music<, a new premium subscription streaming service similar to Spotify and Apple Music that was recently launched in Indonesia and Brazil, with plans to expand to other countries.

TikTok Music replaced Resso, which will shut down on September 5 in Brazil and Indonesia, marking TikTok's next phase of providing artists with a one-stop-shop for all music entertainment via a unified video/audio platform to share their music, market themselves and get paid.