Apple Music Launches Full-Length Streams and Listening Parties within TikTok

TikTok and Apple Music have announced a new collaboration, allowing Apple Music subscribers to listen to full-length songs and join listening parties within TikTok. The feature will pay out royalties to rightsholders via Apple Music's licensing agreement.

How it works:

• There is a new button within TikTok that reads “play full song.”

• Pressing it opens a full-screen player similar to what the streaming service looks like.

• The songs will still technically be streamed from Apple Music, as TikTok doesn’t have licensing agreements to play full songs.

• Rightsholders will be paid royalties under the same terms as a stream from Apple Music.

• For now, only artists will be able to start listening parties within TikTok.

• TikTok users will be able to chat during the parties while listening to full-length releases.

• The music streaming during the listening parties will still come from Apple Music and generate the same royalties.

• Non Apple Music subscribers can join the listening parties to chat and listen to clips of the music, but they won’t be able to stream the full songs.

• Listening parties are only be available on the TikTok iOS app at this time.

Background:

• This new feature would expand upon TikTok’s “Add to Music App” feature, which allows users to save songs they find on TikTok to their preferred streaming platform.

• This feature requires users to switch between apps.