TikTok parent company ByteDance is facing a deadline this Saturday (April 5) to sell the platform’s US operations or face a ban in the United States, but that isn’t stopping TikTok from pursuing its efforts to become an integral part of the global music scene.
The latest effort on that front is the soft launch of TikTok for Artists, a new service that offers artists analytics tools to see how their music is performing on the platform, and what sort of content fans are engaging with. It also gives artists access to features for promoting their music.
As first reported by Music Ally, TikTok for Artists has been in beta-testing for some time, available to a small group of artists, but now it’s being rolled out in five markets: Australia, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea. MBW understands that it will soon be available in more markets.
TikTok for Artists echoes the “for artists” services launched by music streaming platforms like Spotify and SoundCloud, which also offer analytics and promotional tools. Like Spotify’s service, but unlike SoundCloud’s, it will be free to use.
The TikTok version also offers pre-save campaigns for artists who have set up pre-add on Apple Music or a countdown page on Spotify for an upcoming album or EP release.
To access TikTok for Artists, a user will need a certified artist account. The sign-up page is live even outside the five markets where it’s being rolled out.
While TikTok has organically become a major hub for music discovery, in recent years the platform has taken steps to make its participation in the music industry a part of its business model. It has, for instance, rolled out a music distribution platform called SoundOn.
Not all of TikTok’s forays into music have proven successful. Last year, it shut down TikTok Music, its own version of a Spotify-style Premium music streaming service that had been available in a handful of countries, including Australia, Brazil, and Indonesia.
The initial rollout of TikTok for Artists comes as the world’s attention is captured by another story involving the platform: The looming deadline for parent company ByteDance to sell TikTok’s US operations or face a ban in the country, under a bill passed by a bipartisan majority and signed into law by then-President Joe Biden last year.
President Donald Trump – who offered TikTok a temporary reprieve, pushing out the deadline from the original January 19 – said this past weekend he’s confident a deal to sell the platform’s US operations will happen. However, he apparently implied that, if necessary, he would delay the divest-or-ban deadline again.
A number of deep-pocketed investors have reportedly expressed interest in buying the US side of TikTok, among them tech company Oracle, Perplexity AI, a consortium that reportedly includes Blackstone, and – most recently – Amazon.
A great deal has been reported lately about the talks held between prospective buyers and the White House, led by Vice President JD Vance and Trump’s National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. However, little has been reported on whether ByteDance is actually willing to sell, or for how much.Music Business Worldwide
