TikTok owner ByteDance reported to be launching a music streaming app in China
Fei Yue will reportedly launch by the end of the year.
Image: Chesnot / Getty Images
TikTok’s parent company ByteDance will reportedly launch a music streaming service in China by the end of the year.
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According to Chinese news outlet 36Kr, the app is currently in its late stages of development under the provisional name “飞乐 [Fei Yue]”. The team overseeing the service’s development was said to be the same as the one behind Douyin, China’s version of TikTok.
The report also stated that Fei Yue has been in the works since 2019, with Alex Zhu, Vice President of Product and Strategy for ByteDance and former head of TikTok leading its development team.
ByteDance allegedly began exploring the music business as early as 2019, and once launched a domestic music streaming project codenamed “W”, which was aborted in mid-2020 after failing to take off due to copyright and product positioning issues.
The firm is reportedly eager to secure licensing deals with record labels across the nation as well as collaborate with independent artists, whose presence will help set Fei Yue apart from other offerings in the market.
In March last year, ByteDance launched the music streaming service Resso in India to rival the likes of Spotify and Apple Music.
In July 2021, TechPlanet reported that ByteDance was testing a music distribution service aimed at independent artists called “Galaxy Ark”, which would let artists upload videos and songs onto a global platform.
