TikTok has been building a new music streaming service to compete against Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music.
It recently announced a licensing deal with Merlin, a global agency that represents hundreds of thousands of artists, to use the labels' music legally on TikTok anywhere that the app is available. TikTok has secured deals with other major labels but has been restricted from going public on the details.
The licensing deal with Merlin covers TikTok's upcoming music subscription service, Resso.
Resso was first spotted in the wild as a test app in India and Indonesia.
Despite being one of the most popular apps, TikTok still struggles to gain revenue, and a music streaming app is one way for it to generate revenue.
It has been working on ways to become independent from China as it continues to face regulatory scrutiny for its acquisition by ByteDance.
