TikTok Owner Tests Music App Resso In India: Should Spotify, Gaana Be Worried?

TikTok is available in around 150 markets, but India alone drives most of its growth. Increasing the focus on the country even further, TikTok owner ByteDance is now testing a new music app in India and Indonesia.

The music app, called Resso, has been installed by about 27 K users in India and Indonesia across the iOS App Store and Google Play since an initial launch six months ago, according to data compiled by Sensor Tower.

“Resso is currently in a beta testing phase. We are optimistic about its long-term prospects but we are still very early in the process and only in a limited number of developing markets” a Bloomberg report said, quoting an unidentified source.

The social video app TikTok touched 1.5 Bn downloads worldwide on the App Store and Google Play recently and India topped the chart with 466.8 Mn installs, which was about 31 percent of all installs. Testing out Resso in India thus gives ByteDance a chance to scale up the service slowly and take it to other countries.

Speculations about TikTok in talks with big music labels to enter the online music streaming space started in November 2019. “I think new players that can offer streaming apps with differentiated features will eventually help expand the market. Any expansion works well for the copyright holders which are the music labels,” Jehil Thakkar, head of media and entertainment partner at Deloitte India, had said earlier while adding that online music market in India is nascent with immense potential and a lot of headroom.

He also spoke about how India is in a phase of forming habits in terms of music consumption. People are shifting from traditional methods to music streaming and thereby creating a big market for big scope for TikTok. The Chinese company will be competing with Spotify, JioSaavn and Gaana in India. The app will have on-demand music along with a library of short video clips for listeners to search through and sync to songs as they listen.

The reason TikTok has clicked well with Indian users and the company bets high on India for the upcoming music app is the increased internet penetration driven by low-priced data offered by Jio.

According to Mary Meeker’s 2019 Internet Trends Report, the number of global internet users has touched 3.8Bn, which is more than half of the world’s population. China has the largest internet user base at 21%, followed by India at 12%, and the United States at 8%. In terms of both the number of users and potential internet users, the Asia Pacific region is the highest with 53% of users coming from this part of the world.