TikTok rolled out a bold expansion of music-sharing options, launching “Share to TikTok,” a feature that lets users ship content created on top of streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music directly to TikTok’s ‘For You’ page, Stories, and DMs. It brings two of the most popular music and video platforms directly together, through this update creating a dynamic, direct link from TikTok to streaming services.
For us, it is a great opportunity for users to share their favorite tracks, playlists, and albums on TikTok and back to the source on Spotify or Apple Music without leaving the app. This extends TikTok’s ability to affect music trends and audience numbers to push deeper connections between fans and the things they love.
New Options for Music Sharing
The “Share to TikTok” feature is versatile. Users can post music directly on TikTok’s main feed, Stories, or send it in something akin to a direct message. But they can use creative tools like TikTok’s green screen or Photo Mode to personalize their shared content and ensure their music discoveries are even more engaging for their followers.
On Spotify, the sharing process is intuitive: Songs, podcasts, and audiobooks can be shared to TikTok with a tap on the “Share” button or the icon in the “Now Playing” screen. Sharing tracks to TikTok is just as easy through Apple Music’s Share Sheet, offering the choice to post as a video or a photo, or, even simpler, a message.
A Strong Partnership with Streaming Services
‘Share to TikTok’ is another step into the music industry for TikTok. It can now push tracks up the charts and fire off viral hits in turn, helping alleviate streaming platforms’ concerns about the impact of TikTok. With this integration, TikTok’s Global Product Partnerships Lead Lindsey Kelt Zikry noted that creative expression and collaboration with DSPs have been the cornerstone of TikTok’s success, and that continues to be the case.
“We’re excited to highlight how our feature will take the user experience full circle, powering the likes of artists and making it easy for users to seamlessly connect with their favorite streaming services,” said Ole Obermann, Global Head of Music Business Development.
But the change also helps users, as well as artists benefitting from the change to get noticed using a new and engaging way on audiences from across TikTok. TikTok’s influence is only growing, with more artists and record labels expecting a more collaborative environment for releasing new music and further solidifying its role within music discovery, and its relationship with major streaming services.
Seamless Discovery and Integration
TikTok has served its purpose well over the years, inspiring 67 percent of users to go out and find the music they’ve discovered. Then there’s this new feature, which is another one for TikToks “Add to Music App” option it already had which lets people save tracks they discover on TikTok to whatever their favorite streaming service is. This latest update is designed with hundreds of millions of track saves and billions of streams attributed to TikTok already, aiming to extend engagement across platforms.
TikTok Music ‘was a bit premature,’ ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, said, having briefly considered a streaming service but ultimately decided to help users connect with existing music streaming services. This move is part of TikTok’s ongoing mission to drive music discovery and gives DSP partners a trusted funnel for user interaction.
Music Sharing Continues to Evolve
The move further underlines the broader trend of social platform convergence with music-sharing services. For instance, Spotify just partnered up with Meta to create a button to share music directly to Instagram, then include features with apps including Snapchat and X (formerly Twitter).
This latest wave of features brings to marketers a music-loving audience that just wants a seemingly seamless, interactive way to join its listening experiences with its social world, making it a necessary music discovery and fan activation channel across platforms.
This new powerful music avenue for fans and creators to share their musical tastes share recommendations and connect with the large TikTok community ensures the app remains a vital player in today’s music and social media landscape.
