With the future of TikTok in the US still uncertain, I guess the timing is ripe to try and launch some form of competition to it which is exactly what Snapchat is doing as they have announced (via The Verge) a new feature that will let users add music to the videos they record. The company plans to first launch to English-language users in New Zealand and Australia starting today before rolling out other parts of the globe.
The company has secured the rights to add music from the likes of many major labels including Warner Music Group and Universal Music Publishing Group. Snap is also designing this feature in a way that will benefit the interests of the record labels so when a person swipes up on a video, they will get the song’s title and artist, plus a link to listen to the track on a streaming platform of their choice.
Although the new feature is compared to TikTok, it appears there won’t be a feed of videos set to music, and there won’t be a way to see other videos featuring the same song — two features key to TikTok. Music sharing and dancing to music is only part of what has made TikTok famous and so just securing the licences to add music to their videos does not really make it the same thing.
Music is driving many of the features that social networks are focusing on at the moment and we have seen many companies try some form of TikTok feature-set recently, but with few being able to make it work. I don’t expect we will Snapchat find a way of competing with TikTok either, not that I use either of them.
Last Updated: August 10, 2020
