TikTok Doubles Down on Distributed Audio Streaming with FUGA Partnership

TikTok Doubles Down on Distributed Audio Streaming with FUGA Partnership

TikTok has been making headlines over the past two weeks. Just this week, TikTok revealed that it has partnered with superstar artist Snoop Dogg and Death Row Records to bring the record label’s catalog to the platform via SoundOn.

TikTok, the video and music app owned by Bytedance, is doubling down on its efforts to become a major distributor of audio content.

The company’s SoundOn service has been making headlines over the past two weeks. Just this week, TikTok revealed that it has partnered with superstar artist Snoop Dogg and Death Row Records to bring the record label’s catalog to the platform via SoundOn. The Death Row catalog is available to stream exclusively on TikTok this week, “in advance of its wider release next week” according to TikTok.

The distro service also rolled out in Australia last week, just days after news arrived that TikTok has been limiting access to major label music in the market as part of a test with a subset of users.

Last March, TikTok officially entered the music distribution business with its SoundOn distro service. SoundOn lets artists upload their music directly to TikTok and Resso, and it can also distribute artists’ music to platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. The platform is live in the UK, US, Brazil, Indonesia, and as of last week, Australia. Following the initial launch, TikTok confirmed to MBW that the Believe-owned digital distribution platform TuneCore had been picked as its distribution partner for SoundOn. In short, this meant that artists who uploaded their music to TikTok then had that music distributed to other platforms (Spotify, Apple Music) via TuneCore.

TikTok has had a partnership with FUGA

since September, which means that artists who upload their music to Soundon will now have their music distributed to streaming services including Spotify, Apple Music, etc. via FUGA’s tech. (TikTok says that SoundOn handles distribution to ByteDance products itself). This is different from the company’s previous partnership with TuneCore, which ended in September. Before SoundOn existed, TikTok had a different distribution partner: independent artist distribution platform UnitedMasters, which struck a deal with TikTok in August 2020. As revealed in October 2021, this ‘Sound Partner’ agreement lets brands leverage music distributed by UnitedMasters for mini-syncs on the TikTok platform.

TikTok describes its SoundOn platform as an all-in-one platform for music marketing and distribution. The service pays out 100% royalties to music creators in the first year and 90% after that, and provides a range of promotional tools and support. Artists will be able to “obtain 100% royalty for an unlimited time” for In-Bytedance platforms including. By signing with SoundOn, artists get to release music to TikTok and CapCut worldwide, and Resso in Brazil, Indonesia, and India.”

TikTok has partnered with Snoop Dogg and Death Row Records to bring the record label’s catalog to the platform via SoundOn. The Death Row catalog is available to stream exclusively on TikTok this week, “in advance of its wider release next week” The distro service also rolled out in Australia last week, just days after news arrived that TikTok has been limiting access to major label music in the market as part of a test with a subset of users.

TikTok seems to want to continue making waves in the music industry. But, it is far too early to predict what TikTok’s overall impact will be on how listeners discover new tunes and artists. This is not TikTok’s first partnership with an influential recording artist, but it is their biggest to date.