Music Streaming: A Special Report 

Music streaming services are facing stiff challenges not unlike their counterparts in the world of video streaming: Profits and growth matter now more than ever, and the competition is increasing by the day. 

As Variety Intelligence Platform illuminates in its new report on the sector, those pressures ultimately forced the undisputed market leader, Spotify, to increase its prices in the U.S. in July for the first time in over a decade. Spotify managed to hold out far longer than its rivals, including Apple Music, Tidal and YouTube Music, which have been steadily increasing prices over the past couple years.  

Nonetheless, Spotify’s decision was monumental. It was a major signal to the market that even the largest player was unable to fend off mounting pressure from the music industry, artists, investors and Wall Street analysts. As our data-fueled “Music Streaming” report has found, just because Spotify has first-mover advantage doesn’t mean it’ll be easy to continue maintaining that leadership position. 

Fortunately, the music business itself remains solid, and music streaming continues to be a major growth area. Perhaps that’s why Chinese tech behemoth ByteDance is looking to leverage its social media platform TikTok to push into music streaming — a move VIP+ sees as a potential game-changer for a category already at a crucial juncture.

While TikTok Music is being tested in Mexico, Australia, Singapore, Brazil and Indonesia, the company has not disclosed whether it eventually plans to roll out the service in the U.S. If it does, it could be detrimental to the other platforms.  

With the music streaming business approaching a turning point, this special report will help guide you through understanding the key trends as TikTok looks to make its move in music.