Music has been a key component of TikTok’s rise, with music publishers now Focus on the app as the main platform To connect with the masses, with each other even Change the names of artists’ songs To better align with TikTok trends.
But if TikTok leaves the US next year, as the current sale bill suggests, music publishers will have to shift their focus, and music fans will also have to go elsewhere to keep up with the latest music trends.
Instagram hopes to be the app that makes up for this shortcoming in this area.
Over the past few months, Instagram has added a bunch of new music-related features, including: that it “Add Your Music StickersMusic in notes, lyrics displayed in Reels, and most recently songs on profiles.
Now let’s explore another musical element:
As you can see in This examplePosted by App Researcher Alessandro PaluzziInstagram is testing a new integration with Spotify, which will allow IG users to view the track they’re listening to on a regular basis, via their IG Notes indicator.
This will serve as a form of music promotion, by showing what your friends are listening to at any given time.
Of course, you can also opt out of such sharing, if you don’t want people to know that you mostly listen to Billy Joel classics or Chipmunks remixes. But if you choose to, you’ll apparently be able to consistently highlight the music you love, by sharing that information in a note bubble in your inbox.
It’s not a huge integration, it’s not a game-changing tool that will rethink your approach to the app, but it’s an interesting one that, once again, brings more music options to IG as it seeks to replace TikTok as the primary music discussion space.
In fact, this seems to be the most obvious alternative in this regard.
Snapchat is also very popular with younger users, but it’s not designed for public sharing like TikTok and Instagram. That makes Instagram the logical solution, and if TikTok does exit the US market, Instagram and its parent company Meta could end up being the main beneficiaries.
Will TikTok actually leave the US?
At the moment, it looks like we will have to do just that, as the Sale Bill is set to come into effect. Early next yearTikTok continues to challenge the bill, while presidential candidate Donald Trump has said he Opposition to push sale (Despite being the one who originally suggested it in 2020.)
This could mean that if Trump is elected, he might be able to repeal the bill, but for now, the odds are in favor of forcing TikTok out, if it refuses to sell to a US company. Chinese authorities remain firm on their position that it will not sell, which could open the door for IG to become the new home of music discovery.
This means that all these new musical additions could add a lot more value.