TikTok now lets Apple Music subscribers play full songs without leaving the app

TikTok has partnered with Apple Music to allow subscribers to the streaming service to play full songs without leaving its social network, the company announced on Wednesday. Apple Music subscribers who discover a song they like on TikTok’s “For You” page or audio details page can tap the new “Play Full Song” button to open the Apple Music player to listen to the full track.

TikTok, known for driving viral music trends and songs, said the new feature is designed to make it easier to go from discovery to deeper listening.

It should be noted that TikTok does not allow users to play full songs from other streaming services, including Spotify.

The new feature is built using Apple’s MusicKit, which means the full song plays on Apple Music, so you’re paid for streaming within the streaming service.

TikTok and Apple Music are also introducing Listening Party, a new feature that allows fans to listen to songs from their favorite artists in real time. Fans can interact with each other and the artist during the session, which TikTok says will allow for a more social way to experience music.

The new features will be rolled out worldwide over the coming weeks.

The announcement comes as TikTok’s popularity has impacted the music industry and how people discover new music. TikTok once tried to capitalize on this by launching a live streaming service, before eventually shutting it down. It has since focused on directing music lovers to its app to discover it.

For example, TikTok has an “Add to Music App” feature that allows users to save a track they found in the app to their favorite music streaming service. The app also has a ‘Share to TikTok’ feature that allows users to share music tracks directly from Apple Music and Spotify to the short video app.

To aid discovery on its platform, TikTok launched the music insights platform “TikTok for Artists” last year which is designed to help artists and their teams better connect with fans, improve their promotional efforts, and guide content creation on TikTok. The platform gives artists, their brands, and their teams access to data related to an artist’s music performance, posts, and TikTok.