TikTok founder launches Spotify rival Resso
ByteDance secretly tested new app in India for six months
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Your support makes all the difference.TikTok's parent company ByteDance is trialling a new music streaming app to rival Apple Music and Spotify.
The Resso app has been trialled in India and Indonesia over the last six months, though ByteDance's ownership was only recently revealed.
The Chinese firm experienced huge success with TikTok, which has amassed more than 500 million users since launching in China in 2016. Resso's reach has been far more limited, with figures from app analytics firm Sensor Tower revealing around 27,000 users.
The new app offers a unique take on the music streaming model by giving it the feel of a social network, according to Chinese tech news site Abacus.
The layout is similar to Apple Music but the user experience is designed to be far more communal, with users able to comment on sings and create gifs and videos from music clips.
TikTok users will also find navigating the Resso app familiar, thanks to swiping controls to skip between tracks.
Rumours that ByteDance is working on a music streaming app first emerged last month, prompting shares of Spotify to drop.
The company was said to be in talks with music executives from Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music, who are all keen to monetise the popularity of the free-to-use TikTok app.
ByteDance is expected to launch Resso in Brazil and other emerging markets, before potentially rolling out across the US and Europe. The Independent has reached out to ByteDance for comment.
Resso is one of a number of new ventures by ByteDance, having recently launched a new smartphone designed to work seamlessly with the viral video app.
The Smartisan Jianguo Pro 3 features high-end specs at a relatively affordable price of 2,899 CNH (£320), though there are currently no plans to sell the device in the UK or US.
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