Spotify Could Transform Its Business by Following TikTok's Lead
Spotify (NYSE: SPOT) recently filed a patent that could allow its users to create short "video moments" synchronized with its music. The filing, which was first spotted by Digital Music News, also indicates a viewer can look up a song's name and artist on the video's overlay, then listen to the rest of the song on Spotify's main platform.
A patent doesn't guarantee Spotify will add the feature, but it seems like the streaming music giant is interested in gaining some users from ByteDance's TikTok, the popular Chinese app facing potential bans in the U.S. and other markets amid escalating tensions with China.
The filing also suggests Spotify could follow Tencent Music (NYSE: TME), the largest streaming music company in China, into the "social music" market. Tencent Music generates most of its profits from its WeSing karaoke platform instead of its streaming music platform, and TME and Spotify already own significant stakes in each other -- so it wouldn't be surprising to see the two companies drawing ideas from the same well. But would an expansion of Spotify's platform with short videos actually strengthen its business?
Source Fool.com
