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ByteDance
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TikTok owner ByteDance pushes music-streaming service on mainland to challenge Chinese market leaders Tencent, NetEase

  • New ByteDance app Qishui Yinyue, which translates to ‘soda music’ in Mandarin, was updated on Wednesday after its release last month
  • The tech unicorn’s push into China’s music-streaming market pits it against Tencent Music Entertainment Group and NetEase subsidiary Cloud Village

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Tech unicorn ByteDance’s new music-streaming app in China currently provides 10 million tracks. Photo: Shutterstock
Coco Feng
Tech unicorn ByteDance, operator of widely popular short video-sharing platform TikTok and its Chinese version Douyin, recently launched its own music-streaming app in China, as it seeks to challenge the market-leading platforms run by major units of Tencent Holdings and NetEase.
The app called Qishui Yinyue, which translates to “soda music” in Mandarin, was last updated on Wednesday after its release last month. It operates in a similar way to Resso, the music-streaming app that ByteDance introduced in selected overseas markets in 2019.

“Soda Music is an app built on Douyin’s continuous efforts in music,” a representative of Douyin said in a statement sent via WeChat on Thursday. “Douyin launched it as a stand-alone app to better serve our users as well as artists in the industry.”

The service currently provides more than 10 million music tracks, according to the app’s landing page on Apple’s mainland App Store. It allows Douyin users to sync their favourite music lists on the short video app.

The landing page for ByteDance’s new music-streaming app on Apple’s mainland App Store. Photo: SCMP
The landing page for ByteDance’s new music-streaming app on Apple’s mainland App Store. Photo: SCMP

Built on ByteDance’s personalisation algorithm, the new music-streaming app recommends songs based on the preference of a subscriber and other like-minded users of the service. It pushes music by genre and displays synchronised lyrics like Resso.

The app, however, remains in its beta phase, which requires an invitation code. It was ranked 20th among all iOS music apps in China on Thursday, according to market researcher Data.ai, formerly known as App Annie.

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