TikTok assembling investment team for music content acquisitions

According to Music Business Worldwide, the ByteDance-owned company – established in 2016 and expected to reach 1.8 billion monthly active users by the end of 2024 – is looking into recruiting executives from investment banking and private equity to lead this initiative.

An open call from the company says: “The team will work with [the] TikTok music content strategy team and operations teams in evaluating market opportunities, executing partnership or acquisition projects, performing detailed financial analysis and valuations of music content and related assets that would help shape the future of TikTok music businesses. Together, the team works with higher management on setting overall strategic direction, and [will] be responsible for the results of partnership and acquisitions.”

The unit will also conduct industry research to evaluate acquisition opportunities, monitor market trends and provide detailed analyses to senior management. It will develop strategic frameworks to assess potential investment targets aligned with TikTok’s music content priorities and prepare comprehensive financial valuation models for companies in the music sector, including market sizing, financial projections and synergy assessments.

The announcement follows the April expansion of TikTok’s distribution platform SoundOn into seven new territories, including African countries like Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt, and a recent opportunity call for A&R execs with record label experience.

Elsewhere, TikTok partnered recently with Adobe, the American computer software company, to integrate TikTok’s commercial music library into AI content creation app Adobe Express via the Symphony Assistant add-on. According to Adobe exec Govind Balakrishnan, the feature, which has already been used in nearly 2 billion videos, will help “offer our customers an even easier and faster way of producing more effective TikTok content that works for their business.”

TikTok recently took legal action against the US government after President Joe Biden signed a law requiring ByteDance to sell its American operations or risk being banned nationwide.