MUSICAL.LY ANNOUNCES APPLE MUSIC INTEGRATION

(By MUSIC CONNECTION | Published on May 03, 2017 for MUSIC CONNECTION)

musical.ly has integrated with Apple Music that enables subscribers to stream full-length songs within the app. musical.ly users ("musers") who are also Apple Music subscribers will have the ability to play a song from start to finish inside the platform. The integration also allows musers to save their favorite songs to a custom "musical.ly playlist" in addition to listening to playlists curated by musical.ly at applemusic.com/musically. This is the latest in a series of initiatives that supports new music discovery through friends and provides users with a space to engage and connect with music on a deeper level.

"We are focused on providing our passionate community of musers with the best experience possible when it comes to discovering new music," said Alex Hofmann, President of musical.ly, North America. "The integration with Apple Music gives users a new listening experience and further layers into their connection with the music they are already creating content to in [the platform]. We are excited about the possibilities this creates for musers to share and discover new music with their friends."

Its popularity among 13 to 25-year-olds has made musical.ly a new avenue for music discovery and for creators to launch careers. Last October, the company launched a new program called #NextWave to support music discovery on the app. Every month, the #NextWave folder contains 15 songs from new and emerging artists. The artist that has the most videos created to their song in the #NextWave folder, earn a campaign on the platform's homepage, providing exposure to over 200 million users.

In addition to #NextWave, musical.ly recently launched the #FirstListen and #FirstLook series featuring exclusive sneak peeks of songs and music videos. #FirstListen launched with Kygo and Selena Gomez's #ItAintMeFIRSTLISTEN followed by a sneak peek of Zedd and Alessia Cara's #StayFIRSTLISTEN.