Musical.ly

musical.ly
Original author(s) Alex Zhu, Luyu Yang
Developer(s) musical.ly (April 2014-November 2017)
Bytedance (November 2017-Current)
Initial release August 2014 (2014-08)
Operating system iOS, Android
Available in 34 languages[1]
List of languages
Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Cebuano, English, French, German, Gujarati, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Kannada, Korean, Malay, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
Type Video sharing
License Freeware
Website https://www.musical.ly/

Musical.ly (stylized as musical.ly) is a Chinese video social network app for video creation and live broadcasting. The first prototype was released in April 2014, and the official version was launched in August of that year. Through the app, users could create 15-second to 1 minute lip-syncing videos and choose sound tracks to accompany them, use different speed options (time-lapse, fast, normal, slow motion, and epic) and add pre-set filters and effects. The app also allowed users to browse popular "musers", content, trending songs, sounds and hashtags, and uniquely interact with their fans.

In June 2016, musical.ly had over 90 million registered users, up from 10 million a year earlier, and had an average of 580 million new videos posted a day.[2] By the end of May 2017, the app reached over 200 million users.[3] musical.ly was headquartered in Shanghai and had offices in San Francisco, California.[4]

Having owned the app TikTok, Bytedance bought musical.ly, Inc for US $1 billion on November 9, 2017, and combined two apps, musical.ly and TikTok, into a single app named after TikTok on August 2, 2018.

History

Founding

musical.ly Inc. was founded by longtime friends Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang.[4] Before launching musical.ly, Zhu and Yang teamed up to build an education social network app, through which users could both teach and learn different subjects through short-form videos (3–5 minutes long). After having investors fund this venture, it took them about 6 months to build the product. However, once launched, this online self-learning platform did not get enough traction and the content produced was not engaging enough. With some money left from the original investment for this failed venture, Zhu and Yang started to look for new ideas.[5] They decided to shift their focus to the entertainment industry, targeting the US teenage market, as this market is characterized for being an early adopter of new trends. The main idea was to create a platform that incorporates music and video in a social network. The first version of musical.ly was officially launched in August 2014.[6]

Growth

In July 2015, the app began to attract millions of users, allowing musers (musical.ly users) to lip-sync to millions of songs. musical.ly climbed up to the number 1 position in the iOS App Store,[7] becoming the most-downloaded free app in over 30 countries, including the US, Canada, UK, Germany, Brazil, Philippines and Japan. In May 2016, musical.ly reached 70 million downloads, with over 10 million new videos posted every day.[5]

In June 2016, Coca-Cola launched its #ShareACoke campaign on musical.ly, which introduced musical.ly's "User-Generated Ads" model.[8] On July 24, 2016, during VidCon, musical.ly officially launched live.ly, its new live video streaming platform.[9]

Acquired by Bytedance and merged into TikTok

On November 9, 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported that musical.ly Inc had been sold to Bytedance Technology Co. for as much as US $1 billion.[10] Bytedance operates the program Toutiao. Recode estimated that the sale would be for around US $800 million. Subsequently on August 2, 2018 after the purchase, Bytedance decided to merge its two apps, musical.ly and TikTok, onto one big platform with a single app called TikTok.

Features

musical.ly users could record 15-second to 1-minute videos in one or multiple shots, lip-syncing to sounds or comedy. The platform also enables editing, through 14 pre-set filters and effects that allow to change the speed or reverse the motion of the recording. Additionally, musical.ly also has a feature to create shorter videos, named "live moments", which are essentially GIFs with music.[11]

Users on this platform could "remuse" (reuse) sounds created by other users, which instills a new level of engagement with the content. Other ways in which users could interact with each other is through features such as "Ask a Question" and "Duet". On this regard, musical.ly had an option called "Best Fan Forever", through which users can select certain followers who can participate in duets with them.[11]

Users could also send private messages to their friends using the direct.ly feature.[11]

musical.ly "Trends"

musical.ly's structure allowed the viral dissemination of trends throughout the platform. The hashtags that were popular on this social network usually make reference to bits of pop culture and trends among the internet world. Because of its massive usage, a lot of events launched within the app could become viral global events, especially among teenagers. One of the most notable campaigns launched by musical.ly was the "Don't Judge Challenge", which became widespread on the platform, as millions of teenagers around the world participated.[12] Other trends include remusing comedy sounds and using popular comedy hashtags, such as #LifeWithAPauseButton, #NoOffenseSong, #SmileChallenge, #YourRoyalAwesomeness, #MuserComedy, #PoseChallenge, #ClapTwoTimes, #BadInsults, #MirrorMirrorOnTheWall, #SheBeLikeMadAtMe, #MuserJungle, #FakeGirlsBeLike, #WatermelonDress, #StupidThingsCouplesArgueAbout, #PostAPrivate, etc.

Changes in features

Several features were changed in the app after taking over by Bytedance. Cool features like promoting comments and montage duet were removed. Other features taken away include the leaderboard for viewing top musers, “Best Fan Forever”, “Ask A Question”, live moment, photo slideshow and more. Users under the age of 16 would no longer show up under their hashtags or "For You" page, making their accounts harder to search.

Despite removal of old features, some new elements were added to the app. Users are now able to add hashtags, sounds and videos to their favorites for viewing later. They can also select a video to react to and film their reaction, or save a video as a draft for further editing before publishing.

Notable users

Active users with higher rates of popularity were assigned crowns by musical.ly. Some users of the platform gained great traction and huge following not only within musical.ly, but also outside it as well. Baby Ariel, also known as Ariel Martin, who as of May 2017 had 19 million followers on musical.ly alone,[13] is one of users that gained major media attention through musical.ly. In April 2016, she was interviewed live on Good Morning America.[14] Mackenzie Ziegler and Maddie Ziegler became more famous because of it when they finished Dance Moms.[15] Jacob Sartorius, who later became a social media influencer, promoted his first single "Sweatshirt" on musical.ly, after which the song reached number 10[16] on the iTunes Store. In June 2016, it was reported that Sartorius had signed with United Talent Agency.[17] Loren Gray Beech and Ariana Renee are also social media influencers who got started on musical.ly.[18] Israeli schoolgirl Anna Zak became a celebrity in Israel after building millions of followers on musical.ly and securing a sponsorship deal with Adidas.[19]

Most followed accounts on Musical.ly or TikTok

This list contains the top 5 accounts that had the most followers on the platform musical.ly, now known as TikTok.

Top Musers (Last Updated October 13, 2018)
Rank Username Owner Followers

(millions)

 Country
1 @lisaandlena Lisa and Lena 31.5[20] Germany
2 @TikTok TikTok 31.4[21] China
3 @lorengray Loren Gray 29.4[22] United States
4 @babyariel Baby Ariel 29.1[23]
5 @kristenhancher Kristen Hancher 21.4[24] Canada

Reception

On January 28, 2016, Business Insider released a survey, in which "30 of the 60 [interviewed teenagers] listed musical.ly as the app they were most excited about."[25]

On June 23, 2016, Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang were featured on Billboard's 2016 Digital Power Players List: The Industry Leaders Shaping the Game.[26]

Licensing

In June 2016, musical.ly signed a label licensing deal with Warner Music Group, allowing its music to be licensed for use on the musical.ly platform and the app users to interact with WMG's artists and songs.[27]

References

  1. ↑ "TikTok - including musical.ly". iTunes. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  2. ↑ Rys, Dan. Fresh Off a Big Funding Round, Musical.ly Signs Its First Major Label Deal with Warner Music. Billboard. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Musical.ly, Apple Music Ink New Partnership, With More to Come". Billboard. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
  4. 1 2 Spangler, Todd (September 30, 2016). "Musical.ly's Live.ly Is Now Bigger Than Twitter's Periscope on iOS (Study)". Variety. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  5. 1 2 Carson, Biz. How a failed education startup turned into Musical.ly, the most popular app you've probably never heard of. Business Insider. Retrieved June 20, 2016.
  6. ↑ "How a failed education startup turned into Musical.ly, the most popular app you've probably never heard of". Business Insider Singapore. May 28, 2016. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  7. ↑ Newlands, Murray. The Origin and Future Of America's Hottest New App: musical.ly. Forbes. Retrieved June 20, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Share a Coke: Turning Lyrics into Language - The Shorty Awards". shortyawards.com. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  9. ↑ Wallenstein, Andrew. Musical.ly May Be the Spoiler in Livestream Race with Launch of Live.ly. Variety. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
  10. ↑ Lin, Liza; Winkler, Rolfe (November 9, 2017). "Social-Media App Musical.ly Is Acquired for as Much as $1 Billion". The Wall Street Journal. New York City, New York, United States. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  11. 1 2 3 "What is Tik Tok (formally musical.ly)?". Webwise.ie. November 25, 2017. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  12. ↑ Hamill, Jasper Don't Judge Challenge: Teens declare war on body shaming by making themselves up to 'look ugly'. Mirror. Retrieved June 25, 2016.
  13. ↑ Usborne, Simon (December 10, 2016). "'It's crazy, for sure': meet the stars of Musical.ly". The Guardian. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  14. ↑ 'Baby Ariel' Talks Musical.ly, the Explosively Popular App for Teens. ABC News. Retrieved June 20, 2016.
  15. ↑ Nava, Kathleen (September 16, 2016). "'Dance Moms' 2016 News & Update: What Do Chloe Lukasiak And Mackenzie Ziegler Have In Common After Leaving Show?". GameNGuide. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  16. ↑ Jacob Sartorius 'Sweatshirt' American iTunes Chart Performance. iTunes Charts. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  17. ↑ Jarvey, Natalie. UTA Sains Musical.ly Star Jacob Sartorius (Exclusive). Hollywood Reporter. June 30, 2016.
  18. ↑ Reeve, Elspeth (July 20, 2016). "90 MILLION TWEENS, A FREE APP, ONE GOAL: FAME". Elle. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  19. ↑ loudly Liat Katz, Maariv, 12/03/17
  20. ↑ "musical.ly - Global Video Communities". musical.ly. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  21. ↑ "TikTok - Global Video Community". TikTok. Retrieved 2018-10-14.
  22. ↑ "musical.ly - Global Video Communities". musical.ly. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  23. ↑ "BabyAriel|TikTok|Global Video Community". TikTok. Retrieved 2018-10-14.
  24. ↑ "Kristen Hancher". www.musical.ly. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  25. ↑ Kosoff, Maya. 60 teenagers reveal what they think is cool — and what isn't — in 2016. Business Insider. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  26. ↑ Billboard's 2016 Digital Power Players List: The Industry Leaders Shaping the Game. Billboard. June 23, 2016.
  27. ↑ "Fresh Off a Big Funding Round, Musical.ly Signs Its First Major Label Deal with Warner Music". Billboard. Retrieved 2018-10-10.
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