It’s hard to imagine a world when TikTok didn’t exist.
But believe it or not, TikTok as it is today has only been around for a few years – and is the result of parent company ByteDance acquiring the app Musical.ly and merging it with TikTok in 2018.
Prior to the acquisition in 2017 and subsequent merge which occurred in 2018, Musical.ly was a karaoke app which invited users to create lip sync videos and dance challenges. It was primarily used by a younger audience, before becoming an integral part of TikTok’s growth and popularity.
How Much Did ByteDance Pay For Musical.ly?
ByteDance is a Chinese-based company. When it acquired Musical.ly to become part of the TikTok social media platform, it paid 1 billion dollars.
The merge, and incredibly high payment, was all part of ByteDance’s strategy to reach a wider audience and use the existing pool of users from Musical.ly to take its own app to the next level.
How Are Musical.ly and TikTok Difference?
While Musical.ly was designed for and tailored towards younger users, TikTok is an app for all age groups. It takes on one of the most compelling features of Musically, the short form videos and challenges, and adds more variety and diversity.
In addition, TikTok offers a ton of extra features including the ability to duet, live streams, and more.
It is, in short, a development on the original Musical.ly app – which was taken over and merged with TikTok in 2018.
