ByteDance is shutting down its music streaming service Resso in India after government orders
ByteDance is shutting down its music streaming app Resso in India at the end of this month after New Delhi ordered Apple and Google to pull the app in the country. The move comes amid the Chinese company’s plan to expand TikTok Music in various markets.People familiar with the matter told TechCrunch that this decision comes after the government instructed Google and Apple to take down Resso. ByteDance didn’t want to shut down the service due to operation constraints, the sources said.
The company confirmed the development and said that it doesn’t plan to launch TikTok Music in India.
“Unfortunately, owing to local market conditions, we can no longer continue to serve users of Resso in India. We have therefore taken the decision to shut down Resso and its associated operations on January 31st. Users will be offered a refund of their remaining subscription fees,” a ByteDance spokesperson said.
The Resso app is currently taken off the Play Store and the App Store, as first noted by Moneycontrol. The streaming service is still active for those who have the app, but it’s not possible to purchase a new subscription. Apple and Google didn’t immediately comment on the story.
India was the last active market for Resso, which first launched in 2020. The streaming service was also operative in Indonesia and Brazil. However, ByteDance launched TikTok Music in both those markets last July. At that time, the company said that Resso would shut down in Brazil and Indonesia on September 5.
In May 2023, ByteDance made Resso a subscription-only service to offer “a better user experience for music fans, while increasing opportunities for rightsholders and artists.”
According to app analytics firm data.ai, last year, Resso was downloaded more than 21 million times across iOS and Android in India and users spent $2.9 million on in-app purchases.
Until now, ByteDance has launched TikTok Music in Australia, Singapore and Mexico apart from Indonesia and Brazil.