Musical.ly = Tik Tok?!

With the new update, the music video app Musical.ly now belongs to its sister application Tik Tok. But what does this mean for users?

Musical.ly was merged with its Chinese counterpart Tik Tok at the beginning of August. Those who update no longer receive only the app Musical.ly, but "Tik Tok including Musical.ly". A change that will certainly irritate some users.

 

What is Tik Tok?

The Chinese video platform Tik Tok (also known as Douyin) is currently the market leader among similar video apps in Asia. In terms of usage, it is similar to Musical.ly, which is better known in Europe. Users can watch music videos from others in the app or create and edit small playback videos themselves. The main difference between Tik Tok and Musical.ly is its enormous reach - Tik Tok currently has 5 times as many active users as Musical.ly, with 100 million active users as of June 2018.

What is Musical.ly?

Musical.ly is a music video network. Information about the app can be found on klicksafe.de in the article "Musical.ly - Risks of the app popular with children and young people, among others."

Musical.ly now part of Tik Tok

Both Musical.ly and Tik Tok originated in China. Nevertheless, Musical.ly - unlike Tik Tok in China - has gained acceptance primarily in the European and American regions. It was thus really only a matter of time for the two applications to be merged.

Since the giant Facebook already has its eye on Musical.ly, the company ByteDance (a Chinese company that bought Musical.ly last year for $1 billion) had to seize the opportunity and combined the two apps into one.

It's now much easier for both app marketing and ad revenue: companies no longer have to choose between Musical.ly and Tik Tok, and can now reach Europe, America, and Asia all at once by combining the two apps.

What does this change about the previous Musical.ly app?

As soon as you load the new update of the Musical.ly app, you will no longer see the previously familiar pink logo, but the musical notes icon of the new "Tik Tok - including musical.ly" app. The main functions of Musical.ly remain the same. Only small changes, such as new creative effects or personalized video suggestions, have been added. Also new is an "alarm" that alerts you, similar to Facebook, as soon as you are active for more than two hours. The previously posted videos (posts) and the profile remain, except for a few changes, and are automatically transferred to the new app.

Tips for users!

  • Watch out for image and copyright issues. The database from which you can select your music tracks for the playback videos has of course increased significantly due to the merger of the two apps. However, the following still applies: You do not own any rights to music tracks or film clips! The music tracks and film scenes provided by the app are protected by copyright and may not simply be reused. Therefore, do not share your Musical.lys on other networks or in larger groups.
  • Respect the right to your own image. Ask before you publish others in your Musical.lys. Not everyone is comfortable with being visible to others on a video.
  • Avoid cost traps. Even if the app itself is free, you may incur high costs if you use it carelessly - for example, through in-app purchases or roaming charges abroad.
  • Watch your privacy. Don't reveal too much about yourself in your videos - less is more. If you set your profile to "private", only your friends can see it. This makes your profile not only safer, but also more exclusive! If you are harassed or even bullied by other musers, do not hesitate to report and block them.

We thank our partner saferinternet.at for this article.

 

More on the topic

  • klicksafe.de: Musical.ly - Risks of the app popular with children and young people