TikTok owner ByteDance may be gearing up for a major shake-up in the global music licensing market.
The Chinese tech giant, valued at around $300 billion as of November 2024, has quietly owned a music platform called EasyOde, which has been described as a “one-stop rights-cleared music platform.” Though little is publicly known about the service, its existence could have major implications for the broader industry.
As noted from reports shared by Music Business Worldwide, a number of US Copyright Office filings reveal that ByteDance, through its Cayman Islands-based affiliate Lemon Inc., has filed trademarks for EasyOde’s name and logo. One trademark is officially registered, while another remains pending as the filings classify EasyOde under categories including “music licensing services” and “downloadable mobile applications” for music-related activities like licensing, purchasing, and editing tracks.
According to its website, the EasyOde platform offers “high-quality tracks and sound effects” for media projects — boasting a library of 60,000 rights-cleared songs. The platform allows users to upload video content for AI-driven music recommendations and offers a customization service for tailored compositions. Users can also upload reference tracks for analysis.
The platform’s Terms of Service emphasize compliance with intellectual property laws, requiring users to acknowledge that any uploaded content is either their own or legally licensed. One detail notes that the website’s copyright belongs to ByteDance’s SAMI team (Speech, Audio & Music Intelligence division, which has been deeply involved in AI-generated music research.
Last year, ByteDance’s SAMI researchers detailed an AI model called MeLoDy, trained on 257,000 hours of music from 6.4 million audio files. Amidst all that, the company has also secured U.S. patents and trademarks related to AI music through its Lemon Inc. affiliate.
Adding another layer to the story, EasyOde is officially “owned by BytePlus” — a ByteDance division launched in 2021 to commercialize its AI technology. ByteDance holds U.S. trademarks for BytePlus, which covers machine-learning-based music generation and personalized recommendation software.
However, there is no confirmed indication that EasyOde’s library includes AI-generated music. The platform simply states that all available tracks are either created or licensed by EasyOde. But given ByteDance’s extensive AI research and growing footprint in music licensing, industry players will be watching closely to see how EasyOde evolves — and whether it could become a disruptive force in the market.