Prince’s entire song catalog is available to use in TikTok’s short-form videos, under a deal with the Prince Estate announced Friday.
“Prince was known for breaking boundaries and TikTok has proven to do so as well,” Troy Carter, entertainment adviser for the Prince Estate, said in a statement. “With the addition of Prince’s full catalog on TikTok, it is our hope that a new generation of global fans can find meaning in Prince’s music, and be inspired to create.”
TikTok still doesn’t have rights to certain high-profile artists’ music, including the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
TikTok users can create videos set to The Purple One’s songs including “Controversy,” “1999,” “Let’s Go Crazy,” or ballads like “Purple Rain” and “Adore.” In addition, the video app now includes an official Prince TikTok account (@Prince.4.ever), owned and operated by the late artist’s estate, which will feature archival footage of Prince performances, interviews, and video excerpts from career as an artist and activist. In addition, TikTok’s Sounds page provides a Prince playlist, with highlights from every epoch of the his discography.
On Monday, June 29, at 12 p.m. PT, TikTok will host a special “Sound-Off” livestream tour of Paisley Park, Prince’s famous home and studio located outside of Minneapolis, led by Paisley Park’s legacy preservationist Mitch Maguire.
Brandon Holman, TikTok’s label partnerships manager, said, “We are massive fans of Prince and admirers of his cultural legacy. The addition of the Artist’s catalog to our Sounds library will inspire our users to connect with his music in creative and unexpected ways — his catalog is so deep, and many are approaching his songs with fresh ears..”
TikTok, owned by Chinese internet giant ByteDance, recently hired ex-Disney exec Kevin Mayer as its CEO.
In the U.S. alone, TikTok is growing from an estimated 18.8 million monthly users in 2018 to a projected 45.4 million, according to research firm eMarketer.