Everyone shelters a desire to be in the limelight and rise to fame. We all want to gain popularity, and both TikTok and Musical.ly offer a platform for common people to do so.
Both applications give us chances to make short videos, and we know how effective it is with so many TikTok starts among us.
Key Takeaways
- TikTok is a social media app that evolved from the merger of Musical.ly and the Chinese app Douyin.
- Musical.ly was a popular app for creating and sharing short lip-syncing videos.
- TikTok expanded on Musical.ly’s features, offering more video effects and a broader range of content.
TikTok vs Musical.ly
TikTok is social media platform, originally known as Douyin in China, has a broad global user base and offers a wide range of content. Musical.ly, was short-form video social media platform, absorbed by TikTok in 2018, was particularly popular among teenagers and primarily focused on lip-syncing to music tracks.
TikTok is a rebranded app with the combined features of Musical.ly. It is widely popular among youngsters to make and share short videos.
One can make funny videos or dancing or even merely lip-sync videos and then edit them accordingly to give the finishing touch to them. The videos can be shared on any social media site.
Musical.ly was a video-making and sharing mobile app that no longer exists. Now its features are combined, and the app is merged with TikTok. Previously, the app offered a platform to create videos with any song or tune clip.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | TikTok | Musical.ly |
|---|---|---|
| Founded by | Zhang Yiming founded and launched TikTok. | Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang founded Musical.ly. |
| Launched in | This app was launched in September 2016. | This app was launched in August 2014. |
| Content objective | The content went beyond only music. | The contents were only related to music. |
| App Variations | In the Chinese market, the app has a different version named Douyin. | Musical.ly had only one universal application. |
| Users | Asian countries used this app widely. | People of European states and the United States mostly used this app. |
What is TikTok?
TikTok was founded and launched in 2016, and Musical.ly already existed with a similar objective. Later, in 2018, TikTok acquired Musical.ly, becoming one app.
Now the parent company of the two is a Chinese technology company named ByteDance. TikTok, an entertaining app that enables one to creation and share videos, is widely famous, and all kinds of content can be seen here.
In this app, one can lip-sync while showing their acting skills or tell jokes and pranks. Some even use this video-sharing platform to show hacks and DIY tricks.
A wide range of videos on various topics and be found here, and most of them do not fail to entertain you. Anyone can easily make a video with their phone as the interface is simple. It is an infamous way to capture one’s talent or hobby.
TikTok got its craze from mostly the teens, but due to the longing for fame, many adults tried their hands too. The app is compatible with both iOS and Android devices. In 2018, after getting merged with Musical.ly, TikTok became the most downloaded app in just the first few months.
What is Musical.ly?
Musical.ly was created by the friend duo Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang in 2014. And as stated above, Musical.ly does not exist anymore as it was merged with TikTok in 2018.
Independently, Musical.ly was an app used for sharing videos. This app was exclusive to drawing upon songs. Creating content without music or song was not an option in this mobile application.
In this app, users were named “musers”. One could make a 15 to 20 seconds long video and share it anywhere. The users used to get a long list of songs from which they could crop their favourite clip and use it to frame their creative pursuits.
They could dance or lip-sync with expressions. Mainly it was portrayed as a communication app and getting in touch with friends. It gained popularity among youngsters in a short time. Many people use the app to give shape to their creativity.
In addition to that, many other popular video-related features were present in this app. Adding filters, video effects, making the video run in slow motion, and adding time-lapse to the video.
Any content was entitled to get recorded, but they couldn’t run without a tune.
Main Differences Between TikTok and Musical.ly
- Zhang Yiming was the founder of TikTok. And Musical.ly was the brainchild of two friends named Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang.
- TikTok came into the market in the year 2016, whereas Musical.ly came out in 2014. So Musical.ly is older than the two apps.
- Most Asian countries used TikTok and rose to fame. On the other side, Musical.ly was mostly used by people belonging to European countries and the United States.
- One can make other content as well besides music-related content. But Musical.ly is only capable of producing short music videos.
- TikTok has created a separate app for the Chinese market, but Musical.ly has one universal app and interface.
- https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3311927.3323133
- https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/14543
Last Updated : 11 June, 2023
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Sandeep Bhandari holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computers from Thapar University (2006). He has 20 years of experience in the technology field. He has a keen interest in various technical fields, including database systems, computer networks, and programming. You can read more about him on his bio page.
The emergence of TikTok and the integration of the features of Musical.ly led to a broader range of video content, making it globally popular.
The creation of TikTok was in 2016, while Musical.ly was founded in 2014, and both have different user bases across several countries.
TikTok has brought a new level of fame to those who desire it, and people have been creatively using it to produce a wide range of videos.
The merging of TikTok and Musical.ly, creating one app, expanded their features, and they are both widely known platforms globally.
TikTok and Musical.ly have distinct differences in the content they offer and the target audience areas, which impacted their popularity.
That’s correct. TikTok has a wider content scope, while Musical.ly solely focused on music-related content.
The merging of TikTok and Musical.ly has attracted a diverse audience, from teens to adults, making it the most downloaded app upon the merger.
The availability of a broad range of content in TikTok has attracted a wider audience globally and increased its popularity.
TikTok’s compatibility with both iOS and Android devices contributed to its widespread usage and popularity.
TikTok brought a variety of video types to its platform and became a global sensation, expanding on Musical.ly’s features and offering more to its users.
Both TikTok and Musical.ly have had their impact on the social media landscape, with TikTok being the most downloaded app following the merger.