TikTok parent may have bought AI music start-up Jukedeck

London, July 24 (IANS) Beijing-based ByteDance, which owns popular short video-sharing app TikTok, may have acquired UK-based Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered music startup Jukedeck, the media reported.

Jukedeck has developed a tool that could automatically generate music and then allow users to adjust the length, tempo, and where it climaxed, The Verge reported on Tuesday.

TikTok users often embed music creatively in their videos and the tool provided by Jukedeck could offer them greater creative control.

"It could also help TikTok avoid some big monetary and licensing issues: TikTok has to pay for all that music, so the more royalty-free tracks people are using, the less the app has to worry about record labels," said the report.

While neither Jukedeck, nor ByteDance has confirmed the deal, LinkedIn profiles of Jukedeck CEO, as well as several of its employees, list them as employees of ByteDance.

Founder and CEO of Jukedeck, Ed Newton-Rex, describes his profile at LinkedIn as Director of ByteDance's AI Lab, according to industry news outlet Music Ally.

Jukedeck's website is now offline, too, with a message saying "We can't tell you more just yet, but we're looking forward to continuing to fuel creativity using musical AI!"

Tiktok has been installed 1.27 billion times so far, according to mobile app intelligence firm. Sensor Tower.

But TikTok is not the only app that ByteDance owns. Helo is another popular app owned by the Beijing-based start-up. It has a portfolio of applications available in over 150 markets and 75 languages.