China-based music streaming service NetEase Cloud Music has entered into a strategic deal with RYCE Entertainment, described by NCM as “one of China’s leading music and entertainment companies”.
Founded in 2021, RYCE Entertainment’s roster includes stars like Jackson Wang (member of K-Pop group Got7), Amber Liu (former member of K-Pop group f(x)), Tablo, PSY.P, Caelan Moriaty and others.
As part of the deal, NCM, operated by Chinese tech giant NetEase’s subsidiary Cloud Village, gets an exclusive 30-day window for new releases from RYCE Entertainment (including music by superstar Jackson Wang) .
Streaming service agreements with rights holders that include similar 30-day exclusivity windows are not uncommon in China.
Last year, for example, Chinese music company TF Entertainment (Time Fengjun Entertainment) struck deals with Tencent Music Entertainment and NetEase Cloud Music, but TME secured a 30-day exclusivity window for TF releases. Entertainment on its platforms.
TME, which operates Chinese streaming platforms QQ Music, Kugou and Kuwo, is NetEase Cloud Music’s biggest rival in the Chinese music market.
The 30-day exclusivity window for TF Entertainment’s releases on Tencent Music’s platforms came nearly a year after TME and its majority owner Tencent Holdings were ordered to back out of exclusive deals with labels. world in China.
TME was investigated in 2019 for entering into exclusive licensing agreements with the three major record labels in the territory.
As part of the ban, the company was allowed to retain its exclusive deals with independent artists, with a three-year time limit on those deals and, according to a statement released at the time, new songs, as long as the exclusive window is no more than 30 days.
According to Tencent announcement as of August 2021, the company waived the right to enter into exclusive agreements with relevant music copyright holders “except in cases where the period of exclusive cooperation with independent musicians does not exceed three years and the exclusive release period of new songs does not exceed 30 days”.
In TME’s press materials announcing its deal with TF Entertainment, the company claims to have “become the audio streaming platform where many of the world’s most prestigious record labels first release their new music in China.” .
Tencent Music Entertainment previously signed deals with Universal Music, Sony Music, and Warner Music, and those deals allowed it to license music from the majors for its own platforms, in addition to exclusively sub-licensing those catalogs to local rivals. .
TME signed its latest licensing agreements with Universal and Warner over the past two years without exclusive sub-licensing rights, allowing these companies to enter into separate direct agreements with rival companies in China, including TME’s main competitor. , NetEase Cloud Music.
Other recent deals NetEase Cloud Music has secured include renewing its existing partnership with a Taiwan-based independent record label. rock records to distribute the music catalog of the latter company in China.
Cloud Music also recently signed deals with Modern Sky, Emperor Entertainment Group, China Record Group, Feng Hua Qiu Shi, Yuehua Entertainment, Linfair Records, SM Entertainment, TF Entertainment, YG Entertainment, KAO!INC, Avex, Pony Canyon and B ‘in. Music.
At the end of 2022, Cloud Music had 189.4 million monthly active users on its online music services, up from 182.6 million at the end of 2021.The music industry around the world
