NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) — Indie digital rights agency Merlin announced a series of partnerships with major players in the Chinese music market to pave the way for indies to enter the sector.
Merlin announced that it had struck non-exclusive licensing partnerships with Chinese digital music providers NetEase Cloud Music (NetEase Cloud Music), Xiami (Ali Music Group), QQ Music, Kugou and Kuwo (all Tencent Music Entertainment).
According to Merlin, the deals will allow indie labels to reach an estimated new audience of half-a-billion people – representing 90% of all digital music users in China, either through high definition subscription-supported services or via lower fidelity ad-supported tiers.
The deals will also make a wide variety of indie-published music available (legitimately) in the market for the first time.
The facilitate and service the deals, Merlin reports that they’ve tapped music industry services company Outdustry to oversee the agreements from their Beijing and Shanghai offices, and will also employ its own on-the-ground resources to maximize the effectiveness of the deals.
Merlin has partnered with market-leading music industry services company Outdustry to implement and manage these landmark deals on an ongoing basis from their Beijing and Shanghai offices, and will also employ its own on-the-ground resources to maximize the effectiveness of the deals.
“This is an exciting new chapter for Merlin. For the first time, repertoire from the world’s leading independent record labels will be legitimately available across China’s five most prominent music services. I am delighted that NetEase Cloud Music, Ali Music Group, and Tencent Music Entertainment share Merlin’s confidence and aspirations to develop a new market narrative and to lay the foundations and infrastructures of a more open, transparent and equitable future. Above all, Merlin members are now uniquely positioned to benefit from a set of truly transformative partnerships that will accelerate growth in one of the world’s most exciting and fast-evolving markets,” Merlin boss Charles Caldas said in a press statement.
