BEIJING (CelebrityAccess) — Warner Music’s publishing division Warner Chappell Music announced it has formed a strategic partnership with prominent Chinese digital streaming music platform NetEase Cloud Music.
Through the partnership, NetEase users will be able to access songs from Warner Chappell’s music catalogue and the companies will work together in areas from online karaoke to IP development.
“I’m delighted that we’ve been able to partner with the brilliant team at NetEase Cloud Music. We share a passion for enabling fans to access our amazing songwriters’ music and for creating great experiences that their users will truly value. We hope with Warner Chappell Music catalogue will further accelerate the growth of the digital music business in China with NetEase Cloud Music,” said Zoe Wang, Regional Digital VP, Warner Chappell Music Asia Pacific.
“We are so pleased to be working with Warner Chappell Music, which has such a vast catalogue of songs that are hugely influential in China. We look forward to collaborating with them to create new experiences that’ll engage our highly active online community. That will ensure that Warner Chappell’s songwriters can benefit from the popularity of their work with Chinese music fans,” added NetEase VIce President of Cloud Music Ding Bo.
Also included in the deal is permission for NetEase to use the copyright of 1.3 million music lyrics, including songs from artists such as Madonna, Eric Clapton, Katy Perry, and George Michael.
The agreement also covers the work of many artists and songwriters in Asia Pacific, including A-Lin, Arys Chien, Chief Chao, Chien Yao, Ricky Hsiao, Tanya Chua, and Victor Wong among numerous others.
Launched in 2013 by Chinese digital services provider NetEase, NetEase Cloud Music has grown to become a major player in the increasingly crowded digital music streaming market in China. NCM, which offers 30 million tracks and reports more than 800 million annual users, is one of the primary competitors for rivals Tencent Music.
