NetEase Cloud Music Reaches Copyright Deal With China Record Corporation, Works of Many Chinese Artists Including Mei Lanfang Join App
NetEase Cloud Music announced on Thursday that after reaching a cooperation with Emperor Entertainment (Hong Kong) Limited, it has also reached a copyright cooperation with China Record Corporation, launching a large amount of classic music as a result.
China Record Corporation is essentially an authoritative body for the audio-visual publishing industry, as well as a museum of folk songs and traditional music, including the classic works of many artists such as Peking Opera master Mei Lanfang, Kunqu opera artist Han Shichang and singer Li Guyi.
At present, the works of China Record Corporation have been launched on NetEase Cloud Music. The categories includes “the Voice of the Times,” “National Instrumental Music,” “National Orchestral Music” and “Music of China, Cultural Heritage.” One NetEase cloud user commented: “The songs once seen in the music textbook have come.”
NetEase Cloud Music said that in the future, both parties will give full play to their advantages, provide more high-quality music content for Chinese music lovers, and jointly promote the vigorous development of classic music.
According to Beijing Youth Daily, music copyright, which was previously “monopolized,” is now being shared – this is of great significance to the whole music industry at present.
SEE ALSO: Tencent Music to Give Up Exclusive Music Rights as Chinese Authorities Intensify Antitrust Push
In the past few years, the major music streaming platforms in China have competed fiercely for music copyright. In July 2016, China Music Corporation, which initiated the “exclusive copyright of music,” merged with QQ Music to form Tencent Music Entertainment Group, and their digital music businesses were reorganized. After that, Tencent Music Entertainment Group had a market share of 56% and an exclusive copyright share of over 80%. A large number of songs are exclusively owned by Tencent, and users have to pay high membership fees to listen to these songs.
On July 24, 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation requested Tencent Holdings Co., Ltd. to terminate the exclusive agreement reached with the copyright companies within 30 days. On August 31, Tencent issued a statement, explicitly waiving the right to exclusively authorize music copyright with relevant copyright parties, and informing these parties that they can authorize other operators at will.
