Kobalt Partners with China’s Music Platform NetEase Cloud Music
The deal will see more than 600,000 songs licensed and distributed from Kobalt Publishing and AWAL Recording Catalogs.
The deal will see more than 600,000 songs licensed and distributed from Kobalt Publishing and AWAL Recording Catalogs.
NetEase Cloud Music partners with Kobalt
As part of Kobalt’s strategic move towards more market share in the music business in Asia, it has struck a strategic licensing and distribution deal with NetEase Cloud Music, one of China’s fastest growing music platform. The deal will see more than 600,000 songs licensed and distributed from Kobalt Publishing and AWAL Recording Catalogs. It has also added a statement that more marketing efforts will be put into benefiting artists and writers from Kobalt and AWAL.
“The Chinese market is the next great land of opportunity for the music market as hundreds of millions of fans, especially the younger generations…”
In this deal, NetEase will be the sub-licensor of Kobalt and AWAL content in China. Also part of this deal, AMRA, Kobalt’s wholly-owned global collection society, will work closely with NetEase operations to provide digital processing and reporting services to further uplift royalty earnings and maximize value for Kobalt clients.
Kobalt Partners with NetEase Cloud Music
Kobalt represent some of the largest music in the US and UK including the prestigious song catalogues of Paul McCartney (MPL) and Max Martin (MXM), which features songs recorded by Taylor Swift, Adele and Katy Perry.
NetEase will also have access to songs recorded by world-renowned artists such as Justin Bieber, Crowded House, Miles Davis, Fleetwood Mac, Flume, Foo Fighters, Gotye, Lauv, Zayn Malik, Maroon 5, Stevie Nicks, Sinead O’Connor, Pet Shop Boys, Elvis Presley, Lionel Richie, Ed Sheeran, Skrillex, among many others.
The agreement will cover many famous songs from Asian artists such as A-Lin, Jolin Tsai, Wanting Qu, Jane Zhang, and Bibi Zhou, as well as including the catalogue of EKKO Music Rights; Big Bang, EXO, F(X), Girls’ Generation, Shinee and Super Junior.
This partnership will also improve transparency for creators and drive new access to data, reporting, and sustainable pay models.
“The Chinese market is the next great land of opportunity for the music market as hundreds of millions of fans, especially the younger generations, will pay for an engaging music streaming experience,” said President and Chief Revenue Officer of Kobalt Music, Laurent Hubert.
The Chinese internet and music service company was most famously known for developing and operating some of China’s mobile games. Today, it is planning its entry and fast becoming one of the leading music distributors in China. Launched in 2013, NetEase Cloud Music has over 400 million users and is well known for its user-friendly interface that helps music fans discover and share interests.
The CEO of NetEase Cloud Music, Zhu Yiwen said, “We are honoured to be the strategic partner of the world’s leading music group, Kobalt Music in mainland China – it is also an endorsement of our pan-entertainment industry effort that will benefit music fans and artists. We will aim to use our deep industry knowledge and huge user base to expand Kobalt Music’s reach in the market.”
