Music giants discuss role of technology in industry

On Sept 16, the three-day virtual WIPO Conference on the Global Digital Content Market was launched by the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, with highlights on the importance of support for the creative industries hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cussion Pang, CEO of Tencent Music Entertainment Group, joined in the conference on its opening as the only representative from Chinese enterprises. During the session, titled Music Summit: Cutting-Edge Content Offers in a Fast-Changing Landscape, panelists including Adam Granite, executive vice-president of Market Development, Universal Music Group, and Ole Obermann, global head of Music, ByteDance, shared thoughts about the impacts of new business models and new market players on a diversifying ecosystem, including the ever-more prominent role of technology from content creation to distribution.

According to Pang, the industry value of the Chinese music market reached $55.3 billion and the digital section achieved over $9 billion in 2019, which made it one of the most exciting markets in the world.

The 2019 International Federation of the Phonographic Industry annual Global Music Report ranked China as the seventh-largest music market in 2018.

There were 255 million users of paid streaming services globally at the end of 2018, with paid streaming accounting for 37 percent of total recorded music revenue.

With the number of daily active users reaching 800 million, TME has been playing a key role of promoting and legalizing the music market of China.

He also noted that the company has worked with over 100 music labels and record companies worldwide to gain legal copyrights of music. Now, it offers Chinese users with 40 million songs of a diversity genres, including rock, folk, hip hop and electronic music.

On August 11, Universal Music Group announced a new licensing agreement with QQ Music, Kugou Music, Kuwo Music and WeSing, the Chinese online music, online karaoke and music-centric livestreaming services, respectively, under TME.