Chinese tech giant NetEase‘s subsidiary Cloud Village – which operates music streaming service NetEase Cloud Music – has entered into a licensing agreement South Korea-based music company YG Entertainment.
The deal grants NCM the right to distribute YG Entertainment’s music catalog in China, including music by popular K-Pop groups such as BIGBANG and BLACKPINK, marking what NCM calls an expansion of its ‘K-pop portfolio’.
Founded in 1996, YG Entertainment is one of the largest entertainment companies in South Korea.
In addition to BIGBANG and BLACKPINK, artists on the YG roster include SECHSKIES, AKMU, WINNER, iKON and TREASURE.
According to a press statement, as part of the deal, “both parties” plan to “engage in innovative approaches to unlock more opportunities for YG Entertainment’s vast and influential catalog as well as its artists on the platform”.
NetEase Cloud Music says that it “has been actively expanding its portfolio” in recent months.
The company notes that it has agreements in place with record labels, including Modern Sky, Emperor Entertainment Group, hina Record Group, Feng Hua Qiu Shi, Yuehua Entertainment, Linfair Records.
NCM’s deal with YG Entertainment marks its second agreement with a South Korea-based entertainment company over the past two months.
In June, NetEase Cloud Music entered into a licensing deal with K-pop company SM Entertainment, whose roster features prominent K-Pop artists like KANGTA, BoA, TVXQ!, SUPER JUNIOR, Girls’ Generation, SHINee, EXO, Red Velvet, NCT and aespa.
Last month also saw Chinese music company TF Entertainment (Time Fengjun Entertainment) strike a deal with NCM, as well as its rival Tencent Music entertainment.
MBW reported in May that NetEase Cloud Music and its rival Tencent Music both added more paying music users than Spotify in Q1, 2022.
NetEase Cloud Music’s overall monthly active users (MAUs) of online music services stood at 181.7 million in Q1 2022, down slightly from 183.1 million in the prior year quarter.
The platform’s paying online music users (36.7m) accounted for 20.2% of all of its online music MAUs in the quarter.
NetEase Cloud Music’s revenue increased by 38.6% YoY in Q1 2022, to RMB 2.1 billion (approx USD $331m).Music Business Worldwide
