China’s largest music streaming service Xiami – owned by Tencent rival Alibaba – has inked a new and exclusive deal to license the content of UK-based independent label Cooking Vinyl.
The deal represents a move away from industry consensus by Cooking Vinyl, home to the likes of The Prodigy, Alison Moyet, Maximo Park, The Pretty Reckless, Madness, Passenger, Hanson, Billy Bragg, Marilyn Manson, The Fratellis, Gary Numan and The Cult.
To date, the major record companies in China have inked exclusive deals with Tencent Music Entertainment – deals believed to include hefty advance payments. TME then sub-licenses these catalogs to its rival services.
Cooking Vinyl has instead buddied up with one of those rival services, in Xiami.
Martin Goldschmidt, Co-founder and Managing Director of Cooking Vinyl, said: “China joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001 and laid a foundation for a Chinese recorded music business. Following this, Cooking Vinyl were the first record company to do a label deal (with Shanghai Audio Visual) in China.
“Cooking Vinyl is very excited that Alibaba / Xiami are opening the door for them to the new emerging Chinese market and is honoured to be their first Western record company partner.”
Martin Goldschmidt, Cooking Vinyl (pictured)
“While piracy has hamstrung the Chinese recorded music market until now, there are early indications that streaming will unleash its potential over the next three years and Alibaba is one of the major game changers.
“Cooking Vinyl is very excited that Alibaba / Xiami are opening the door for them to the new emerging Chinese market and is honoured to be their first Western record company partner.”
Xiami has previously inked exclusive digital deals with Mando-pop major labels like Bin-Music, HIM and Rock Records.
It is also the exclusive digital music partner of the biggest Korean label, S.M. Entertainment, in China.
Wang Hao, co-founder of Xiami and CCO of Alibaba music, said, “Xiami has been striving to offer a greater diversity to satisfy the musical tastes of the diverse China market. We believe that this partnership with Cooking Vinyl will greatly contribute to Xiami’s music content pool.
“In the last year, Alibaba has delivered entertainment and online shopping to its users and established a new cultural and entertainment group. These rich experiences in big data analysis powered by Alibaba and combined with the group’s literature, sports, gaming and digital business units will ultimately help Xiami enhance customer experience and lead innovation in the Chinese music industry.”Music Business Worldwide
