Tencent Music Entertainment has entered into a strategic partnership with Thailand’s largest record and publishing company, GMM Grammy (GMM Music).
According to a press release, “with the help of WeSing, TME’s international online Karaoke social community, the partnership will bring a more diverse music entertainment experience and interactive play to music fans in Southeast Asia, and also tap the greater potential of the music markets in China and Thailand”.
In other words, it looks like Tencent Music is keen to push WeSing in Thailand with the help of GMM’s publishing catalog, while GMM’s artists are set for a more sustained push in China via TME’s services.
GMM Grammy claims to have more than 80% of the music and entertainment market share in Thailand, including million-record-selling artists such as Bird Thongchai, Bie Sukrit, Christina Aguilar and also other well-known performers such as Bodyslam, Potato, Cocktail, Getsunova, Peck Palitchoke, Palmy, Atom, MeYou and Pam MBO.
TME’s WeSing reportedly accounts for 77% of China’s online karaoke user base. Teaming up with GMM Music will allow TME to grow its share of Thailand’s Karaoke market, in addition to growing its presence in Thailand’s music business generally.
TME already owns JOOX, which is claimed to be the largest music streaming platform in Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia and Myanmar.
For GMM, teaming up with TME and WeSing will mean growing its Chinese fanbase, something the company already claims to have been doing in recent years after expanding into film and television broadcasting and talent management.
GMM’s “influence has been growing yearly in Southeast Asia, also gaining many Chinese fans as well,” claims today’s announcement.
And as explained by a TME spokesperson, the partnership “aims at making sure the Thai music entertainment culture represented by GMM Grammy is loved by more and more Chinese consumers.”
“This partnership will integrate the strength of both parties.”
Phawit Chitrakorn, GMM Music
Today’s announcement adds that the two companies will “co-create content by means of adaptation and covers”.
This is not the first time a TME announcement has referenced “co-creating” content with a rightsholder in recent weeks.
On Friday (August 14), TME confirmed a “strategic cooperation” to license and distribute Kobalt’s publishing and recorded music catalogs (via AWAL) on its platforms.
A press statement from both Kobalt and TME in Friday said: “In the future, the two parties will join hands in content, to deepen the development of music IP and explore potential new artists.”
This could be the start of an ongoing trend that sees TME focus on co-creation with rightsholders. Today’s press statement adds that “TME will also explore more forms of music content expression on the basis of copyright cooperation, helping overseas high-quality content enter China, and fully promoting the exchange and integration of Chinese and overseas music culture”.
Phawit Chitrakorn, Chief Executive Officer of GMM Music at GMM Grammy Public Company Limited, said: “This partnership will integrate the strength of both parties.
“Leveraging the communication platform built by WeSing, GMM Grammy aims to extend our music content library and expand user interaction to broaden our vision in digital music entertainment.”
“Through this cooperation, TME hopes to build a music ‘habitat’ for fans of Thai culture.”
TME spokesperson
A TME spokesperson added: “TME has more than 800 million monthly active users, a mature digital music content promotion ability, and a deep understanding of user preferences.
“The strategic cooperation between TME and GMM Grammy aims at making sure the Thai music entertainment culture represented by GMM Grammy is loved by more and more Chinese consumers.
“Through this cooperation, TME hopes to build a music ‘habitat’ for fans of Thai culture.”Music Business Worldwide
