China-headquartered music streaming company Tencent Music Entertainment Group has published its inaugural Environmental, Social and Governance report.
According to TME, the report highlights the company’s “commitment to sustainable practices and long-term value creation, and details the initiatives and performance in key areas such as responsible platform, employee care, and social responsibility”.
The report also includes info about TME’s efforts to protect creators’ IP on its platform and outlines how it protects its own IP, revealing interesting stats about its vast global trove of patents and trademarks.
According to the report, published on Friday (September 27), Tencent Music Entertainment had applied for 4,768 patents as of the end December 2023.
Of those applications, 2,564 of them had been granted by the China National Intellectual Property Administration and by overseas patent offices as of the end of last year,
TME had also applied for 6,111 trademarks as of the end of last year, 4,295 of which were registered with the China National Intellectual Property Administration and overseas
Tencent Music also had 694 “software copyrights” registered with the Copyright Protection Center of the People’s Republic of China
The publication of TME’s ESG report comes as the music business in the West watches TME and the wider music industry in China more closely.
There was evidence of the Western music industry’s increased interest in Tencent Music’s tech and product development just a couple of weeks ago at Universal Music Group‘s Capital Markets Day in London.
As Spotify prepares to launch a pricier deluxe tier that’s expected to feature HiFi audio and superfan content, Universal pointed to TME’s efforts to better monetize superfans on its own platform as a case study in extracting more revenue from subscription music streaming.
TME’s ‘Super VIP’ tier costs five times as much as a regular paid subscription.
During UMG’s Capital Markets Day, Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer Michael Nash called TME’s Super-VIP tier “another exciting example of how product innovation can significantly enhance customer value”.
He added: “Adoption has already been strong, and we believe it has broken into a double digit percentage of the subscriber base. We expect ‘super-premium’ tiers to be deployed by most streaming platforms, enhancing the subscriber experience, bringing fans closer to the artists they love, and significantly increasing subscription revenue.”
Commenting on the release of TME”s ESG report, Cussion Pang, Executive Chairman of TME, commented: “Our inaugural ESG report showcases the steps we are taking to develop and implement a sustainability strategy. Building upon this foundation, we are committed to continuously shaping a sustainable future.”
