Warner Chappell Music (WCM) has entered into a new licensing agreement with short-form video platform Kuaishou.
Headquartered in Beijing, Kuaishou claims to be the second largest short video platform by average Daily Active Users (DAUs), and the second largest live streaming e-commerce platform by Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) globally.
Kuaishou reports to reach more than 180 million monthly active users (MAU) outside of China via its overseas versions such as Kwai.
It also claims to have become one of the most popular apps in MENA and Latin America, as well as in South and Southeast Asia, where it’s known as SnackVideo.
Under the deal with Kuaishou, Warner Chappell’s music will be available for use on these platforms, offering what the publisher says is ‘exciting new content to Kuaishou’s userbase”.
WCM’s deal with Kuaishou follows the news from August last year that Warner Music Group (WMG) and Kuaishou had struck a new global licensing deal.
Kuaishou was launched in 2011 by Su Hua, CEO and founder of Kuaishou Technology.
In 2019, Tencent was reportedly negotiating a $2bn lead investment into Kuaishou as part of a $3 billion-pre-IPO funding round.
Kuaishou, which reported to have amassed over one billion users worldwide as of June 2021, is a listed company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the symbol 1024.HK.
Kuaishou employs more than 20,000 staff across its offices in China, the United States, Brazil, Indonesia, Egypt and GCC.
Its most notable investors include DCM Ventures, Morningside Venture Capital, Sequoia Capital, Temasek Holdings, Tencent and Baidu.
“We’re very proud to be partnering with the team to bring our catalog of songs to Kwai’s engaged userbase and talented music creators.”
Natalie Madaj, Warner Chappell Music
Warner Chappell Music Senior Vice President of Global Digital, Natalie Madaj, said: “As the digital ecosystem continues to evolve in exciting new ways, social-sharing apps like Kwai are changing how people experience and discover music around the world.
“We’re very proud to be partnering with the team to bring our catalog of songs to Kwai’s engaged userbase and talented music creators.”
Kuaishou Head of Overseas Partnership and Communications, Calvin Liu, shared: “We’re always looking to partner with innovative music companies and this deal with Warner Chappell will give our millions of users access to new music to express themselves across our Kuaishou platforms.”
Music Business Worldwide
