Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME; Chinese: 腾讯音乐娱乐集团) is a company that develops music streaming services for the Chinese market. Tencent Music's apps include QQ Music, KuGou, Kuwo, and WeSing; which have more than 800 million active users and 120 million paying subscribers.[2][3][4] As of July 2016, Tencent Music's three services held an estimated 56% market share of music streaming services in China.[5]
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Formerly | China Music Corporation |
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Company type | Public |
NYSE: TME (ADS) SEHK: 1698 | |
ISIN | US88034P1093 ![]() |
Predecessor | China Music Corporation Tencent's QQ Music division |
Founded | July 2016 |
Headquarters | Shenzhen, Guangdong, China |
Products | QQ Music, Kugou, Kuwo, WeSing, Ultimate Music |
Revenue | ![]() |
Owners |
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Number of employees | 5,966[1] (December 2021) |
Parent | Tencent Interactive Entertainment Group |
Website | www |
In the first quarter of 2021, Tencent Music announced it had 60.9 million paying users, up 42.6% compared to the 42.7 million paying users in the first quarter of 2020. In addition, the total number of music streaming users was announced to be 615 million, a drop of 6.4% compared to the first quarter of 2020 (657 million).[6]
History
editTencent Music was established in July 2016 with Tencent's purchase of China Music Corporation to strengthen its music offerings.[7] On July 4, 2018, Sony/ATV Music Publishing acquired an equity stake in Tencent Music.[8][9] In October 2018, the firm filed for IPOs of around $2 billion[10] in the United States.[11]
In December 2018, the company announced an IPO with the total value of shares around $1.23 billion, which includes 82 million ADS and 164 million regular shares priced around $13 - $15.[12]
On January 30, 2019, SM Entertainment, the largest entertainment agency of South Korea entered into strategic partnership agreement with China's Tencent Music that included music distribution and marketing in the Chinese market.[13]
In June 2020, the Government of India banned QQ Music with 58 other Chinese origin apps citing data and privacy issues. The border tensions in 2020 between India and China might have also played a role in the ban.[14][15]
As of 2023, 16.47% of Tencent Music class A ordinary shares are owned by Spotify.[16][17]
Charts
editIn 2018, Tencent Music Entertainment Group launched two music charts in China, the TME UNI Chart and TME Wave Chart. The TME UNI Chart ranks the top songs within China based on streaming and sales activity from the platforms QQ Music, KuGou, Kuwo, WeSing, Joox and Weixin Video Account, and listening data from China’s public radio stations. The TME Wave Chart is a ranking of the top songs in China compiled based on scores and recommendations from over 250 industry professionals.[18] In 2023, Tencent Music Entertainment Group announced a partnership with Billboard to integrate the TME UNI Chart into Billboard's official Hits of the World collection of global record charts.[19] In 2024, they launched the TME Korean Chart, a subchart that ranks the top Korean songs within China based on streaming and sales activity from the platforms QQ Music, KuGou, Kuwo, Polka Dot, and Joox.[20]
References
edit- ^ a b "Tencent Music 2021 Annual Report (Form 20-F)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 26 April 2022. p. 151.
- ^ "Tencent Music drowns out Spotify and Apple". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 2018-08-08. Retrieved 2018-08-07.
- ^ "Revealed: Billboard's 2017 Digital Power Players, Guiding the Future in Music and Tech". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2018-06-14. Retrieved 2018-08-07.
- ^ Lee, Pearl (27 June 2017). "Why China's music streaming is leading the world". Tech in Asia. Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
- ^ Soo, Zen (15 July 2016). "Tencent to merge QQ Music service with China Music Corp to create streaming giant". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 8 August 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
- ^ "Tencent Music Entertainment Group Announces First Quarter 2021 Unaudited Financial Results". Tencent Music - Press Releases. Retrieved 2021-06-14.
- ^ "Tencent spikes on music arm move". The Standard. Archived from the original on 2017-11-02. Retrieved 2018-08-07.
- ^ Sony/ATV Share Tencent IPO Profits with Songwriters Archived 2018-08-12 at the Wayback Machine oneedm.com, Retrieved on 11 August 2018
- ^ Sony/ATV owns a stake in Tencent Music Entertainment Archived 2018-08-12 at the Wayback Machine musicbusinessworldwide.com, Retrieved on 11 August 2018
- ^ Hughes, Jennifer. "Crunch time for Tencent Music's 2018 $2 billion IPO hopes". U.S. Archived from the original on 2018-11-21. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
- ^ Farrell, Maureen; Steele, Anne (2018-10-02). "Tencent Music Files for U.S. IPO". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 2018-10-03. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
- ^ "Tencent Music moving ahead with its $1.2B U.S. stock market debut". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2018-12-04. Retrieved 2018-12-04.
- ^ "SM, 中 최대 엔터 텐센트 뮤직과 전략적 파트너십 체결 [공식]". entertain.naver.com (in Korean). Retrieved 2020-09-03.
- ^ "India bans 59 Chinese apps including TikTok, Helo, WeChat". The Economic Times. July 3, 2020. Archived from the original on July 16, 2020. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
- ^ "Full list of 59 Chinese apps banned by Indian govt". ThePrint. June 29, 2020. Archived from the original on July 17, 2020. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
- ^ "Spotify Technology S.A. : Shareholders Board Members Managers and Company Profile | LU1778762911 | MarketScreener". www.marketscreener.com. Retrieved 2023-12-23.
- ^ "Tencent Music Entertainment Group : Shareholders Board Members Managers and Company Profile | US88034P1093 | MarketScreener". www.marketscreener.com. Retrieved 2023-12-23.
- ^ Liu, Hsiuwen (February 21, 2023). "Tencent Music Responds to China Streaming Manipulation Concerns With New Year-End Chart". Billboard. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
- ^ "Tencent Music Entertainment Group Introduces TME UNI Chart on Billboard to Promote Chinese Music in Global Markets". PR News Wire. Tencent Music Entertainment Group. February 8, 2023. Retrieved September 21, 2023.
- ^ "腾讯音乐榜". Weibo (in Chinese). March 25, 2024. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
External links
edit- Official website (in English)