The Orchard inks exclusive partnership with Baidu owner TMG in China

Sony-owned The Orchard has entered into an exclusive partnership with Taihe Music Group (TMG), the largest label group and music service provider in China.

The deal will see The Orchard’s complete music catalogue made available on services including Ali Music, Kugou, Kuwo, NetEase Cloud Music, QQ Music and Baidu Music, which TMG owns.

In return, The Orchard will look after TMG’s local catalogue internationally outside of China.

“We have been monitoring the Chinese market and its enormous potential for years now, waiting for the perfect opportunity for a strong entrance” says Tom Wheeley, VP of Global Business Development at The Orchard.

“Working with Taihe Music Group to mutually expand the reach of our artists and labels is exciting not only because of the new audiences we stand to connect with, but also because TMG are as relentless champions of independent music as we are.”

The Orchard first entered the Chinese market in 2014.

“We have been monitoring the Chinese market and its enormous potential for years.”

Tom Wheeley, The Orchard

Taihe Music Group represents the leading C-Pop artists in the country through to labels Taihe Rye Music and Ocean Butterflies Music as well as Touch Music Publishing.

The group recently merged with Baidu Music, the largest Chinese-language music search platform – resulting in a hybrid of digital music service and rights-owning music company.

Artists including Chen Jieyi (陈洁仪), Xu Song (许嵩), Fang Datong (方大同) and Zhang Shaohan (张韶涵) will land on international streaming and download services ex-China via The Orchard, which now represents one of the most extensive catalogs of Chinese labels outside of China.

“The Orchard, with its strong global distribution channels and transparent reporting, has been on our radar for several years,” says Michael Tseng (曾志中), GM of International Digital Music at TMG.

“We completely trust them to bring the best C-Pop music to the world outside of China.”

“We are very excited for this win-win partnership and foresee it will be a significant milestone for the global digital music industry,” says Qianshimu (钱实穆), CEO of TMG.

China currently holds a population of 1.38 billion people, but the region contributes less than 1% of global annual recorded music revenue.Music Business Worldwide

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