Tencent Music Entertainment, the owner of China’s largest music streaming services, has launched a real-time data and analytics suite for artists and their teams called ‘TME Business Intelligence for Artists’.
TME says that the purpose of the new platform is “to provide partners with services that enable music labels and artists to access real-time data on the performance of musical works and observe music industry trends”.
The description of TME’s new platform sounds similar to the service offered by Spotify‘s ‘Spotify for Artists’ platform. Launched in 2017, SPOT’s own app lets artists and their managers manage tasks like adding a canvas, updating bios, and tracking the performance of new releases.
Spotify for Artists also allows artist teams to pitch for playlists, and it provides updates on audience, song, and playlist stats.
Labels previously didn’t have access to what managers and artists could see in Spotify for Artists, until November 2020, when Spotify rolled its user-base for Spotify Analytics (a data dashboard for record labels and distributors) into Spotify For Artists.
TME says that its Business Intelligence app “updates data 150 times a day by data mining across multiple platforms”.
Tencent Music, majority owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings, runs music platforms in China including its flagship music app QQ Music, as well as Kugou, Kuwo, plus online karaoke service, WeSing.
TME says that its new Business Intelligence app features various “modules”, that display information like a “data overview, artist overview, song performance, and digital album analysis” in order to illustrate “all the key information needed for labels to track the performance of works under copyright ownership”.
TME claims that the portal also “allows artists to understand their listeners, and helps content creators to capture music industry trends and user preferences, equipping music professionals with a better understanding of the business value behind the data”.
In addition, TME says that it’s making use of the access it has to its own TME Research Institute to develop “industry reviews” and “in-depth analysis reports” on a “regular basis” that will appear within the Business Intelligence app.
TME claims that this content will bring “fresh insights to content creators and the whole industry, which will drive business growth as well as improve the efficiency of content creation, promotion and distribution”.
TME also plans to publish industry news within its Business Intelligence app, which it says will “guide music professionals on emerging market trends”.
“TME continues its efforts in technology innovation and resource integration to invigorate the music service ecosystem, supporting and empowering more content creators to maximize their potential and value, and creating more opportunities for the whole industry.”
Tencent Music entertainment
Tencent Music Entertainment says that the launch of its new analytics platform marks a “deepening” of what it calls its “dual engine content-and-platform strategy”.
The news follows the launch of TME’s distribution service in April called “One-Click For All”, which enables independent musicians registered to its Tencent Musician Platform to distribute their music to over 150 platforms globally, including Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music and others.
The Tencent Musician Platform is an indie artist initiative previously known as ‘Tencent Musician Program’. It was launched in 2017, and by the end of 2021, the number of registered musicians on the program reached more than 300,000.
In TME’s annual report for 2021, recently filed by on the SEC, the publicly-traded firm explains that the Tencent Musician Platform is an online service “for selected aspiring artists to upload original music” to its platform.
TME says that “Cultivating original works and enriching the indie musician ecosystem through [its] Tencent Musician Platform is another key source of our content differentiation”.
Added TME in the announcement about its new app today (July 13): “With coverage from music charts to music data, and from individual services to business services, TME BI for Artists aims to promote the healthy development of China’s music industry.
“TME continues its efforts in technology innovation and resource integration to invigorate the music service ecosystem, supporting and empowering more content creators to maximize their potential and value, and creating more opportunities for the whole industry.”Music Business Worldwide