Tencent Music Entertainment Group and Kobalt Music Group have reached a strategic cooperation to license and distribute the Kobalt publishing and AWAL recording catalogs on the Chinese streaming giant’s platforms.
TME will help Kobalt to simultaneously expand to concerts, music festivals, online live streaming and more fields, in order to effectively meet the music needs of fans all over the world.
Kobalt Music Group's content will now be available through TME's QQ Music, Kugou Music, Kuwo Music and Wesing. In the future, the two parties will work to deepen the development of music IP and explore potential new artists.
Kobalt represents over 25,000 songwriters, 600 publishers, and 20,000 independent artists, including Childish Gambino, Dave Grohl, Enrique Iglesias, Lauv, Lorde, Zayn Malik, Marshmello, Max Martin, Paul McCartney, Elvis Presley, The Weeknd, and more. The company's recording division, AWAL, includes Allie X, Bruno Major, Finneas and Lauv.
"Innovation is in the DNA of both Tencent Music Entertainment and Kobalt," said founder and chairman of Kobalt Music Group, Willard Ahdritz. "We look forward to our partnership and driving the next phase of the digital marketplace transformation and working with TME on a bigger scale."
"I'm excited to continue our commitment to the Chinese music market," said Laurent Hubert, CEO of Kobalt Music. "With TME's expansive user base and our all-star roster, we look forward to many creative and commercial opportunities for our artists, songwriters and partners."
Bob Bruderman, EVP, digital partnerships at Kobalt Music Group, said: "This is a great step for our musicians, as well as their fans. We are honored to be partnering with TME, and look forward to exploring new innovative forms of business and collaboration."
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