Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) Group has announced a strategic partnership with leading Japanese animated movie studio and distribution company CoMix Wave Films Inc (CWF).
Under the new partnership, the original soundtracks from 17 popular animated movies, including 5 Centimeters per Second and The Garden of Words, will go live on TME's music platforms - QQ Music, Kugou Music, Kuwo Music and WeSing.
CWF said: "TME has over 800 million monthly active users across several leading Chinese digital music and entertainment platforms, each of which boasts a huge user base of young people that offers a great environment to provide a deeper understanding of Japanese culture as embodied by music. With years of experience and accumulated expertise in digital music, TME will help CWF accelerate its digital transformation. By leveraging TME's proven capabilities in promotion and distribution of digital music and entertainment works, CWF expects to offer animated music fans a diversified lineup of content and experiences, unleashing the unlimited power of music."
In March, Tencent finalised a 10% stake in Universal Music Group and launched a partnership between the major and Tencent Music Entertainment and reportedly invested $200 million (£161.2m) in Warner Music Group. In recent years, it has also entered into strategic cooperation agreements with overseas labels including Sony Music Being, Inc, Believe Digital, Stem Music, Roba Music Publishing, Hillsong and Twin Music.
TME said it selected CWF as its strategic partner with the aim of addressing demand from fans for access to music specific to their preferences, while maximising the value that can be derived from the various ACG music segments. TME plans to combine its strength in terms of music and entertainment with CWF's strong production capabilities in anticipation of boosting the growth of the music IP industry.
TME signed a deal with Japanese music label Being in March 2020, obtaining the music copyrights of popular animations owned by Being. TME plans to work with CWF and other partners to build a "global multicultural digital music and entertainment ecosystem" and "create a music partner-friendly environment".
