Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) announced on Monday that it has struck a deal with Apple Music to make its Chinese catalog available worldwide. The deal will apply to all labels and artists part of the TME Music Cloud distribution platform.
Apple Music Strikes China Deal
In a statement, TME said the Apple Music deal “will enable music lovers to explore China’s unique music culture and genres, further enhancing the global discovery of Chinese music and assisting in the international development of Chinese musicians.” TME already operates numerous music apps in China such as Music, Kugou Music, Kuwo Music, and WeSing.
The move is also another development of Apple’s relationships with China. It comes despite growing scrutiny of that relationship, including the recent removal of numerous apps from the iOS App Store on the Chinese mainland.