The Orchard, an independent music, film and TV distribution company, and Taihe Music Group (TMG), a label group and music service provider in China, have partnered in an exclusive digital deal that will bring The Orchard’s complete music catalog to a wide selection of Chinese services and TMG’s local catalog internationally outside of China. The Orchard first entered the Chinese market in 2014 and strengthening its reach into local retail is the next phase of its strategy. The Orchard’s music will now be available on services including Ali Music, Kugou, Kuwo, NetEase Cloud Music, QQ Music and Baidu Music, which TMG owns.
“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.”
Taihe Music Group represents the leading C-Pop artists in the country through top labels Taihe Rye Music and Ocean Butterflies Music as well as Touch Music Publishing. The group also recently merged with Baidu Music, the largest Chinese-language music search platform, making TMG the most comprehensive music company in the country. 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.
With a population of 1.38 billion people who currently contribute less than 1% of global annual recorded music revenue, the Chinese market is ripe for growth. This new partnership will not only help Chinese listeners access more international content than ever before, it will also bring top local music from China to the rest of the world.
For more information, visit theorchard.com.
