Apple Music signs deal with Tencent Music, bringing Chinese music to the platform
Apple Music is one of the biggest music streaming platforms in the world, coming right after Spotify with its over 90 million available songs—and it's about to get even bigger, according to some reports discovered by Apple Insider.
Apparently, Apple has been talking to Tencent Music Entertainment Group, a Chinese music streaming service which recently reported signing a deal with the Cupertino company. This new deal will allow all the Chinese artists on Tencent Music to also share their tunes with the world through Apple Music.
This means we may likely soon see millions of songs on Apple Music which were previously only heard in China, giving the opportunity for international listeners to experience a whole new musical culture which they may not have interacted with previously.
"Bringing TME's premium music content from Chinese labels and creators to Apple Music users worldwide," Tencent Music reported in a statement, "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."
The new contract goes into effect as of November 2021, which means you may already be seeing some new artists on the platform who weren't there before. This could also mean that Apple Music could eventually pass Spotify in terms of the number of listening tracks it has available. At the moment, Apple Music is reporting "over 60 million" songs, while Spotify says it offers over 70 million.
And with Tencent Music being the leading online music entertainment platform in China, Apple Music's playlists could very well surge ahead in the coming months, as Chinese artists who are not yet represented by a record label (which seems likely to be the majority of the newcomers) rush forward to make their music heard around the world.
While Tencent has already proudly announced its new deal with Apple Music, Apple has yet to make any statement on the matter. The only hint it dropped came at its Q3 earnings announcement this year, where the company said it was making "meaningful strides to build and expand our capability in music creation, discovery, promotion and monetization."
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