Merlin partners with KKBOX in first ever pan-Asian deal

Global rights digital agency Merlin has announced striking a deal with Taiwan-based KKBOX, a leading music streaming service in Asia. 

Merlin represents a large chunk of the independent recorded music sector and its 20,000 members (labels and distributors) account for 10% of the worldwide digital market. 

The deal is especially important for artists represented by Merlin members looking to gain visibility in Asia, where the markets are often dominated by local acts and major label-backed international pop stars.  

The Senior Vice President of KKBOX, Josephine Cheng, stated: “By bringing some of the world’s best independent labels to KKBOX this deal will hugely enrich our members’ music experiences. We continue to be committed to empower independent labels and artists to distribute and promote their music through our platform.”

The CEO of Merlin Charles Caldas on the other hand remarked on the international vision of the organisation and stated: “This deal will enable Merlin members around the world to capitalise on the huge appetite for independent music across South East Asia.”

Merlin has been able to reach ’framework deals’ with hundreds of digital music services around the world and its members have the option to opt in or not.

KKBOX offers streaming services in six Asian markets: Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and Malaysia. The company has been around since 2004 and raised $104 million in December 2014 from Singapore GIC. 

The service boasts a catalogue of over 20 million tracks and 10 million ‘freemium’ users as well as 2 million paid users (interestingly the ratio is similar to Spotify’s 75% free 25% paid). 

 

(Andrea Leonelli)