Tencent-owned JOOX inks licensing deal with Merlin covering most of Asia

 

By Emmanuel Legrand

Tencent-owned music streaming platform JOOX, has signed a licensing agreement with Merlin, the digital music licensing agency for the independent sector.

  Hong Kong-based JOOX's footprint covers most of Asia and this agreement will give Merlin members access to new audiences in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand, as well as South Africa, where the platform launched in 2017.

  The agreement covers JOOX’s ad-supported and premium tiers, as well as its karaoke feature and library. The deal will also "facilitate Merlin members’ access to marketing and promotional activities on the JOOX service." 

Unlocking content

  Poshu Yeung, Senior Vice President of JOOX said, “JOOX always strives to bring users a wide range of music entertainment content from around the globe in different languages and genres, catering to music lovers’ various tastes. We are thrilled about our strategic collaboration with Merlin as it reinforces this goal by unlocking abundant content from hundreds of thousands of artists via Merlin’s membership for our users.”

  Added Merlin CEO Jeremy Sirota, “Our agreement with JOOX is one that expands access for our members across new markets while also driving value back to JOOX. We’re truly pleased to explore new ideas and features with them in order to help Merlin members make the most of this exciting music platform.”

  Merlin members account for more than 15% of the global digital music market, representing tens of thousands of labels and hundreds of thousands of artists. In 2021, 81 new members joined from countries across the globe, including first-time members from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Peru, Singapore, Slovakia, and the United Arab Emirates.