A few weeks ago, in December 2018, Tencent Music did their highly anticipated IPO on the New York Stock Exchange valuing the company to $21.3 billion. Often being described as the "Spotify of China", we're looking into what Tencent Music actually is and what they might represent for the future of music, globally.

With a user base of more than 800 monthly active users and revenue of around $2 billion the detail that has impressed the most is their profit margin of 20%. Or actually even the fact that they, as a music streaming company, even are able to turn a profit.

In this episode we'll go through what Tencent Music is, how they are different compared to Spotify, if they can influence the global music industry and hypothesise about why they didn't merge with Spotify, something rumoured earlier in 2018.

Episode summary: 

What is Tencent Music and how come they are profitable?

What are the differences between the music industry in China and the west?

Music streaming as a part of a music ecosystem - will we see the same development outside China?

Asia - the future battleground - what will happen?

Guest: Jonas Leijonhufvud, journalist at DI Digital and currently writing a book about Spotify.

Hosts: Eva Xiao and Tom Xiong.

Production: Jacob Loven.

Digitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China is powered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.