獨立音樂代理商與中國流媒體平臺簽約
代理一些主要獨立唱片公司的機構(gòu)與中國最大五個流媒體服務(wù)達成許可協(xié)議，這是中國對西方藝術(shù)家日益重要的最新跡象。
Merlin, the London-based agency that represents 20,000 independent labels and makes up 12 per cent of the world’s digital music catalogue, signed deals with streaming services owned by Tencent, Alibaba and NetEase.
總部位于倫敦的Merlin代表2萬家獨立唱片公司，占全球數(shù)字音樂目錄的12%。這家代理商已經(jīng)與騰訊(Tencent)、阿里巴巴(Alibaba)和網(wǎng)易(NetEase)旗下的流媒體服務(wù)簽署了協(xié)議。
The company expects the deals will give its acts, such as Vampire Weekend, access to 500m consumers, or 90 per cent of digital music listeners in China.
該公司預(yù)計，這些交易將使它代理的樂團——如吸血鬼周末(Vampire Weekend)——能夠接觸到5億消費者，即中國90%的數(shù)字音樂聽眾。
Charles Caldas, Merlin’s chief executive, said digital streaming has given independent record labels a new-found global reach, after distribution in the CD era favoured the few record label behemoths with the cash to press, promote and ship them abroad.
Merlin首席執(zhí)行官查爾斯•卡爾達斯(Charles Caldas)表示，數(shù)字流媒體給獨立唱片公司帶來了新的全球觸角范圍，不同于之前有利于寥寥幾家唱片巨擘的CD時代，那時只有大公司才有財力制作和推廣CD，并將其銷往海外。
“Music is moving around the world in ways we’ve never experienced before,” he said. “A lot more value is going to come from markets that we were never really extracting value from in the physical [CD] world.”
“音樂正以我們從未體驗過的方式在世界各地流行，”他表示。“更多的價值將來自那些我們在實體(CD)時代從未真正挖掘價值的市場。”
The deals come after the other three big suppliers of the world’s music, Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music, signed exclusive pacts with Tencent, which then sub-licensed the catalogues to other platforms in China.
達成這些交易之前，世界音樂的另外三大供應(yīng)商——環(huán)球音樂(Universal Music)、索尼音樂(Sony Music)和華納音樂(Warner Music)——與騰訊簽署了獨家協(xié)議，由騰訊向中國其他平臺分銷內(nèi)容使用許可。
Merlin instead signed separate deals with Alibaba’s Xiami, Tencent’s QQ Music, KuGou and Kuwo, and NetEase’s Cloud Music.
而Merlin則與阿里巴巴的蝦米(Xiami)、騰訊的QQ音樂、酷狗音樂(KuGou)、酷我音樂(Kuwo)以及網(wǎng)易云音樂(NetEase Cloud Music)分別簽署了協(xié)議。
Tencent had a 78 per cent share of China’s streaming market revenues last year, and has used its clout and cash to outbid rivals for distribution agreements with western labels. The internet group, which is reportedly looking to take its music arm public this year, has looked to capture content rights to bolster its prospects with investors.
騰訊去年在中國流媒體市場營收中的占比達到78%，并已利用其影響力和現(xiàn)金壓倒競爭對手，搶先與西方唱片公司達成分銷協(xié)議。據(jù)報道今年可能將其音樂部門上市的這家互聯(lián)網(wǎng)集團，希望獲取內(nèi)容權(quán)利以便向投資者展示更加光明的前景。
China’s National Copyright Administration called for an end to exclusive deals in September, aiming to encourage more competition in the market.
中國國家版權(quán)局(National Copyright Administration)去年9月曾呼吁結(jié)束獨家交易，目的是鼓勵更多的市場競爭。
Mathew Daniel, vice-president at NetEase Cloud Music, called the deal “a significant step forward for music licensing in China”.
網(wǎng)易云音樂副總裁馬修•丹尼爾(Mathew Daniel)稱，這一交易“對中國的音樂許可來說是向前邁出的一大步”。
Merlin yesterday revealed that its Latin American earnings have grown fivefold from 2015 to 2017, as streaming on YouTube and Spotify boomed in countries such as Brazil. The region’s biggest economy is now the sixth largest moneymaker for independent record labels — ahead of France and Australia.
Merlin昨日透露，從2015年至2017年，其拉丁美洲盈利增長了五倍，得益于YouTube和Spotify上的流播放在巴西等國蓬勃發(fā)展。拉美最大經(jīng)濟體巴西現(xiàn)在是獨立唱片公司的第六大市場，超過法國和澳大利亞。
Independent labels are now hoping for similar luck in China, where paid digital music sales were projected to rise 59 per cent last year to $455m.
獨立唱片公司現(xiàn)在希望在中國也會有類似的運氣，根據(jù)估測，中國去年付費數(shù)字音樂銷售增長59%，達到4.55億美元。
China presents a compelling opportunity, said Mr Caldas, as electronic dance music festivals have popped up, which “would not have been happening five years ago, before streaming”.
Merlin的卡爾達斯表示，中國提供了一個令人心動的機會，因為電子舞蹈音樂節(jié)已在中國出現(xiàn)，“這在五年前，即流媒體盛行之前，是不會發(fā)生的”。
