BEIJING, March 13,
2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kuke Music Holding Limited
("Kuke" or the "Company") (NYSE: KUKE), a leading classical music
service platform in China with
approximately 3 million audio and video music tracks, announced an
agreement to acquire a 49% equity interest in Singapore domiciled KOLO.Market, with an
option to acquire the remaining 51%.
KOLO.Market is the world's first vertically integrated classical
music Web 3.0 platform that aims to create a well-rounded and
healthy classical music ecosystem. Targeting the tremendous
business potential in music copyright licensing in the Web 3.0
movement, KOLO aims to protect intellectual property rights,
maximizing the income of music creators and copyright owners,
provide fair profit sharing, and establish a sustainable
decentralized business with blockchain technology. Through KOLO,
artists can enjoy permanent authentication of ownership of musical
works, self-management, and fair royalty splits; music users can
enjoy direct interaction and earnings; and for investors, KOLO
offers secured assets, quick settlement of transactions, and the
integration of digital music resources.
Mr. He Yu, Chief Executive Officer of Kuke Music Holding
Limited, commented, "The decentralization feature of Web 3.0 can
help solve the problems of music copyright ownership, rights
protection, and data tracking, while also, when combined with
various technologies and services, enable a more fair, transparent,
and efficient management of copyright revenue sharing. This can
provide unprecedented solutions for musicians and music copyright
owners, effectively promoting the development of the music industry
and making it possible for individuals to invest in the music
industry. Therefore, introducing classical music into the Web 3.0
world can both enhance user experience and platform appeal, while
also helping to build a healthier and more sustainable music
ecosystem."
Mr. He Yu, continued, "We believe that by working together
we can help unlock KOLO's full strategic potential, as Web
3.0-based ecosystem becomes a much larger reality over the next few
years. Web 3.0 is a natural extension of our business, where we can
integrate functions such as intelligent semantic search, copyright
content construction, intelligent playlist recommendation and
combine with technologies such as ChatGPT to bring users a better
experience."
Financially, KOLO will become Kuke's fourth revenue source upon
closure of the acquisition.
The 2022 Global Music Report, published by the International
Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), states that, under
the influence of the growth of subscription-based audio media
market, global revenue for the recorded music market has reached
US$25.9 billion, representing an
18.5% growth year-over-year. The revenue for Streaming (paid
subscription-based listening + Ad-based listening market) has
increased by 24.3% year-over-year, reaching US$16.9 billion, representing 65% of the global
revenue for recorded music market, and was the leading revenue
format in nearly all markets. The same report also outlined that
the revenue in Asia increased by
16.1% year-over-year and accounted for 23% of the global market in
2021, thanks to strong growth from the Japanese and Chinese market.
The revenue growth in the Chinese market for recorded music
in the same period was 30.4%, a figure that is visibly higher than
the global growth average of 18.5%. In terms of market size,
China is the sixth largest music
market in the world in 2021 and the second largest music market in
Asia, after Japan and before Korea.
The paid subscription rate for music streaming services in
China is predicted to reach 18.1%
in 2023, with Chinese online music streaming listeners reaching 700
million in 2023, which represents a sizeable growth from the 540
million streamers recorded in 2017. But 700 million is still only
about 50% of the general population in the country, signifying that
there is still plenty of room for the industry to expand in the
nation for the coming years. (source: Chung-Hua Institution for
Economic Research)
About Kuke Music Holding Limited (NYSE: KUKE)
Kuke is a leading classical music service platform in
China encompassing the entire
value chain from content provision to music learning services, with
approximately 3 million audio and video music tracks. By
collaborating with its strategic global business partner Naxos, the
largest independent classical music content provider in the world,
the foundation of Kuke's extensive classical music content library
is its unparalleled access to more than 900 top-tier labels and
record companies. Leveraging its market leadership in international
copyrighted classical music content, Kuke provides highly scalable
classical music licensing services to various online music
platforms, and classical music subscription services to over 800
universities, libraries and other institutions across China. In
addition, it has hosted Beijing Music Festival ("BMF"), the most
renowned music festival in China, for 24 consecutive years. Through
KUKEY, the Company's proprietary smart music learning solutions,
Kuke aims to democratize music learning via technological
innovation, bring fascinating music content and professional music
techniques to more students, and continuously improve the
efficiency and penetration of music learning in China. For more
information about Kuke, please visit https://ir.kuke.com/
Forward-looking Statements
This announcement contains forward looking statements. These
statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S.
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as
"will," "expects," "anticipates," "aims," "future," "intends,"
"plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident," "potential,"
"continue" or other similar expressions. Statements that are not
historical facts, including but not limited to statements about
Kuke's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and
uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to
differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking
statement, including those in Kuke's registration statement filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Further information
regarding these and other risks is included in Kuke's filings with
the SEC. All information provided in this press release is as of
the date of this press release, and Kuke undertakes no obligation
to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under
applicable law.
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SOURCE Kuke Music Holding Limited