Chinese language music streaming platform NetEase Cloud Music has sued South Korea’s SM Leisure, alleging abuse of market dominance.
Native digital information outlet Jiemian reported on Thursday (July 31), citing courtroom paperwork, that Hangzhou Ledu Expertise and Hangzhou NetEase Cloud Music Expertise are pursuing authorized motion in opposition to SM Entertainment and its Shanghai subsidiary, Kasmeng (Shanghai) Tradition Communication.
The Hangzhou Intermediate Individuals’s Court docket in Zhejiang Province has scheduled hearings for Wednesday (August 6), in keeping with Jiemian.
The event comes over six months after NetEase Cloud Music secured a brief settlement with SM to maintain the latter’s catalog obtainable past a January 31 contract deadline.
SM Leisure is the corporate behind distinguished Okay-pop acts like EXO, Women’ Technology, Crimson Velvet, aespa, NCT, and Riize.
Previous to the January deal, there have been considerations that Chinese language listeners would lose entry to a good portion of Okay-pop content material after the Chinese language firm warned customers that SM Leisure‘s total music catalog is perhaps faraway from the platform as a consequence of unsuccessful licensing renewal negotiations.
The businesses final renewed a multi-year partnership in 2022.
Cloud Music on the time stated: “NetEase Cloud Music had issued a somber discover to followers warning that SM Leisure’s unilateral determination to not renew the copyright may consequence within the removing of all its songs from the streaming service.”
The corporate added that the “overwhelming assist and earnest pleas from followers” performed a task in bringing the 2 corporations to the negotiating desk.
The 2 corporations’ preliminary partnership started in 2018 when Cloud Music first secured the rights to distribute SM Leisure’s music catalog in China.
SM Leisure represents greater than 400 artists, together with its personal educated musicians. Its roster contains the likes of aespa, EXO, SUPER JUNIOR, NCT 127 and extra.
In the meantime, NetEase Cloud Music additionally has a separate deal with Kakao Leisure, signed in Might 2024.
In 2023, Kakao Leisure grew to become the most important shareholder in SM Leisure following a months-long company battle in opposition to SM rival HYBE to take management of the Okay-pop firm, which additionally owns a number of main Okay-pop businesses together with Starship Leisure, EDAM Leisure, and Antenna
Kakao Leisure, along with its father or mother Kakao Corp., holds a 40.28% stake in SM.
Complicating issues additional, NetEase Music Cloud rival Tencent Music Leisure acquired a 9.38% stake in SM Leisure in Might 2025.
Tencent Music purchased 2.21 million shares in SM Leisure for 243.35 billion South Korean gained (approx. USD $175.7 million).
NetEase Cloud Music is China’s second-largest music streaming supplier after Tencent Music.
Earlier this yr, the agency reported a 23.1% year-on-year bounce in annual income from on-line music companies for 2024.
In its earnings report for calendar 2024, NCM reported income of RMB 5.35 billion from music companies, equating to USD $743.5 million.
Income from paid subscriptions jumped 22.2% YoY to RMB 4.46 billion ($619.8 million), which the corporate stated was “fuelled by a rise in our subscriber base, although barely offset by a dilution in month-to-month ARPPU (common income per paying person).”
NCM didn’t disclose its whole variety of paying subscribers or month-to-month lively customers.
A yr earlier, NetEase reported 44.12 million paying subscribers as of the tip of 2023.Music Enterprise Worldwide
