QQ Music

One of the three Chinese freemium music streaming services owned by Tencent Music, a partnership between Tencent and Spotify, is QQ Music (Chinese: QQ). By 2018, the service is anticipated to have more than 700 million users and 120 million subscriptions.

In 2016, the service merged with China Music Company, which is the proprietor of KuGou and KuWo, the second- and third-largest streaming services in the nation, respectively. The market share of QQ Music among the music platforms in Mainland China reached 75% by 2018.

The service uses the annual QQ Music Awards to promote its brand to the general public in addition to streaming. The business model used by QQ Music is a freemium one, where basic services are provided without charge but more advanced features require a subscription. However, unlike comparable subscription service Spotify, labels have the option to limit their content to subscribers (known as VIPs or green diamonds) or to be purchased on their website, which typically costs between 19 and 20 yuan.

Artists using this strategy include Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and Noah Cyrus, where certain albums are restricted to be purchased only. Users are typically encouraged by QQ Music to subscribe to their VIP service.

Founded: January 17, 2020
Headquarter: Beijing, China
Number of monthly active users in millions: 307.44
Website: https://y.qq.com