Tencent Ordered to Give Up Exclusive Music Rights in Antitrust Crackdown

Chinese tech big Tencent should relinquish its unique music label rights, the market regulator stated Saturday, after discovering that the agency had violated antitrust legal guidelines.

The ruling is the most recent in a crackdown on China’s tech sector after years of runaway development, as Beijing frets over the businesses’ rising affect in addition to the safety of troves of delicate shopper information.

Tencent acquired a majority stake in rival China Music Group in 2016, successfully controlling greater than 80 p.c of solely held music streaming rights within the home market, the State Administration for Market Regulation stated in an announcement.

This gave the agency’s music arm the flexibility to induce labels to “reach more exclusive copyright agreements, or require better trading conditions compared to (Tencent’s) competitors,” the regulator stated, calling the case an “illegal concentration of business operators.”

Tencent’s music arm was additionally fined CNY 500,000 ($77,144 or roughly Rs. Rs. 57,41,600), SAMR stated.

Chinese music streaming companies have in recent times fought to grab up unique rights to play labels’ tracks within the nation after regulators tightened guidelines in opposition to piracy.

The greatest gamers in China’s tech sector — after years of development due to lax regulation — are actually going through elevated scrutiny.

Earlier this month the monetary regulator blocked a merger between online game live-streaming websites that may have given Tencent a majority stake total, accounting for over between 80 to 90 per cent of the nation’s home market share in accordance with analysts.

Elsewhere, China’s greatest ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing was banned from Chinese shops over information assortment issues, simply days after a $4.4 billion (roughly Rs. 32,748 crores) New York IPO.

Tencent didn’t instantly reply to AFP’s request for remark.