Tencent to collaborate with Japanese tech giant Sony for new music label

Tencent will look to expand its music industry by collaborating with Sony for its first electronic dance music (EDM) label titled "Liquid State"Reuters/Aly Song

Tencent, a Chinese tech giant, is planning a new electronic dance music label with Japanese tech giant Sony. This will be the first collaboration of Tencent with Sony and their first entry to the electronic music industry.

Tencent has recently made partnerships with several conglomerates, with Lego being one of their most recent partners. The entry of Tencent to the music industry is aimed at the growing consumer base of electronic dance music, which is getting more popular in East Asia.

The label to be collaborated by the two companies is titled as "Liquid State." The two companies plan to use this label as a means to further promote electronic dance music in Asia, using Asian and foreign talents from around the world.

"Our goal is to create an unmatched culture exchange between the East and the West through the power of electronic dance music," said Cussion Pang, the chief executive of Tencent Music Entertainment Group, in an interview with The Post. "It is a music genre like no other," The CEO said.

Although the collaboration is still in the early stages, other Chinese tech giants have already reacted to Tencent's moves. Online search firm Baidu and Jack Ma's Alibaba Group have increased offers regarding digital content. The triumvirate of tech giants from China dubbed as "BAT" (with Tencent included) all figure to play a major role in Asia's burgeoning market for electronic dance music.

The first step to jumpstart this initiative by "BAT" and Sony is to focus on the Chinese market, as the Chinese market is the biggest consumer of electronics and smartphones. Around 750 million Chinese are also active users of the internet, an integral component of delivering electronic dance music.

It is to be noted that although Tencent is new to electronic dance music, it has tremendous experience as a music-streaming service, leading in China with a total value of $10 billion.

The entry to a new market along with a collaboration with Sony would only increase the company's revenue.