Musicinfo Blog


Gain valuable information about the Chinese music market from our blog posts

The Little Red Book Xiaohongshu aka. RED

Users can share content related to your music, such as music video teasers, behind-the-scenes footage of recording sessions, or travel vlogs from tours.


What is Public Domain

Can you sample content from the public domain?


What is Creative Commons License

Here you can find out what exactly is Creative Commons, the licenses and how they affect how the content under them can be used.


What is Royalty-free Music?

What is Royalty-free music and how to utilize it in your creations.


Direct Licensing: What it is and how to get it

When do you need to get a license or rights to use other's music in your creations.


Engaging With Music 2023: Review

A review of the 2023 Engaging With Music report. What is the real picture.


Direct License vs Royalty Free vs Creative Commons vs Public Domain

The differences between direct license, royalty free license, creative commons license and public domain. How to use music that is not 100% your own original creation.


Streaming Payment Models

Under the current “pro rata” model held true in Spotify and Apple, money from your dedicated fans goes into a giant pool that's paid out to artists based on their share of total streams. This mostly benefits mega stars.


What is Content ID

Content ID is a very useful tool for artists who are releasing content where 100% of the recorded music is original.


A New Dawn on Live Performing in China

This year, the lights on the various performance stages in China have been relit for artists.


Peaceful Soundscapes - The Rise of Ambient Music in China

In this blog we’ll take a look at ambient music and the possible reasons and outcomes of its rise in China.


China’s Music Market Is The Fifth Biggest And Growing

What you didn't know about China's music market might surprise you!


Compare the World's Biggest Streaming Services

How do the biggest streaming services in the World compare and what does that mean for independent artists.


Exploring the Rising Popularity of Afrobeat Music among Chinese Audiences and Followers

The genre of afrobeat music has subtly made waves in China’s music market. While Asian music lovers and afrobeat don’t seem like they go together, the genre’s rhythms and melodies have been inspiring for Chinese audiences and followers.


Reggae In China

More than 15,000 kilometers from Jamaica, a thriving Chinese reggae community has found popularity in China’s Yunnan province.


How to Build Your Fanbase Worldwide

The power of your reach is defined by the people you connect with and the tools in your hands.


The Effects of Playlisting Music in NetEase

The results are in. Playlisting your music on NetEase works and here are the charts to show.


What is Music Copyright?

Copyright infringement is always a current topic as our technology evolves our policies and behaviours struggle to catch up. See how well your grasp of copyright infringement is and see if you have any blind spots.


Why You Are Probably Out Of Tune?

The tuning system we use in basically all of the Western music we hear around us is designed to be flexible so you can sing or play a melody in any key and it would sound more or less, in tune. But, it is not perfect.


Why Should Musicians Care About Metaverse?

What is Metaverse? How this will impact musicians. What is China doing with Metaverse? Social app Zheli has already surpassed WeChat as the most downloaded app this year. What's going on?


The 6th Biggest Global Music Market

China's unique music market ecosystem is bound for growth. Now exceeding South Korea at number 6. Social internet behaviour is unlike anywhere else in the world. With the highest amount of people per-capita all connected via mobile the possibility of going viral is unlike anything known before.


Nourish Your Brain with Music

Music has the power to build us up, heal us, and supercharge our brain - quite literally!


TikTok vs Douyin vs Instagram Reels vs YouTube Shorts vs Triller: How to go Viral on Short Video

Short video platforms are the new radio where music can go viral. Artists are getting 10s of thousands and 10s of million streams a week on Douyin in China.


What artists need to know about TikTok and Douyin

Nowadays, listeners get their first impressions of new music from following short videos that you find on apps like TikTok and in China on Douyin and Kuaishou. Read on to discover more reasons why you should be getting your music on these platforms.


Bad Music, Bad Feelings

Listening to unpleasant music can provoke strong responses. What kind of responses and why? Learn more about the interesting topic from this brief overview of the recent study “I hate this part right here”: Embodied, subjective experiences of listening to aversive music" (2022) conducted by Henna-Riikka Peltola from the University of Jyväskylä and Jonna Katariina Vuoskoski from the University of Oslo.


Your Music is in China or is it?

Your music is in China now, or is it? But how is this possible? Learn which distributors distribute to China.


Sync Like a Tiger

Sync-licensing is not just a trend it is a strategic move to have your music available to new music libraries. Cinema productions from China keep gaining acclaim in the Global Market and China remains the world’s largest film market. Make your music available for sync-licensing this year like a Tiger!


China’s Feel Good Streaming Social Community

Actively engage your audience and share with your social streaming community with all who love your music with an honest care for the wellbeing of each other


China's Booming Streaming Music Industry

From 100s to 100,000+ USD per year from China - Royalties for Musicinfo artists are growing. The rise in music streaming is a good thing. When physical sales are declining (except for vinyls, which is super cool) and live performances can still be difficult, music streaming is a lifeline for many artists. Find your audience in China and get paid.


Music Copyright in China Then and Now

Copyright protection for online music in China is one of the highest in the world today, despite outdated information about this topic on Wikipedia from 2008 stating the opposite.


Digital Music Distribution: Tencent, Netease, QQ, Spotify, Youtube, Apple Music, Wechat, Weibo, Facebook, Instagram & Musicinfo

A comparison of the top most common digital music distributors and their access to distribute in China. Finding the right digital music distributor to China.


How Sync to China is Made Easy

How to sync to China to video bloggers, game companies, advertisement producers, TV programs and movies.


Bringing sync opportunities to composers at Shanghai Film Festival

To celebrate the opportunities sync licensing offers artists, we talked to three prominent artists on our roster for this summer’s Shanghai International Film Festival about their composition process and what inspires them. We compiled these interviews into a short film that was screened at the festival(s) to showcase their skills for new sync opportunities in Asia.


Listening Habits of Chinese Music Fans

As an artist or musician you may be curious about the listening habits of music consumers in China. Here at Musicinfo, we asked 38 Chinese students who worked on one of our recent research and development projects about the services they use, the kind of music they like, when they listen to music and more.


An Interview with Music With Flavor

An Interview with Juri Kobayashi of Musicinfo discussing what the markets are like in China and how artists can promote and distribute their music in these markets.


Let Your Music Travel For You

Let your music travel for you. In this time of lockdown cabin fever is running high and people need an outlet to release and dream. Our artist Layla Khepri had toured in China just over a year ago, come check out her experience to see where your music could be heard and where you could tour when the time is right and that time is coming sooner every day, more and more people are getting vaccinated and travel restrictions will soon be lifted. Until that time live vicariously through your music and let yourself dream of the possibilities.


Playlisting Your Music in China

Playlisting your music in NetEase in China can bring you a lot of visibility - just like in Spotify


Three Reasons to Focus on the Chinese Music Market as an Artist in 2021

Find out the top 3 reasons to focus on the Chinese music market


How to Find Your Music in China

If you have ever wondered if your music is in China and tried to search but found that it was too much trouble, this guide will help you navigate the streaming sites to find if your music is there.


What does Xiami Music shutting down mean for Musicinfo’s Distributing Artists?

You do not need to do anything more. Your music will be automatically removed from Xiami Music App and will remain available on all of Musicinfo’s 50+ services.


China’s Alibaba Will Shut Down Xiami Music Streaming App Next Month

Xiami translated as “Small Shrimp” is a hipster music streaming app was bought by Alibaba in 2013. Xiami’s recommendation algorithm was particularly admired by China’s indie community by recommending less popular music instead of pushing whatever was on the top charts.


Kuaishou: Take a Peek into the Lives of China

Kuaishou is China’s second biggest short-video app after TikTok. Kuaishou, founded in 2011 was originally created to make GIF pictures and quickly transformed into a short video community. Reporting over 200 million daily users in 2019 now boast 700 million users. Quickly growing attention outside of China it is also known as Kwai or SnackVideo in India.


Build your Digital Presence

Tours and in-person live music events stopped by coronavirus this year have caused a lot of bigger artists such as Alicia Keys and Lady Gaga to cancel album release plans. This means that the power is now in the hands of smaller or independent artists who rely mostly on a digital fanbase of dedicated music streamers to gain a foothold now so that life post-coronavirus will be all the sweeter.


How to Add China to your Global Distribution

What does China pay per stream and how to get your music to China. Distributing your music is about building and growing your fanbase to grow your audience of returning paying fans.


Xiami Music: Streaming for Audiophiles

Xiami Music (also known as “Mi Music”) is China’s fifth biggest music streaming platform owned by one of the top 3 Chinese entertainment corporations, Alibaba. Although not as big as NetEase Cloud Music or Tencent’s QQ Music, the service still boasts a hefty 14.4 million monthly active users and has a range of attractive features on offer from high-resolution audio to virtual party rooms.


The Impacts of Coronavirus on the Chinese and Global Music Industry. Part 2

We have been living the “corona-life” for quite some time now and it seems that things are not going to get back to normal any time soon. The good news is that a vaccine is being developed and we are all hoping that next year the live gig sector will be fully operational again and musicians around the world can get back to performing in front of a live audience. Now is a great time to focus on building digital reach and fan base so you are in a better position when the world opens back up again.


Netease Music: China's Streaming Giant

Netease Music is one China’s major contenders when it comes to music streaming platforms and its user base is only continuing to grow. In 2016, it had already claimed 16% of the entire domestic Chinese music streaming market and by the end of 2019, Netease Music managed to attract over 800 million users to their site (swelling from 400 million in 2017), making it one of the top 3 most popular streaming services along with Tencent's QQ Music and Alibaba's Xiami Music.


The Ins and Outs of Streaming Music Services in China

The future of streaming music and consumerism is in China with interactive social virtual environments that drives users to engage three times more. Music streaming is focused on banking on fandom not consumerism, like it is in the West. A very social virtual environment makes it happen.


Meitu: The Virtual Social Future of Music Sharing in China

Musicinfo is becoming known for its most extensive reach to consumers in China hosting over 50 services. One of the top royalty generating services is Meitu a video and image editing app with the feature to add music to the edits.

UPDATE: With the ever changing landscape of the market this service has been discontinued. It was good while it lasted and all those who got in when they did and reaped the benefits. We keep our services updated and are constantly adding new ones to the roster.


Ximalaya FM: Revolutionizing Internet Radio

Now indisputably China’s biggest audio sharing platform, Ximalaya FM has amassed around 500 million subscribers since its official launch in 2013. The platform encourages aspirational as well as established podcasters and media providers to upload their content and create radio station-style channels that users can follow. Ximalaya FM is among one of the many specialist streaming services in China that Musicinfo can distribute your music to.<


Paid Streaming gained 50% This Year for Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME): QQ Music, Kuwo and Kugou

Tencent’s latest report shows steady growth in Tencent Music Entertainment group TME, with a substantial body of users converting into paying users is up 50% from last year.


Bilibili: Promoting Your Music Videos in China

Musicinfo can distribute your music to an array of streaming platforms in China, now you can also promote your music videos on a site called Bilibili to reach new fans. Although the site originated as an Anime, Manga and video-game fandom platform, it grew rapidly over the years to include other entertainment categories such as music, movie and lifestyle-related content.


How to Play Your Music to the Chinese Market

Learn how to play your music to the Chinese market. China's market has opportunity not typically provided by your local digital music distributor or streaming services. No need to compete with the mainstream artists on the mainstream services from the usual go-to digital music distributors. Get your music the opportunity to get heard in China that no one else can provide.


Huawei Music: Contribute to Party and Exercise Soundtracks

Boasting a catalogue of 50 million tracks, the Huawei Music app is currently attracting up to 160 million active monthly users (growing from 100 million in 2018). This should be reason enough to get your music on the platform for the chance for it to be heard by millions of listeners.


Coronavirus effects on the music industry in China and Globally

The coronavirus has finally slowed down in China but in Europe and the US, viral infections have been on the rise. Countries are closing down their borders, flights are being cancelled, large areas have been quarantined and the global economy is suffering.This means two things for the music industry: The live sector is going down but streaming is going up. People are spending more time at home consuming more digital entertainment.


Why Music Has Started Sounding The Same

Any melody that has ever been created or will ever be created has already been copyrighted and shared to the public.Damien Riel and Noah Rubin have copyrighted every possible melody by creating a program that has recorded every possible variation of tones and recorded it to hard disk. Since they have copyrighted every possible melody, this would mean anyone from this point forward would be infringing on their music copyright. Yet what they have done is amazing, shared it all to the public.


How to get Over One Million Streams a Day in China

Musicinfo specializes in China. Find the nuances of digital music distribution to China to get over one million streams a day.


The Year of the Rat and What it Means to Musicians

What does the Chinese New Year and the year of the rat mean to Musicians.


3 Easy Steps To Protect Your Music Copyrights in China

We have great news for you! It is super easy and affordable to protect your copyrights in China. Read our checklist and make sure you earn 100% of the royalties from China.


Top Streams and Music Genres in China 2019: Year End Recap

What music are listeners streaming in China, a closer look reveals a story that you can't find in the headlines for indie musicians. Recap of 2019 the top genres and streaming numbers.


Musicinfo at Mondo.NYC

Musicinfo was brought to Mondo.NYS as part of an elite group from Finland by FTDA, Presenting performers, Irene, Gea and Anni, and the "Hottest Tech From Finland."


Banner Ads

Every month, Musicinfo pitches artists to be featured on main ad banners in Chinese streaming services. When have you seen a small independent artist featured in Western music service ad banners? We guess the answer is: never.


Success Stories of Streaming in China

This is our testament to all the work we have been doing to get our artists the best visibility and reach to the audiences of China. Every week we will be adding a new success story.


Musicinfo won the Outstanding Startup Prize in the largest Startup Event in China -OTEC-

Musicinfo has received the Outstanding Startup prize in OTEC, the largest startup event in Mainland China, held this July 2019 in Beijing. There were 23 companies participating in the competition from countries including the USA, Great Britain, Germany and Singapore. Companies had different backgrounds ranging from AI to biosciences and from robotics to big data.


The Most Streams for a Single in One Day: Kiko Blob 16 Million Streams

Stand back Mariah and Ariana, here comes Kiko! Mariah Carey had been the reigning champion up until January this year, 2019, for the song with the most streams in one day, “All I want for Christmas is You,” at 10.8 million. Now taken over by Ariana Grande’s, “7 Rings,” with nearly 15 million streams and still holds this record in mainstream music as of today. But wait what’s this? Here comes along Kiko Blob with the track “Zoo,” getting over 16 million streams in one day this June with a total accumulated plays now over 42 million.


WeChat OTEC Blog highlights Musicinfo

In this issue of "OTEC·PROJECTS", we bring you "Musicinfo" from Finland! We are always ready to build connections with marketing or government resources from investment, human resources and technology fields.


5 Reasons Why You Should Distribute Your Music To China

As an independent artist, the prospect of distributing your music to China is pretty worthwhile, popular social media sites like Facebook and Instagram are blocked in China as well as music streaming sites such as Spotify, Youtube and Apple Music. China are nevertheless heavy users of their very own social media and streaming services, therefore you'll be gaining a lot by tapping into the Chinese market.


Scroll to Top