Warner Music Group has signed a licensing deal with China-based short-form video platform Kuaishou. Under the agreement, WMG will make its artists’ music available on all of Kuaishou’s overseas products, including the apps Kwai and SnackVideo.
According to a release, Kuaishou boasts over one billion users worldwide, a milestone it hit in June. Outside of China, it has more than 180 million active users in territories including Latin America and MENA (Kwai) and South and Southeast Asia (SnackVideo). The platform encourages its “global community to share their activities, habits, and more with the core mission to ‘embrace all lifestyles.’”
Oana Ruxandra, chief digital officer & executive vp of business development at WMG, said, “We’re excited to bring our diverse music catalog to Kuaishou’s passionate and creative global community. As WMG’s universe of social partners grows, so too does our artists’ reach and impact.”
Tony Qiu, head of Kuaishou international business, Kuaishou, added, “The partnership with WMG allows us to provide a wide range of fantastic music for our creators and users and is part of our commitment to provide fun, diverse, and authentic content to our global community.”
Emeli Sandé has signed with Chrysalis Records, which continues to grow its roster since relaunching as a frontline label in Feb. 2020. She will release her fourth studio album on the label.
Sandé’s debut album, Our Version of Events, spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the U.K. album chart, while its lead single, “Heaven,” peaked at No. 2 on the country’s singles chart. She followed up that release with 2016’s Long Live the Angels and 2019’s Real Life. She has won a total of four Brit Awards.
Audiobridge, a mobile music recording and collaboration platform that allows creators to easily upload and share their songs directly from the app to TikTok and SoundCloud, is now available on Apple’s App Store. TikTok and SoundCloud are the first major integration partners for the platform.
The founder and CEO of audiobridge is Matt Miller, who started the company with the aim of making it easier for artists to create music on their mobile devices. Miller is himself a musician and producer.
According to a release, audiobridge “significantly simplifies the process of producing songs and lays the foundation for a new generation of software that will help guide creators through the mobile recording process for the future.”
“We’ve seen music artists of our day break into the market by creating award-winning songs out of their bedroom,” said Miller. “Many of those have had to rely on traditional computers and sophisticated software to produce music which requires some level of expertise. Audiobridge has helped to equalize music creation by bringing intuitive software to mobile phones and making the mobile recording experience seamless, simple and accessible for everyone.”
Key features of the audiobridge platform include multi-track recording, instant collaboration via a dedicated chat room and notepad, track mixing, an audio effects suite and easy export and share capabilities via a “Sound Kit” function.
“As TikTok becomes increasingly ingrained in culture, more third-party apps across a variety of categories and use cases are looking to tap into our community on their own platforms,” said TikTok’s global head of distribution partnerships Isaac Bess. “Through the Sound Kit for TikTok, we’re providing seamless integration solutions that help developers expand their reach, increase exposure for creators, and empower our community to showcase their content on other platforms.”
“Most of the 30 million-plus creators on SoundCloud access the platform using mobile devices, so we understand that mobile-first tools and mobile workflows are an important part of the music creation process,” added Christine Nitsch, vp of business & strategy at SoundCloud. “Partnering with audiobridge for an upload integration is an important way to continue offering artists more ways to easily share and connect with SoundCloud’s unique audience, and build and grow their careers from the palm of their hand while on the go.”
Brooklyn indie pop duo Daisy the Great, comprised of Kelley Nicole Dugan and Mina Walker, have signed a long-term deal with S-Curve Records. The relationship was launched with the band’s song “Record Player,” a collaboration with the alt-rock trio AJR.
Daisy the Great linked up with AJR after the latter artist heard their 2017 track “The Record Player Song” on TikTok, where it’s been used in a total of 20,000 videos garnering a collective 270 million views as part of a so-called “one breath challenge.” The new “Record Player” track is built around the existing hook from the original.
New songs from Daisy the Great’s forthcoming album will be released on S-Curve later this year.
