A look at China’s massive music streaming industry and how it differs from Spotify

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The news of Tencent Music’s impending initial public offering has given China’s music streaming industry significant media attention. The IPO could see Tencent Music valued at more than US$25 billion, in line with Spotify’s US$28.7 billion IPO.

News of the valuation may surprise those who haven’t been paying attention to China’s robust and lucrative streaming market. Though the country still has a reputation for intellectual property theft, copyright protection has improved since a 2015 crackdown.

Copyright owners now have much to gain in the market with its myriad options for streaming television shows, movies, and music. While the music streaming market appears stagnant in the US – all major services have similar catalogs, prices, and features – it has proven much more competitive in China. Tencent Music has even achieved the impossible in music streaming: turning a profit.

China has 15 different audio streaming services with at least one million daily active users, including radio and karaoke services. For on-demand album streaming similar to Spotify, there are nine different services backed by large Chinese technology and telecom companies.

Tencent is winning