Tencent’s online music platform QQ Music crashed on Monday night shortly after it exclusively released a single from Chinese singer Jay Chou, Sina Tech reported.
Why it matters: Tencent has become increasingly dominant in the Chinese music landscape. Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) has exclusive rights to large chunks of music catalogs from the world’s three largest music labels—Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony Music Entertainment—and sublicenses them to rivals, according to Bloomberg. Users often have no other option but to use the platform to listen to certain artists.
- The State Administration of Market Regulation is currently investigating TME’s ties with the three music labels.
Details: Less than an hour into the single’s release, its page on QQ Music only displayed a message stating “an error has occurred, please tap the screen to retry.”
- The single, priced as RMB 3, sold more than 2.4 million copies within an hour of the release. As of Tuesday morning, users have purchased more than 5 million copies.
- Named “Shuohao Buku,” or “Promised Not to Cry,” the single was the subject of a number of trending topics on Weibo. The QQ Music’s crash garnered more than 210 million views as of Tuesday morning.