Chinese Internet company Tencent Holdings is hungry for more    deals with global entertainment producers, as competition heats    up in Chinas potentially lucrative market for online video and    music services.  
    On Tuesday, Tencent, a giant in online games and social    networks, said it has signed an     exclusive agreement with Sony Music Entertainmentto    manage its online distribution in China.  
    Tencent runs QQ and WeChat, two of Chinas most popular    messaging and social networking services. In an interview with    The Wall Street Journal, Tencent Senior Executive Vice    President Dowson Tong, who oversees social networking services,    discusses how the Sony Music deal fits into the companys    bigger plans in online entertainment. Edited excerpts:  
    WSJ: Why is the online entertainment market becoming so    attractive to Tencent?  
    Tong: Thats driven by the appetite of Chinas Internet users.    On our social networking and messaging platforms we can see    that our users are constantly demanding quality entertainment    content. The latest music, the latest movies tend to be hot    topics within the social platforms. We see a lot of music and    videos being shared through social platforms. Social media and    entertainment can complement each other very well, one being    the catalyst for the growth of the other.  
    We are not only committed to the music market. We aspire to be    a distributor of content of all sorts in China. We work with    many gaming companies and video producers, and music is the    next step. We are trying to become a distributor that works    with global quality content owners.  
    WSJ: How is Tencent different from other Chinese online    music distributors?  
    Tong: In addition to our music streaming service, our social    networking platforms are what other service providers will not    be able to match. All of our licensed music content can be    shared among friends in our social networks. On QQ,    artists have their fan club pages. For example, Chinese boy    band TFBOYS is extremely popular in our QQ communities. We    constantly see fans posting pictures and sharing music. We have    over a million QQ groups dedicated to artists of all kinds.    These are discussion groups where people can chat about the    artists they love.  
    WSJ: How does Tencent promote musicians?  
    Tong: In addition to distributing their music online, we    do a lot of campaigns, online concerts and offline activities    jointly with artists. We have tours of campuses of major    universities across China. Weve also done song contests for    students. Students are definitely one of the most enthusiastic    groups of music lovers.  
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Q&A: Tencents Bigger Plans Beyond Sony Music Deal