Taiwan's Rock Records (滾石唱片) yesterday announced a key step in the advancement of its online sales and marketing strategy by forming a content deal with Internet company GigaMedia Ltd (和信超媒體). GigaMedia will pay US$3 million for a five-percent stake in Rock Internet Corp, the technology arm of Rock Music Group.
Rock claims to hold 28 percent market share of the Greater China mandarin music market, making it the leader in the Chinese-language market.
Rock's lineup of stars, which includes top-selling band May Day (
On Monday GigaMedia announced the launch of GigaMusic in conjunction with music giant EMI. EMI Music Asia will take a minority stake in the new company for an undisclosed amount.
For its part, Rock will get access to GigaMusic's platform and distribution services, as well as online expertise. "The goal is to deliver Rock content profitably and securely," GigaMedia CEO Raymond Chang (
Sam Duann, CEO of Rock Group said the details of the business model with GigaMusic are yet to be worked out. "We see Giga as a strategic partner, and we will be developing new products and services with them," he said.
A key aspect of Rock's future sales strategy will be online sale of audio and video content. Duann said Rock Internet Corporation has already been developing its own online music platform using Microsoft's digital rights management (DRM) technology.
"Our own platform will be different from existing platforms and may be available by the end of the year," he said. That platform would be separate to its deal with GigaMedia.
Landy Chang (張培仁), vice president of Rock Internet Corp said the company has already been at the forefront of online music in Asia. He quoted statistics from the Chinese government that showed 97 percent of the country's audio and video market was lost to piracy in 1999.
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