Online music licensing marketplace Ricall has expanded into China through a joint venture partnership with independent music company Ocean Butterflies.
Through the agreement, announced Wednesday during the Midem trade fair in Cannes, Ocean Butterflies International’s sales team will promote and market a translated and localised version of Ricall’s online music licensing platform initially in the Asian markets where OCI operates: China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia.
The JV enables Chinese ad agencies, film and TV producers, video game developers, event organisers and new media producers to easily locate and license music for their productions through the Ricall platform.
“There is a rapidly growing demand for a quick and simple way to access music licenses in China,” notes Li Peng, CEO of Ocean Butterflies International, in a statement, “given the demand from advertisers and other media producers who need to use music to connect instantly with consumers in such a large and fast moving economy.”
The deal, explains Ricall, strengthens its global network of representation, which sees the company operate in North America, Europe, South East Asia and the Far East.
Separately, Ricall has struck “working relationships” with music licensing companies Diamond Time (U.S.), Lovemonk (Spain) and Groves Sound Communications (Germany).
London-based Ricall, which was launched in 1998, claims to be the world’s largest online music licensing marketplace, containing a library of more than four million tracks from 25,000 copyright owners.
