Sony Music launches new dance music label ‘Liquid State’ with Tencent in Asia

Interesting news came out earlier this week about one of ‘The Big Three’ record labels Sony Music. The music entertainment giant has teamed up with one of China’s largest tech and streaming companies Tencent Music Entertainment for the launch of a new electronic dance music record label. The imprint is called Liquid State and will be Asia-based, in order to focus on the upcoming Asian artists in the dance music industry.

Dance music festivals have grown dramatically in Asia over the past few years, such as ‘Storm’ in China and the series of (Road To) Ultra Music Festivals all across Asia. Festivals like these have been attracting massive crowds in a very densely populated region of the world, causing Sony Music to seek new opportunities for growth in the Asian region. One of Sony’s most influential artists in China is 20-year old Norwegian producer Alan Walker, who has a huge fanbase there. Walker is said to become an integral part of Liquid State, as the new label plans to capitalize on Tencent’s powerhouse streaming services QQ Music, Kuwo Music and Kugou Music.

According to Tencent, they have more than double the amount of paying customers on these streaming services as Spotify does worldwide. On top of that, Tencent’s media channels WeChat, QQ, Tencent Video and QZone will be utilized to support the artists on Liquid State. So far, three Asian artists have signed as ambassadors with Liquid State, such as Chinese star Chris Lee (China region), Nicholas Tse (Hong Kong and Taiwan), while Seungri from BIGBANG will be ambassador for South Korea.

These names might not ring a bell with most of us yet, but Chinese American superstar Zhu is also said to release music on Liquid State within the next year. Cussion Pang, CEO of Tencent Music Entertainment explains the interesting collaboration as follows:

“With the formation of Liquid State, our goal is to create an unmatched culture exchange between the East and the West through the power of electronic dance music.”

We’ll be curious to hear the first scheduled release on Liquid State, which will also feature well-known artists in Asia like Chinese DJ Lizzy, Korean duo Junkilla and Dubai duo Hollaphonic. One thing is certain, the cooperation between Sony Music and Tencent Music Entertainment – and their mutual launch of the Liquid State imprint – is one to follow closely in the near future.