Merlin and Kuaishou have just inked a wide-ranging deal that will see the indie digital music catalog licensed for use on the TikTok competitor’s short-form video platform. With this new arrangement, all of the music from Merlin’s catalog will be accessible on Kuaishou products globally, such as Kwai and SnackVideo.

Kuaishou encourages its global community of over one billion Monthly Active Users to share their activities and habits with the core mission to “embrace all lifestyles.” Through this partnership, Merlin members get access to best-in-class deals, while Kuaishou users get new and immersive experiences through a vast diversity of artists and genres.

Merlin provides digital music services with access to the world’s most valuable independent music. Merlin’s members account for more than 15% of the global digital music market, representing tens of thousands of labels and hundreds of thousands of artists from all over the globe.

A shortlist of participating members includes Foundation Media, a multi-purpose media and marketing company specializing in distribution and label services; Kontor New Media, an independent digital distribution company from Hamburg, Germany; MusicYes, an independent music distributor founded by Riccardo Mazzoni, owner of Seven Stars Records and managing digital and publishing rights of top artists of Indonesian Dangdut Music; Secretly, including its own labels and global distribution arm, home to hundreds of distributed labels; and Ditto Music, one of the world’s leading music distribution, publishing, record label services and artist management companies, supporting over 500,000 independent musicians and labels across the globe.

With Kuaishou, Merlin will have a stronger global reach in areas such as Latin American,  Southeastern Asia, and the Middle East/North Africa. Furthermore, they will expand Kuaishou’s catalog so that their worldwide audience has more to explore. Lastly, similar to its relationship with other partners,)Merlin promises to be first movers in creating delightful and original music experiences for users.

 

Calvin Liu, Head of Kuaishou Overseas Compliance, Communications, and Partnership said, “The deal with Merlin will provide hundreds of millions of our users with an incredibly wide range of independent music, making their experience even better.”

 

“Merlin’s member repertoire is one of the most iconic and diverse in the world, and we are delighted to bring this vibrant and expansive catalog to the services of Kuaishou,” said Jeremy Sirota, CEO of Merlin. “Independents are the leaders in the social music space, and we look forward to supporting our members in finding new ways to engage longtime listeners as well as find new fans across this platform.”