China’s music market is a high-velocity landscape defined by a massive untapped rural reservoir, a thriving fan economy and a digital infrastructure that often outpaces the West. In our latest Country Profile, we dive into the key numbers and market insights.
- Recorded music revenue grew by 9.6% in 2024 to $1.6bn, though experts believe this is underreported as it excludes massive value from live streaming, e-commerce and short-form video.
- Discovery is dominated by Douyin (TikTok) and Kuaishou. A new power player – ByteDance’s Qishui Music – has amassed 140m users as of this year, by converting viral video viewers into active streamers.
- While TME (QQ, Kugou, Kuwo) and NetEase dominate with over 160m–180m subscribers, nearly 700m people have yet to migrate to dedicated DSPs, with many in rural areas still using car flash-drives or video apps for music.
- China leads in monetising superfans. Over 15m Super VIP users pay five times more for premium features, while digital albums – with added collectibles – continue to soar. Artist Zhou Shen sold 1.5m digital copies of his album in 2024 alone.
- Domestic music accounts for 80–85% of the market. Mandopop remains king, but hip-hop has reshaped the industry, as the source of influential labels like Dream Music Group and Digighetto.
- Touring is expanding beyond Beijing and Shanghai into vast cities like Chengdu, Shenzhen and Wenzhou. Meanwhile, there are also limitations due to a lack of mid-sized venues (3k–8k capacity).
How to break in China?
Get to know new platforms. China’s digital ecosystem is totally different from Western platforms, and are way ahead in fan engagement features in that they go beyond listening services – with in-app elements like livestream tipping and ‘Super VIP’ tiers. Explore and research services like QQ Music, NetEase and Weibo to get a stronger sense.
Win over superfans. Building fan communities, linking music and creating interactive experiences to share within popular platforms can help to generate high engagement quickly, even without mass-market reach.
Read the full China Country Profile here.
