(Yicai Global) Sept. 1 -- Tencent Music Entertainment Group, the music streaming platform of Chinese internet behemoth Tencent Holdings, has terminated all of its exclusive music copyright deals following an order last month from China’s market regulator.

Tencent Music notified the record labels involved before Aug. 23, and most of the deals have been ended, the Shenzhen-based firm said on its WeChat account yesterday. Where agreements have not yet ceased, Tencent Music told owners they can license the tracks to other operators.

China’s State Administration for Market Regulation ordered Tencent on July 24 to end its exclusive rights with record labels within 30 days and pay a fine of CNY500,000 (USD77,140) following an official investigation into Tencent’s takeover of China Music in 2016.

China Music was formed by the merger of music streaming platforms Kugou and Kuwo. Tencent bought a 61.6 percent stake and folded China Music into its own music streaming platform QQ Music to create Tencent Music.

That gave Tencent over 80 percent of exclusively held music streaming rights in the Chinese market, enabling it to reach more exclusive deals with music owners, secure better terms than rivals, erect barriers to market access and limit competition, the SAMR said in July.

Shares of Tencent [HKG:0700] closed 1.5 percent higher in Hong Kong today at HKD488.40 (USD62.78) each, after earlier climbing as much as 2.8 percent. In pre-market trading in New York, Tencent Music [NYSE:TME] was up 1.4 percent at USD8.96 as of 4.43 a.m. local time, after gaining 3.9 percent yesterday.

Tencent Music’s second-quarter net profit fell 12 percent to CNY827 million (USD128 million) from a year earlier due to higher revenue costs and operating expenses, according to the earnings report the firm published on Aug. 16.

Revenue rose 15.5 percent to CNY8 billion (USD1.2 billion), and it had 66.2 million online paying music users as of June 30, an increase of 41 percent from a year ago. The company did not provide earnings guidance for the current half.

Editor: Futura Costaglione