(Yicai Global) July 28 -- Tencent Music Entertainment Group, subsidiary of China's internet giant, Tencent Holdings Ltd. [HK:0700], will help original music artists to earn a total of about USD70 million over the next three years under Tencent Musician Project, said Peng Jiaxin, CEO of the subsidiary. 

Under the Tencent Musician Project, the Group will establish a new open platform for original music with the cooperation of its six online music service platforms, including QQ Music. "We hope to create an open-ecological platform covering most users and contents, providing the best solution to meet demands of both users and musicians. In this way, we will create CNY500 million (USD73.5 million) income for original musicians," said Peng.

Apart from improving musicians' incomes from their works, the project will also offer such services as education and training, copyright management, and protection of rights for musicians.

"This project does not mean that Tencent will be the direct payer. Instead, this project aims to facilitate production, publishing, promotion and distribution of digital music albums by musicians, and offer business opportunities like performance, derivatives and other options for the musicians within Tencent's business systems," Peng explained.

Luo Yi, general manager of the strategic development department at Tencent Music Entertainment Group, emphasized that all the commercialization services of Tencent's six music platforms will be accessible to original music artists.

Meanwhile, Tencent revealed that Tencent Music Entertainment Group's six products have so far gathered over 60,000 musicians in total. According to the data released by Tencent, currently, more than 60 percent of original musicians make only less than CNY2,000 (USD296) per month from their music, and more than 80 percent of their works have never been listened to or heard of by users.

Per some industrial data, the total value of China's music market fell short of CNY50 billion (USD7,3 billion) last year. Such figures suggest Tencent is facing significant challenges in fulfillment of its project.