KKBox

Last updated
KKBOX
KKBOX logo.svg
Type of business Private
FoundedOctober 2004;20 years ago (2004-10)
Headquarters
Taipei, Taiwan
Founder(s) Chris Lin, et al[ citation needed ]
CEOChris Lin
IndustryMusic
Services Music streaming
Parent KDDI
(76% common stock)
URL www.kkbox.com
Users 10 million+
Launched2005
Current statusActive
Native client(s) on Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, tvOS, etc

KKBox, stylized as KKBOX [1] is a music streaming service developed in 2005 by KKBox Inc., a software company in Taipei, Taiwan. It is a part of Japanese Telecom Group, KDDI. The service mainly targets the music markets of East and Southeast Asia, focusing on regions including: Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan and Singapore. Working on a freemium basis, both paid and free members can listen to over 20 million tunes on smartphones, TVs, media centers and computers. [2]

Contents

As a Taiwan-based music streaming software, KKBOX caters mainly to Mandarin-speaking users by collaborating with record companies in the Taiwanese music industry. KKBOX also has close links with Taiwanese artists, and mainstream Mandopop artists like Jay Chou, Eric Chou and Bii.

Development

After launching KKBOX in Taiwan, the company expanded the music streaming service to Hong Kong and Macau in 2009, Japan in 2011, Malaysia, and Singapore in 2013. [3] Starting from 2011, KKBOX received investment from KDDI Corporation, [4] a Japanese telecom who holds 76% of the stocks; HTC Corporation, a smartphone company, and; GIC, a Singaporean Government fund.[ citation needed ]

KKBOX has operated on Windows, Windows Media Center, Mac OS X, iOS, Android, Symbian, Bada, partly Java, [5] and since 2015 Apple Watch. [6]

In 2006, the first KKBOX Music Awards ceremony was held in Taiwan. Various artists that have performed and been honored including Eason Chan, Jay Chou, Jolin Tsai, Apink, Sekai No Owari. [7] In January 2017, KKBOX announced the winners of its 12th Annual KKBOX Music Awards. [8]

On September 15, 2023, KKBOX parent company, KKCompany, has acquired Taiwan Mobile myMusic streaming platform, in exchanged to have KKBOX available for Taiwan Mobile customers. [9]

KKBOX confirmed to close the service in Malaysia on December 31, 2024; leading to only Singapore as the only country outside Eastern Asia to operate the streaming platform. [10]

In 2007, KKBOX was suspected of reproducing musical works and allowed its members to download them without authorization. The works included 324 songs owned by HCM Music and songwriter Chan Kien Ming. KKBOX's owner and manager were prosecuted by Taipei District Prosecutors Office. [11] In 2009, the court held that the case was considered as a civil dispute and the defendants were acquitted. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teresa Teng</span> Taiwanese singer (1953–1995)

Teng Li-chun, commonly known as Teresa Teng, was a Taiwanese singer, actress, musician and philanthropist. Referred to by some as the "Eternal Queen of Asian Pop", she is considered to be one of the most successful and influential Asian popular singers of all time. Teng is recognized as a cultural icon for her contributions to Chinese pop, giving birth to the phrase, "Wherever there are Chinese-speaking people, there is the music of Teresa Teng." A polyglot, Teng's voice and emotionally resonant songs have transcended geographical, linguistic, and political boundaries, captivating audiences across Asia for several decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KDDI</span> Japanese telecommunications operator

KDDI Corporation is a Japanese telecommunications operator. It was established in 2000 through the merger of DDI, KDD (ケイディディ), and IDO. In 2001, it merged with a subsidiary named Au, which was formed through the merger of seven automotive and mobile phone companies from the DDI-Cellular Group. As of 2020, it is the second-largest mobile telecommunications provider in Japan in terms of the number of contracts, following NTT Docomo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jay Chou</span> Taiwanese Mandopop singer, songwriter and musician (born 1979)

Jay Chou Chieh-lun is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, actor, director, and businessman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eason Chan</span> Hong Kong singer and actor

Eason Chan Yick Shun is a Hong Kong singer and actor. He is one of the most popular and influential singers in both Cantopop and Mandopop. Besides holding the record for winning the "Ultimate Male Singer – Gold" award and "My Favorite Male Singer" award at the "Ultimate Song Chart Awards Presentation" in HK, he is also holding the record for being nominated for and winning prestigious Golden Melody Awards "Best Male Mandarin Singer" in Taiwan. Chan was ranked sixth in the 2013 Forbes China Celebrity Top 100 List. Chan was ranked third in Spotify Global Top Mandopop Artists of the Years 2023 and 2024. By December 2024, Chan's monthly listeners in Spotify was over 4 millions.

Mandopop or Mandapop refers to Mandarin popular music. The genre has its origin in the jazz-influenced popular music of 1930s Shanghai known as Shidaiqu; later influences came from Japanese enka, Hong Kong's Cantopop, Taiwan's Hokkien pop, and in particular the campus folk song folk movement of the 1970s. "Mandopop" may be used as a general term to describe popular songs performed in Mandarin. Though Mandopop predates Cantopop, the English term was coined around 1980 after "Cantopop" became a popular term for describing popular songs in Cantonese. "Mandopop" was used to describe Mandarin-language popular songs of that time, some of which were versions of Cantopop songs sung by the same singers with different lyrics to suit the different rhyme and tonal patterns of Mandarin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hebe Tien</span> Taiwanese singer and actress

Hebe Tien is a Taiwanese singer and actress. She rose to fame in the early 2000s as a member of Taiwanese girl group S.H.E. The release of her debut album, To Hebe (2010), established her as a solo artist. Tien's song "A Little Happiness", the theme song of the 2015 Taiwanese film Our Times, was a major hit in most Mandarin-speaking parts of Asia.

LISMO is an online music service provided by au, a Japanese mobile phone brand run by KDDI, a Japanese telecommunication company. This service uses a mobile phone as a music player. This service was introduced on January 19, 2006, and the service began operating at the end of January in Japan. The first mobile phone which supports LISMO was sold on January 26, 2006. Since 2008, KDDI and Okinawa Cellular introduced 'LISMO Video', a new service with new means to enjoy video content as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taiwan Star Telecom</span> Former mobile network operator in Taiwan

Taiwan Star Telecom Corporation Limited, doing business as T Star for short, formerly Vibo Telecom Inc., was a 3G mobile network operator in Taiwan.

Jim Lee is a record producer, composer and arranger, musician, recording and live audio engineer in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China. He has earned numerous awards during his 30 plus years in the business. He has worked as A&R manager for various international record labels, as well as an independent producer, engineer, musician and composer throughout his career.

Ceremonies of the 19th Golden Melody Awards were held in Taipei, Taiwan in 2008. Nominees were announced on 22 May, 2008, and the award winners in 12 traditional music categories and 23 popular music categories were selected by a panel of 33 judges after four rounds of jury meetings. Initially, there were 10,632 submissions from 185 companies in the music industry, making it the largest submission pool in the Awards' history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yen-j</span> Musical artist

Yen-j is a Taiwanese jazz-pop singer-songwriter and actor. He has achieved rising success as a newcomer on the Mandopop scene, due to testimonials from well-known artists such as Wang Leehom, Mayday's Ashin, Dee Hsu, Blackie Chen and DJ Xiao Shu. His fresh combinations of jazz and pop have made him a noticeable star on the rise. His debut album, Thanks to Your Greatness (谢谢你的美好) contains 11 songs, all written, and produced by him, or with his input. He also plays many instruments, such as the piano, trombone, guitar and bass guitar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Wei</span> Taiwanese singer-songwriter

Wei Li-an, known professionally as WeiBird, is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter. He has released six studio albums, one live album and two extended plays. Wei won the Golden Melody Award for Best New Singer in 2011 and Best Composer in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Chou</span> Taiwanese singer and actor

Nick Chou is a Taiwanese singer, rapper and actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Chou</span> Taiwanese singer, songwriter and actor

Eric Chou Hsing-che is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter and actor. He has been dubbed by the Taiwanese media as "king of the lovelorn people". Chou's self-composed smash hit "The Distance of Love", the ending theme of the 2014 Taiwanese drama The Way We Were, where he also made a cameo, reached 100 million views on YouTube, making Chou the youngest Mandopop artist to reach the feat at that time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GagaOOLala</span> Video on demand service specializing in LGBT content

GagaOOLala is a Taiwan-based worldwide subscription video on demand service, specializing in uncensored LGBT-related films, LGBT made-for television films and contemporary LGBT television drama series. It has partnered with Japanese-based Line TV, initially in Thailand, and then across Asia, to provide the service with GagaOOLala-made TV series. GagaOOLala is owned by Portico Media, whose also carried pay TV channels for Taiwan cable TV provider along with Chunghwa Telecom's MOD platform.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greg Hsu</span> Taiwanese actor and singer

Hsu Kuang-han, known professionally as Greg Hsu and Greg Han, is a Taiwanese actor and singer. He was nominated for two Golden Bell Awards for his roles in the television series Have You ever Fallen in Love, Miss Jiang? (2016) and Someday or One Day (2019–2020). He also appeared in the television series Love of Sandstorm (2016) and Nowhere Man (2019), as well as the films A Sun (2019) and My Love (2021). In 2020, he entered the Forbes China Celebrity 100 list for the first time, ranking 69th.

<i>City Zoo</i> 2019 studio album by G.E.M.

City Zoo is the sixth studio album by Chinese–Hong Kong singer-songwriter G.E.M., released on December 27, 2019, by Sony Music. As the executive producer, G.E.M. worked with producer Terrence Ma. The self-written album was done after G.E.M.'s departure from her former record label Hummingbird Music Limited. It was produced and finished within 8 months.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muse Communication</span> Taiwanese anime licensing company

Muse Communication Co., Ltd. is a Taiwanese distributor and licensor that specializes in the distribution of anime. Based in Xinzhuang District, New Taipei City, the company also distributes Asian and European films in Taiwan. It has licenses for several popular anime series and tokusatsu such as Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest, Attack on Titan, Sword Art Online, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, One-Punch Man, Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World, Spy × Family, Saint Seiya, Hunter × Hunter, Pretty Cure Series, Kamen Rider Series, Super Sentai, and many more.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mojito (Jay Chou song)</span> 2020 single by Jay Chou

"Mojito" is a single by Taiwanese singer Jay Chou. The song was written by Alang Huang and composed by Jay Chou. It was released on 12 June 2020, and was included on Chou's 2022 album Greatest Works of Art.

References

  1. ↑ "聆聽的大寫，KKBOX 品牌再造：不只改 logo，而是誕生無懼的默契 ｜ BIOS monthly".
  2. ↑ Huber, D. M., & Runstein, R. E. (2005). Modern recording techniques (8th ed.). Burlington, MA: Focal Press. p.579
  3. ↑ "About KKBOX". KKBOX. Retrieved 2024-03-07.
  4. ↑ "KDDI to migrate its music service to Kkbox, joining Asia's largest music network". BRIDGE（ブリッジ）|「起業家と投資家を繋ぐ」テクノロジー＆スタートアップ関連の話題をお届けするブログメディア. 2013-04-09. Retrieved 2024-03-07.
  5. ↑ Wherever you go, listen to music with mobile phones or computers--KKBOX https://www.kkbox.com/hk/en/what-is-kkbox/supported-platforms.shtml Archived 2018-11-19 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ "KKBOX打入Apple Watch - 產業．科技". 中時新聞網. 5 May 2015.
  7. ↑ KKBOX Music Awards--KKBOX https://www.kkbox.com/about/en/musicaward
  8. ↑ "Hebe, Mayday, JJ Lin among winners of Taiwan's KKBOX awards". AsiaOne. Archived from the original on May 3, 2017. Retrieved 2017-10-16.
  9. ↑ "Taiwan Mobile collaborates with KKBOX in music streaming service, vying for share of global market". Taiwan Mobile (Press release). September 15, 2023. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
  10. ↑ "We would like to inform you about the cancellation of KKBOX service in Malaysia" . Retrieved December 15, 2024.
  11. ↑ KKBOX下載音樂侵權 王永慶外孫被訴-- National Chiao Tung University "::: 國立交通大學 秘書室 對外事務組及校友聯絡中心 :::". Archived from the original on 2016-04-09. Retrieved 2016-03-24.
  12. ↑ 遭控侵權 KKBOX簡民一判無罪--Chinatimes http://news.chinatimes.com/CMoney/News/News-Page-content/0,4993,11050709+122009072200294,00.html Archived 2009-07-26 at the Wayback Machine
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.