British singer Rita Ora in performance organized by QQ Music. (Photo provided to China Daily)
"If you think about the past 15 or 20 years, few were willing to accept that music and content had value," Ng says. "But we are still working with music labels, helping them fight piracy and create business models for the labels and us to make money."
Speaking of his experience in Asia, Rob Schwartz, the Asia bureau chief of Billboard magazine and host of the QQ Music China Forum, said: "I have been to China many times during the past 20 years, and I have noticed that Chinese consumers are eager for music.
"In two years, much of the world music industry will be focused on China.
"I'm very excited about this. And their willingness to pay is important.
"I think it's a good strategy to keep the subscription fee as low as possible."
QQ Music has three popular payment tiers－ranging from 8 ($1.2) to 15 yuan per month.
The Chinese market is also an important part of Billboard's global-expansion plans.
According to Jonathan Serbin, head of Asia for Billboard and head of Billboard China, Billboard has just announced a partnership with Chinese media company Vision Music to bring a range of Billboard products and services to China, including websites in Chinese and music charts.
