The Crossover between E-Sports and Music
Warner Music Group inked an exclusive deal with ESPL- an online gaming platform, which continues the global phenomenon of crossovers between E-Sports and Music.
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Hi Everyone,
Yesterday, American multinational entertainment and record label Warner Music announced that they have inked an exclusive deal with ESPL, a Singapore-based E-Sports platform that organizes online tournaments between gamers across games such as Clash of Clans, Call Of Duty: Mobile, Free Fire, Mobile Legends, and PUBG Mobile.
But why would a Global Record Label tie-up with a gaming platform? It’s the latest in a series of crossovers between E-Sports and Music.
Just last week, Sony Group Corporation, parent of Sony Music Group, announced that it was investing $200m into Fortnite maker Epic Games after its initial investment of $250m last July.
And in August last year, Spotify signed a multi-year partnership with League of Legends publisher Riot Games to be the official audio streaming partner for League of Legends (LoL) Esports global events.
But how does this partnership help Warner Music?
It gets to be the exclusive rights to embed music into ESPL, which despite launching in just 2019, has already gained a user base of 600 million gamers across the globe with adoption through the roofs across India, South East Asia, and Latin America.
With Warner Music going aggressive on its Asian expansion strategy and signing a deal with Tencent, one of the biggest Technology VC’s in China, last month to crack the Chinese market, it seems like a no brainer to push the envelope into E-Sports with artists signed onto Warner Music such as Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, and Wiz Khalifa already household names in Asia and Latin America.
Darren Ho, Senior VP of Warner Music Asia said,
“There’s a huge audience crossover straddling gaming and music, and ESPL’s community of grassroots esports players, along with their engaged fans, will help us to bring the two segments together.”
Our take on this?
The Covid pandemic has already accelerated the adoption of E-Sports, with global revenues crossing $1 Billion in 2021 and the crossover with Music is a match made in heaven given the similar user personas that are targetted by Record Labels such as Warner Music to push their Artists to work into the younger generation, especially in the developing markets of South East Asia and Latin America.
It is an exciting time to be in the Media industry, and we at Incentify cannot wait to let you guys know about our plans to enter and disrupt this segment.
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