KKBox, stylized as KKBOX is a music streaming service developed in 2005 by KKBox Inc., a software company in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. It is a part of Japanese Telecom Group,

KDDI () is a Japanese telecommunications operator formed on October 1, 2000 through the merger of DDI Corp. (Daini-Denden Inc.), KDD (Kokusai Denshin Denwa) Corp. (itself a former listed state-owned enterprise privatized in 1998), and IDO Corp. It ...

. The service mainly targets the music markets of

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

, focusing on regions including:

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, Japan and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. Working on a freemium basis, both paid and free members can listen to over 20 million tunes on

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

s, TVs, media centers and computers. 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 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; with later influences coming from Japanese enka, Hong Kong's Cantopop, Taiwan's Hokkie ...

artists like

Jay Chou Jay Chou ( zh, t=周杰倫, s=周杰伦, poj=Chiu Kia̍t-lûn, p=Zhōu Jiélún, first=t, w=Chou Chieh-lun; born January 18, 1979) is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter, record producer, rapper, actor, and television personality. Dubbed the " King ...

Eric Chou Eric Chou (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Chiu Hin-chet, born 22 June 1995) 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 ...

and Bii.

Development

After launching KKBox in

, the company expanded the music streaming service to

and

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...

in 2009, Japan in 2011,

, and

in 2013. Starting from 2011, KKBox received investment from KDDI Corporation, a Japanese telecom who holds 76% of the stocks;

HTC Corporation HTC Corporation ( zh, t=宏達國際電子股份有限公司, s=宏达国际电子股份有限公司, p=Hóngdá Guójì Diànzǐ Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī, first=t) or High Tech Computer Corporation, (literally ''Hongda International Electron ...

, a smartphone company, and; GIC, a Singaporean Government fund. KKBox has operated on

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...

Windows Media Center Windows Media Center (WMC) is a defunct digital video recorder and media player created by Microsoft. Media Center was first introduced to Windows in 2002 on Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE). It was included in Home Premium and Ultimate ...

Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and la ...

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

, Android, Symbian,

Bada Bada (stylized as bada; Korean: ) is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Samsung Electronics for devices such as mid- to high-end smartphones and tablet computers. The name is derived from " (bada)", meaning "ocean" or "sea" in ...

, partly

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

, and since 2015

Apple Watch Apple Watch is a line of smartwatches produced by Apple Inc. It incorporates fitness tracking, health-oriented capabilities, and wireless telecommunication, and integrates with iOS and other Apple products and services. The Apple Watch was rel ...

. In 2006, the first KKBox Music Awards ceremony was held in

. Various artists that have performed and been honored including

Eason Chan Eason Chan Yick Shun (born 27 July 1974) is a Hong Kong singer and actor. Chan was ranked sixth in the 2013 Forbes China Celebrity Top 100 List. In 2006 Chan's Cantonese album ''U87'' was named one of ''Time'' magazine's "Five Asian Albums W ...

Jolin Tsai Jolin Tsai (; ; born September 15, 1980) is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter, and actress. Referred to as the " Queen of C-Pop", she is considered one of the most influential figures in Chinese popular culture. She is known for her continual rein ...

Apink Apink ( ko, 에이핑크, ja, エーピンク) is a South Korean girl group formed by IST Entertainment (formerly Play M Entertainment, A Cube Entertainment, and Plan A Entertainment). The group debuted on April 19, 2011, with the extended play ...

, Sekai No Owari. In January 2017, KKBox announced the winners of its 12th Annual KKBox Music Awards.

Controversy over copyright

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. In 2009, the court held that the case was considered as a civil dispute and the defendants were acquitted.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

References

{{Authority control Software companies of Taiwan Taiwanese companies established in 2004 2004 software Android (operating system) software Windows software Companies based in Taipei Companies established in 2004 IOS software Music streaming services Symbian software Taiwanese music websites KDDI