LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — The Walt Disney Co. has announced that it has licensed some of its hot properties such as "Hannah Montana" and High School Musical" to Universal Music Group for distribution in the burgeoning Asian market outside of Japan.
According to the Los Angeles Business Journal, the deal will encompass both physical and digital copies of material from both Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records.
The two partners face a challenging business atmosphere in Asia where music sales have suffered due to piracy and according to the record industry's admittedly-biased trade association the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, or IFPI, more than 99 percent of music downloads in China are illegal.
The agreement covers China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand but other financial details of the transaction were not revealed. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
