China's Tencent Holdings has secured a major distribution deal for its QQ Music streaming service, announcing an agreement with Warner Music Group.

The American-based music label holds the distribution rights to thousands of prominent artists in the West, including Coldplay, Linkin Park, Bruno Mars and Madonna. This will be the first music streaming service in China to offer these artists.

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This is the first time since 2007 Tencent's revenue has slowed, but it could be a reflection of the slowing growth of the overall economy in China.

Investment in music and other QQ branded services, alongside the launch of a new WeChat client, has kept investors in check. Music streaming services are starting to become a big deal in China, and once again Tencent is in the middle of the conversation.

QQ Music reportedly has more than 250 million active accounts, although this number has not been verified. Considering the QQ branch has almost 1 billion users, it would not be a surprise to see the music streaming service has a big pull on the Chinese audience.

Warner Music Group is the third largest music company; with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment both ahead with 30 percent share each. In the last 10 years, the music industry has slowly removed independents and three major outlets own over 80 percent of the music industry.

This makes it easier for music services to get almost all relevant music material in three quick swoops, but also gives these three music companies a lot of influence on which music streaming service succeeds.

YouTube recently announced its own music service, called Music Key, allowing users to play background music on the YouTube app with offline play. Apple is reportedly also looking to change the Beats Music name, to fit with iTunes.

TagsQQ Music, Tencent Holdings, Warner, music streaming service