The CEO of Stingray just signed a hefty $80 million deal with the world’s largest electric vehicle maker, BYD (Build Your Dreams). “Chinese Tesla” after visiting its California offices.

“There is no technical risk. We play their music. We have developed an Android application. We don’t deliver anything. Everything is done online. “There is no economic risk,” he explains in an interview with the Newspaper Eric Boyko, big boss and founder of Quebec music distribution company Stingray.

“We had to explain why we have to pay for karaoke because it’s free in China, but here they claim the rights of the composers and the record company,” he continues.

Without both, you could be sued for $65,000 a song, he explains.

Rock, country, pop, K-pop, J-pop, rap, R&B, Christmas music, children’s music… Stingray Karaoke will be integrated into BYD vehicles in a dozen languages. For safety reasons, we can’t scroll the lyrics while driving.

Global giant

BYD weighs heavily in the electronics sector. The Shenzhen-based multinational has around thirty industrial parks in China, the United States, Canada, Japan, Brazil, Hungary and India. The company posted a profit of $3.9 billion that year on sales of over $91 billion.

Fifteen years ago, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway invested more than $310 million in BYD.

In 2019 The newspaper reported that giant BYD’s flagship E6 taxi model has been approved by Transport Canada.

Stingray’s partnership with BYD comes as US President Joe Biden has just signed an executive order to limit investment in Chinese tech companies on “national security” grounds.

In recent years, the ban on the 5G network of Chinese telecom giant Huawei and the ban on social network TikTok have caused a stir between countries.

But for Quebec-based Stingray, reaching an agreement with a Chinese auto giant was a given. After Audi, Volkswagen, Tesla and Nio, Stingray therefore believes it has taken a big hit with BYD, which aims to produce four million cars a year.

“BYD accepted the same conditions and the same prices as the other providers,” says Eric Boyko in an interview.

Slight increase in income

Separately, Stingray released its results for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 last week.

Overall revenue increased slightly by 1.1% to $79 million from $78.1 million in the year-ago quarter.

Net income increased $7.7 million, or 50%, to $14.1 million from $9.4 million, according to the company, due in part to a “one-time settlement gain related to a dispute over a Brand” is due.