TENCENT Music Entertainment Group said it had started charging for more of its content in the first quarter as the popularity of its pay-for-streaming services helped drive up profit to above expectations.

The company, controlled by Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., reported results for the second time since it went public in December and said paid users of its online music service jumped 27.4 percent to 28.4 million in the three months ended March 31.

“As our users increasingly consume music content through streaming services, we are riding on this trend to gradually transition into a pay-for-streaming model over the coming years,” CEO Cussion Pang said in a statement Monday.

Unlike Western peers such as Spotify Technology SA, Tencent Music generates only a fraction of revenue from music subscription packages, and instead relies heavily on services popular in China such as online karaoke and live streaming. The Swedish streaming service is a stakeholder in Tencent Music.

Tencent Music expects its decision to shift more music behind a paywall, including music from popular Taiwanese singer Jay Chou, to bring in more revenue generated.

While pay-for-streaming accounts for a very small percentage of Tencent Music’s total offering, the company is gradually adding to the list, chief strategy officer Tony Yip said on a post-earnings conference call.

“It will take some time to promote a broader user adoption. We are seeing encouraging results so far, which gives us confidence this is the right strategy,” Yip said.(SD-Agencies)