SHENZHEN-BASED tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. has terminated all its exclusive music copyright agreements with relevant upstream copyright holders after the country’s regulators barred it from such deals in July.

Tencent said in a statement Tuesday that it had notified all parties involved in such agreements as of Aug. 23 and would continue to cooperate and engage with these parties in a nonexclusive way.

Exceptional cases included cooperation periods with independent musicians not exceeding three years, and the exclusive launch period of new songs not exceeding 30 days, as per the statement.

The company added that the upstream copyright holders can autonomously authorize other operators and will not be held accountable.

The regulators have tightened scrutiny targeting Tencent and other tech giants, focusing on issues such as monopolistic behavior, unfair competition and consumer rights.

On July 24, the State Administration of Market Regulation ordered Tencent to give up its exclusive rights to music labels and imposed a 500,000 yuan (US$77,400) penalty for the internet giant’s monopolistic behavior.

The market regulator said Tencent and its affiliates must not engage in exclusive copyright agreements with upstream copyright holders, while existing agreements must be terminated within 30 days of the regulatory notice.

Tencent acquired a controlling stake in China Music Corp. in 2016. The duo held more than 80 percent of exclusive music library resources, investigations show. (Zhang Yu)