Alibaba entertainment arm Damai launches artist development label ORCA and a worldwide audition to build global music group

Alibaba‘s Damai International has launched an artist development and content production label called ORCA.

The label, whose name stands for Original Creative Artists, was unveiled on Friday (July 3) alongside a worldwide talent search, the All My Anecdotes Global Audition.

Damai International is the international arm of Damai Entertainment, the Hong Kong-listed entertainment group controlled by tech and e-commerce giant Alibaba.

The audition, run by ORCA in partnership with entertainment label All My Anecdotes, will act as a talent pipeline for the label’s future projects, and runs from July 3 to August 3.

The launch pushes Damai further into artist development, adding to a live-entertainment business that already spans ticketing, event management, artist management, content production and venue services.

“we are building a platform that empowers talent to grow and pursue opportunities on the global stage.”

Walter Zheng, Damai International

“This program represents an important step in our global talent development strategy,” said Walter Zheng, president of Damai International.

“We aim to discover promising talent worldwide and provide them with the resources, training and opportunities they need to thrive. By leveraging Alibaba‘s ecosystem and ORCA‘s creative capabilities and extensive experience in developing international artists, we are building a platform that empowers talent to grow and pursue opportunities on the global stage.”

The audition is open to performers worldwide, with no restrictions on gender, age or nationality and no fixed number of places, Damai said.

Selected applicants will join what ORCA described as its existing roster, which the label said currently consists of dancer and choreographer Audrey Lane and singer-songwriter DANY.

Both artists appear in a brand trailer released to mark the launch, and ORCA said it ultimately plans to debut an international music group drawn from the program.

Audrey Lane is a member of Jam Republic, the crew that finished as runner-up on Mnet‘s Street Woman Fighter 2, and has worked with acts including MEOVV and KATSEYE‘s Megan, according to the company.

“ORCA is about creativity, artistry and thinking beyond borders,” said Daryl Wang, senior vice president of music business at Damai International.

“We’re excited to have artists like DANY and Audrey Lane involved in this program. For those who join this journey, this is more than an audition.”

“It is an opportunity to learn from and collaborate with established creators, develop alongside some of the industry’s most promising emerging talent and become part of a creative community with global reach.”

Daryl Wang, Damai International

“It is an opportunity to learn from and collaborate with established creators, develop alongside some of the industry’s most promising emerging talent and become part of a creative community with global reach,” Wang added.

ORCA‘s plan to build an act through a worldwide search places Damai in a lane that Chinese entertainment groups have pursued before, though rarely from inside the country.

From 2018, streaming platforms iQiyi and Tencent drove a wave of idol competition series in China, including Idol Producer, Produce 101 China and the Produce Camp franchise, which produced acts such as Nine Percent and Rocket Girls 101.

That wave was curtailed in 2021.

After fans of iQiyi‘s Youth With You 3 bought sponsor products in bulk to cast votes and dumped the contents, China’s National Radio and Television Administration moved to halt idol competition shows that September.

The boy group Into1, formed through Produce Camp 2021, was the last act created through the format, and disbanded in 2023.

Chinese companies then took the model overseas, with Tencent filming its Chuang Asia series in Thailand.

Alibaba‘s own Youku platform had lined up a pan-Asian survival show, Asia Super Young, as far back as 2020, only to shelve it amid the 2021 clampdown.

The TVB co-production eventually aired in 2023 and produced the boy group LOONG9.

K-pop companies have been moving in the opposite direction, with HYBE and Geffen building the US-based groups KATSEYE and SAINT SATINE through global auditions.

HYBE has since launched searches through HYBE India and HYBE Latin America, while SM Entertainment‘s global auditions have included stops in Shanghai, Beijing, and other Chinese cities.

K-pop acts have reportedly been unable to stage concerts in mainland China since around 2016, following diplomatic tensions over a missile-defense system.

The label push comes as China‘s recorded music market has climbed the global rankings.

China overtook Germany to become the world’s fourth-largest recorded music market in 2025, generating USD $1.9 billion in trade revenue, up 20.1% year-on-year, according to IFPI.

It is also the world’s largest streaming market by number of paying subscribers, with Tencent Music alone reaching 127.4 million paying users by the end of 2025.

Universal Music Greater China chairman and CEO Timothy Xu told MBW in June that, after K-pop, Chinese pop will be the next genre to go global.

Alibaba rebranded the business, formerly Alibaba Pictures Group, as Damai Entertainment Holdings in June 2025, as the film company expanded into live events, IP merchandise and artist management.

It launched the global ticketing platform MAISEAT in November 2025 as it began expanding outside China.

In the six months to September 30, 2025, Damai‘s revenue rose 33% year-on-year to RMB 4 billion ($561m), while profit attributable to owners climbed 54% to RMB 519.5 million ($73m), according to its interim report.Music Business Worldwide