The headquarters of Alibaba in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang province [File Photo]

China's Alibaba has signed a distribution deal with international music giant BMG.

The entertainment arm of Alibaba signed an agreement that includes digital rights to over 2.5 million copyrights, including recordings from artists such as Black Sabbath, Kylie Minogue and Boyz II Men.

Rights of songs from Bruno Mars, John Legend, Robbie Williams, the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith and will.i.am will also be part of the deal.

BMG said that the deal would expand its artists' earnings and help grow the legal music market in China.

Alibaba will promote BMG content through channels including its streaming apps Xiami and TTPod.

In November BMG struck a worldwide deal with leading Chinese independent music label Giant 'Jump' to manage its music publishing and recording rights, both domestically and internationally.