Feelings do not end.
Editor’s note: This article is from the micro-channel public number “Music Harbinger” (ID: nakedmusic) , Author: Fan Zhihui.
“No! I don’t agree! You can’t close Xiami!” “80,000 songs in five years, 54 sets of playlists, stay.” “Xiaimi has witnessed my youth!”
November 29, Weibo certified user (former Warner Music/Universal Music China Marketing Director ) A piece about “Xiaomi Music will close in January next year” Weibo, and according to Weibo The blog user @果壳QQ灯 said that the senior executives of Xiami Music are currently meeting in Beijing, and some personnel changes will be implemented when they go back. Xiami Music is likely to be disbanded.
Although Xiami’s official response was “no comment”, but with Xiami’s years of influence, the news instantly appeared on Weibo’s hot search and continued to ferment on major social media, triggering a wave of nostalgia that lasted for several days. . Most of them have been accompanied by Xiami music during their youth, and some have embarked on the road of music because of Xiami.There are also many post-00s who close the rumors to understand the characteristics of shrimp.
So, why did the news of Xiami Music’s closure cause such a large-scale public opinion shock? Since 2013 was Alibaba Since the acquisition, how has the fate of Xiami Music changed? In Tencent Music Entertainment and NetEase Cloud Music Under the two-tier situation, has Xiami Music really come to the end? As a 9-year old user of Xiami Music and an observer of the music pan-entertainment industry, I want to try to talk about these topics.
The old days behind the “Shrimp Effect”
Xiami Music was born in 2006. A group of music lovers in a small coffee house in Hangzhou intends to start from scratch and use their own way to solve the plight of musicians and listeners.
The carrier of Xiami Music in the PC era was Xiami. However, it was not called Xiami. In the earliest days, it was called EMUMO, which meant EARN MUSIC&MONEY. Personally, there are two meanings here: one is to allow users to enjoy good music services, and the other is to allow musicians and platforms to earn money by providing music services.
2In 008, Xiami Music.com was officially launched, relying on “the most complete music classification, the most diverse music library, the most temperamental editor”, and 100% calculation, no tags, no manual classification, and music recommendation that really relies on algorithms. Mechanism, Xiami Music successfully won the recognition of a large number of users. Statistics show that as early as 2013, Xiami had nearly 20 million registered users.
At the beginning of its establishment, Xiami Music established an incentive mechanism of “upload sharing-paid downloads-royalty sharing” among users, allowing Xiami to quickly accumulate a large number of high-quality and diversified music content, which many other platforms cannot find The albums arrived can be heard on Xiami. It can be said that the establishment of the “music library” of Xiami Music is inseparable from the “brick by tile” contribution of music lovers.
Because the founders such as Pumpkin and Zhu Qi are senior musicians themselves, this has also profoundly affected the product concept and temperament of Xiami Music. With some visible or invisible small details, they are integrated into the blood of Xiami Music.
For example, the songs must be arranged in the order of the album, not in smart order or pure play popularity; after the playlist is made, users can choose to add the recommended words in front of the song; launch the horizontal screen cassette mode, pause The two basic operations of Song and Cut can also be achieved by clicking the knobs on both sides…that is, these seemingly tasteless functions, and the atmosphere of the music community created by the platform, have truly achieved the reputation and reputation of Xiami Music among the music lovers.
In addition to the rigorous music library data, the accurate AI daily push of Xiami Music and the surprise “Xiami Radio” are also the hearts of users.Niannian, many people cannot improve their music taste without the help of Xiami. But the reality is cruel, and the wind is always blown away by the rain. With the weakness in the copyright market and the visible loss of user data, Xiami Music has gradually fallen behind in the competition in the domestic online music market.
Two months before this wave of nostalgia, I discussed with my friends the reasons for the embarrassing situation of Xiami Music, and it boils down to “heroes with white heads and high ambitions are hard to get”. We all remember Xiami Music’s inner joy when AI recommended a new song after playing the playlist. We also benefited a lot from Xiami Music’s fine and rigorous 1000+ genre classification, but it became the spiritual home of many people. , Precious, but it will not open as frequently as before.
This is a dilemma for users, and it is also the fate of an era of small and beautiful products under the impact of capital. Maybe someday someone will feel that we all owe a member of Xiami Music.
What are the merits and demerits in the Ali era of Xiami Music?
Since the news of Xiami Music’s closure, many people have habitually attributed it to Ali’s lack of entertainment. But if Xiami Music was acquired by Ali in January 2013 as the node, things are not so simple.
Time goes back to 2013. Based on the anticipation of the future digital music market, Xiami Music chose to accept the acquisition of Alibaba. Xiami’s founder Wang Hao once explained: “The digital music market will have many changes in the past two years, which will be similar to the early video sites. The future will be an era when big capital enters giant games. Xiami will be more dangerous as an independent music platform. It will be safer to be with some large groups and platforms.”
The same is true in fact.
In July 2015, the National Copyright Administration issued the “most stringent copyright order” in history, ordering online music service providers to stop unauthorized dissemination of music works. As of July 31 of that year, major music service providers had gone offline for 220 Ten thousand music works, some small platforms were shuffled out at that time. In 2018, Duomi Music, which has more than 400 million cumulative users, also announced its suspension. In a sense, Xiami Music chooses to invest in Alibaba’s embrace from a strategic point of view, as Wang Hao said in an interview with the media, “If you don’t sell it, you are dead.”
After joining Alibaba, the temperament, tone and purpose of Xiami Music have never changed. It still serves the diverse audiovisual needs of users and helps users discover good music.
For example, half a year after joining Alibaba, Xiami Music launched the “Musician Platform”. The following year, it launched the first season of the Musician Support Program “Searching for Light” in China. In recent years, Xiami Music has also launched Features such as Xiami Party Room, AI Radio, Speedy Audition, Fanni Street, etc., continue to explore and try in the field of digital music, and use more innovative product functions to meet users’ higher-level audiovisual needs.
However, at the time when the entire industry has stepped up the deployment of exclusive copyrights, Xiami Music has been neglected in terms of operation and strategy. After missing the first round of copyright rush, the online music market even had the embarrassment that the rich could not buy the copyright. Even if the National Copyright Administration required the transfer rate to reach 99% of the music library, the 1% of the core copyright was always contained. The opponent’s trump card.
In other words, the loss of copyright has also led to a large loss of users. Xiami Music has gradually lost its industry initiative. As the music industry enters the era of short video and pan-music from players, the loneliness of focusing on small and beautiful Xiami music is actually the frustration of the times.
The feelings do not end, Xiami Music has not yet reached the end
For music practitioners around the world, music is a slow business, whether it’s creators, record companies or music platforms, it’s Love to generate electricity is the norm. So, where will Xiami Music, which is caught in the closure storm this time, ultimately go?
People close to Xiami told Music Xiansheng that although Xiami Music’s closure has not been confirmed, it is certain that Xiami Musician’s business is normal and will continue to serve independent musicians and partners; and Xiami’s music library Zhongtai The team will continue to serve Ali’s other businesses.
It can be seen from this information that Alibaba’sThere may be a new plan for the layout of the music field. Considering that in August this year, Alibaba 88VIP and NetEase Cloud Music reached a strategic cooperation, giving members the right to choose between Xiami Music and NetEase Cloud Music, and in September last year, Alibaba, Yunfeng Fund and others have strategically invested in NetEase Cloud Music with USD 700 million. Perhaps Xiami Music’s possible future existence will shift from to C to to B. Cat Elf provides support for representative hardware products and Ali entertainment systems such as Youku and Damai. In other words, Ali Music will not give up the music track, but may participate in different forms.
Of course, although the closure of Xiami Music has not been finalized, the long-term development of the music industry undoubtedly needs products like Xiami. The feelings that Xiami uses music to convey and the contribution it makes to shaping the taste of popular music are indispensable to the music industry. The small but beautiful feelings that drive the market with a long tail will not end.