Netease Cloud Music’s wave of marketing boom did not stop Tencent Music from coming.
On August 11th, Tencent Music Group told the First Financial Reporter that because Netease Cloud Music had many infringements, the music works involved included songs exclusively enjoyed by Tencent Music, including the paid album "6" in Wu Yifan, so it suspended the cooperation with Netease Cloud Music for partial content sublicensing, and at the same time, it filed a lawsuit in Shenzhen court until the other party’s piracy problem was eliminated and it assumed relevant legal responsibilities.
"It’s very sudden and unexpected. Is it infringement? Since the lawsuit is filed, the court will decide." Netease Cloud Music responded to the theory of entertainment capital.
Everything has to start from the beginning.
Not long ago, many netizens found that Netease Cloud Music removed a large number of Korean songs, among which many singers’ works such as bigbang, IU, Uncle Bird and YG turned gray, and even Chinese band Sodagreen was among them. Then, on August 9th, some netizens said that some songs of singers including Joey Yung, Yong Er and Hins Cheung were taken off the shelves.
Up to now, the music of pop singers at home and abroad, such as Yoga Lin, Eason Chan, Mayday, Beyonce, etc., on Netease Cloud Music Platform has been removed to varying degrees.
On the evening of August 10th, Netease Cloud Music responded to this, saying that it was negotiating with Tencent Music for copyright sublicense, but as the copyright sublicense had not been reached, it was necessary to remove these songs first. On August 11th, the situation became that Tencent Music took Netease Cloud Music to court.
Behind Tencent Music’s lawsuit against Netease Cloud Music, perhaps Tencent Music’s greater ambition is hidden.
In fact, this is not the first time that there is a gap between Netease Cloud Music and Tencent Music.
The feud between them can be traced back to the end of 2014 at the earliest. At that time, QQ Music sued Netease Cloud Music, claiming that 623 songs of the latter infringed Tencent’s "private information network communication right". At the beginning of the next year, Netease Cloud Music sued 202 songs of QQ Music for infringement.
Not long after, Netease Cloud Music, together with Xiami Music and Tiantianyingying, was banned by Tencent, prohibiting three softwares from sharing music to WeChat friends and friends.
Until October 2015, QQ Music transferred the copyright of 150 songs to Netease Cloud Music, and WeChat released its shielding, and QQ Music and Netease Cloud Music were able to shake hands. Now, the sublicense copyright expires, and the grievances are reborn.
Regarding this time Tencent Music sued Netease Cloud Music, some insiders said that in addition to the possibility of infringement of the latter, perhaps Tencent Music was threatened by Netease Cloud Music and wanted to suppress its opponents through copyright.
"Netease Cloud Music has a strong marketing momentum recently." The above-mentioned person said that since March this year, online banking cloud music first launched a "music review train" in Hangzhou subway, covering 5,000 music reviews in every corner; Later, a "music plane" was built. Recently, 30 music reviews were printed on 400 million bottles of Nongfu Spring, and a limited edition "music bottle" was launched. A series of marketing brings brand influence.
The most direct change brought by Netease Cloud Music’s actions is that other music platforms have also invested in the marketing industry, such as QQ Music’s music pop-up shop in Sanlitun, music radio with Uniqlo, and joint marketing with mobike.
As a matter of fact, for Tencent Music, which holds a lot of copyrights, users should come uninvited. However, it is inevitable that due to the scattered distribution of copyrights, such as the copyrights of Modern Sky and Yashen Music are in Taihe Music’s hands, it is believed that music, Huayan International and Rolling Stone Records have been won by Xiami Music, and it is normal for a mobile phone to download multiple music apps, so users are uncertain and the stickiness cannot be guaranteed.
Even Tencent Music, which has a music library of 17 million, has to face this problem. Through social operation, NetMusic Cloud Music has accumulated a batch of die-hard powder, which is highly sticky and occupies most high-end young users. This is also the crowd that Tencent Music wants to acquire.
As we all know, copyright has become the biggest weakness of Netease Cloud Music because it is too late. "So Netease Cloud Music must properly handle the relationship with Tencent Music. The user experience of Netease Cloud Music is really good, but it must be based on songs. I love Netease Cloud Music again, but I can’t hear Sodagreen, so I have to listen to it on other platforms. The user’s stickiness naturally drops greatly, so I can’t talk about the experience." The above-mentioned people told Entertainment Capital.
The most obvious example is that in Xiami Music, which once had a beautiful scenery, after the national copyright order came out, a large number of pirated contents were removed from the shelves, and the copyright was greatly impacted, so that it is now lagging behind. "No one knows that Yoga Lin and Yisa have released albums in shrimp." At the same time, the person also said that Netease Cloud Music does not take the initiative, and many people still want to cooperate with Tencent Music.
Today, Netease Cloud Music has grown into the biggest competitor of Tencent Music. I wonder if the two can get back together this time.
After the merger of QQ Music and Ocean Music (including Cool Dog and Cool Me Music), the newly formed Tencent Music Entertainment Group has been seeking to go public, and it was previously reported that the valuation was as high as 10 billion US dollars. At the same time, it is also consolidating its position through a series of action layouts.
The most significant thing is to sign a strategic cooperation agreement with Universal Music on digital rights distribution in mainland China, and all the copyrights of the three major record companies will be harvested. In addition, Tencent Music began to March into the long tail copyright. "Before, we only focused on the head, but now we pay attention to the music that we didn’t pay attention to in the past." According to industry insiders, like the "Tencent Musician Plan" launched last month, we just want to control minority and independent music.
According to Wu Weilin, vice president of Tencent Music Entertainment Group, after winning the copyrights of the three major record companies, the company will continue to promote sub-licensing cooperation. "Previously, we had reached cooperation with at least 8 platforms, including Netease Cloud Music, Domi Music, Baidu Music and Singing Bar.".
However, at present, it seems that the transfer is not smooth. Xiaoye mentioned many times that Liu Xiaosong, the chairman of Domi Music, said in an interview with Entertainment Capital in June that the distribution copyright of Tencent Music was "out of reach". Last year, Chloe Wang, general manager of Baidu Music, said that he would sign a copyright agreement with Tencent, and the coverage rate of its music library would reach 95% by then. Today, Entertainment Capital asked Chloe Wang about the progress, and the other party responded that it was "still under discussion". Back to the shelves of Netease cloud music songs, some people say that Tencent’s asking price is too high, which leads to the failure of cooperation.
Although copyright purchase is not a small expense, for Tencent Music with deep pockets, you can hoard the copyright in your hand to attract and precipitate a steady stream of users. However, because many record companies are not allowed to monopolize copyright, "Tencent Music can set a barrier on the distribution price if it wants. If you can afford it, you can buy it. If you can’t afford it, it may scare off a group of platform parties." The above-mentioned insiders said.
The dominance of one family may be the end of the game that Tencent Music wants to play.
[Titanium Media Author: Entertainment Capital, text/Po, editor/Li Xinrong]