Source: Securities Times

Author: Wu Shun

November 25, NetEase Cloud Music ( $CLOUD MUSIC (09899.HK)$ ) Publicly shout QQ music on multiple channels ( $Tencent Music (TME.US)$ ), demanding that QQ Music stop plagiaristic “innovation.”

NetEase Cloud Music pointed out that QQ Music copied the “DIY function” of its music player and continued to copy NetEase Cloud Music over the years, demanding that QQ Music immediately stop its plagiaristic “innovation,” “creativity,” and “update” behavior.

Regarding the cries about NetEase Cloud Music, the Securities Times reporter contacted QQ Music, and the other party said there was no response yet.

NetEase Cloud Music shouts QQ music

NetEase Cloud Music said that the DIY function of NetEase Cloud Music Music Player was launched on October 25, and users can upload images to personalize the player interface. On November 19, NetEase Cloud Music launched the first “Vinyl Style Creative Contest” with the theme of this feature, attracting the participation of a large number of users. However, just four days later, QQ Music launched a highly similar “player customization function”, once again copying NetEase Cloud Music.

NetEase Cloud Music's shouting revealed that on November 23, QQ Music launched “rich player customization features” in its 13.12.0 beta. This function is almost the same as the DIY function previously launched by NetEase Cloud Music. It not only covers core content such as customizing the player background and record colors, but also carries out some so-called “minor innovations.” NetEase Cloud Music said, “The DIY function of QQ Music's player is in the same vein as NetEase Cloud Music, and it's almost difficult to separate them from each other.”

The NetEase Cloud Music statement reviewed in detail the incidents where QQ Music “imitated” and copied NetEase Cloud Music many times in recent years, including the vinyl playback interface, the Listen Together feature, and the Forbidden City themed player.

In response, NetEase Cloud Music bluntly stated that innovation has always been the most important spirit of the Internet. “However, such blatant as QQ Music, plagiaristic 'innovation', referential 'creativity', and follow-on 'updates' over the years can be quite bothersome for anyone. As Mr. Ma Huateng said at the Tencent annual conference, “The most important thing is that we don't do the same thing behind others.” Very well said”.

The online music market is picking up

The “China Digital Music Industry Report (2023)” shows that the growth rate of the online music market has shown some fluctuation over the past few years. It grew from 11.4% in 2018 to 18.1% in 2019, then peaked at 24.5% in 2020, then declined to 15.7% and 12.8% in 2021 and 2022, respectively. However, by 2023, the growth rate had rebounded sharply to 33.1%, indicating the strong growth momentum of the market.

According to the above report, the high growth rate in 2023 indicates that the online music market is picking up. This is due to the combined effects of various factors, such as the continuous increase in the willingness of online music users to pay, the improvement of the copyright environment, and technological innovation under the AIGC wave.

The companies behind both NetEase Cloud Music and QQ Music, which are currently the top two players in the Chinese online music market, have performed well in terms of performance.

$Tencent Music (TME.US)$ Released data shows that in the third quarter of 2024, Tencent Music's overall performance was steady, and the company's total quarterly revenue and adjusted net profit both grew steadily year on year. Among them, the online music business maintained high-quality growth; online music subscription revenue increased 20.3% year over year to 3.84 billion yuan; the number of online music paying users increased 15.5% year over year to 0.119 billion yuan. It is worth mentioning that by the end of September 2024, the number of Tencent Music super members had exceeded 10 million.

NetEase Cloud Music ( $CLOUD MUSIC (09899.HK)$ ) The released results for the third quarter of 2024 show that in the third quarter, NetEase Cloud Music's net revenue was 2 billion yuan, an increase of 1.3% year over year; gross margin was 32.8%, compared to 32.1% and 27.2% for the previous quarter and the same period last year, respectively. The month-on-month and year-over-year increase in gross margin was mainly due to an increase in membership subscription revenue and continued improvements in cost control.

According to the announcement, NetEase Cloud Music continues to promote the high-quality development of the music-centered ecosystem, further expand the number of subscription members, and drive the continued healthy growth of online music revenue. According to NetEase Cloud Music's previous announcement, by the end of 2023, the number of monthly paid users of NetEase Cloud Music's online music service was over 44 million.

Edit/Rocky