Can you listen to Jay Chou? NetEase Cloud is stepping up to negotiate non-exclusive copyright cooper

Recently, the State Administration for Market Regulation ordered Tencent to lift its exclusive music copyright within 30 days. In response, Tencent and NetEase Cloud responded that they fully accepted and rectified on schedule. This has also given other online music software a chance to breathe, and NetEase Cloud is seen as the most direct beneficiary of the music copyright antitrust penalty.

Screenshot from Tech Planet

In 2017, Tencent collected the exclusive music rights of Warner, Sony and Universal, as well as Emperor Entertainment, Huayi Brothers and Jewell. Even if it was interviewed by the National Copyright Administration and mutually authorized music works with NetEase Cloud and Xiami, Tencent still holds 1% of the head copyright.

It is this 1% exclusive copyright that gives Tencent a great competitive advantage, because it covers many popular singers, such as Jay Chou, Mayday, Eason Chan and many other exclusive music library resources in its hands. This is also the reason why NetEase Cloud Music playlists are grayed out.

On April 1, 2018, NetEase Cloud Music packaged and sold Jay Chou songs at a price of 400 yuan before the copyright expired, which angered many users at that time.

Recently, the news of "NetEase Cloud negotiating non-exclusive copyright cooperation" circulated on the Internet.

A person close to the record company revealed that NetEase Cloud Music is stepping up negotiations with many record companies on non-exclusive copyright cooperation, in order to release Tencent Music's exclusive songs that have been removed from the shelves as soon as possible.

It is said that NetEase Cloud Music is contacting companies including Jewell, Believe Music, Modern Sky, Huayan Music and other well-known copyright owners, involving the works of many well-known artists such as Jay Chou, Mayday, Liang Jingru, SHE, and Li Zongsheng.

Today, Sina Technology reported that NetEase Cloud Music is negotiating non-exclusive copyright cooperation with multiple copyright parties in response to media reports. NetEase Cloud Music responded that NetEase Cloud Music is indeed pressing ahead with cooperation negotiations with multiple copyright parties. Welcome More partners have established and resumed cooperation with NetEase Cloud Music. NetEase Cloud Music is willing to cooperate in copyright purchase with the greatest sincerity to provide users with a more complete music experience; at the same time, NetEase Cloud Music will also actively fulfill its platform responsibility and promote excellence. The wide dissemination of musical works promotes the sustainable and healthy development of the industry.

In fact, after the State Administration for Market Regulation ordered Tencent to give up the exclusive copyright of music, some people in the industry said that even if all music copyrights are cross-licensed in the future, there is a high probability that there will not be a platform with 100% of the music library. It is a theoretical situation that a certain music app owns the entire music library. In fact, the copyright owner will also have its own preference, and the platform will also focus on copyright purchase.

At the same time, NetEase Cloud Music sources also told the media that the release of exclusive copyright does not mean that any platform can obtain authorization at will. Although the general direction is open, the music copyright transaction is a commercial activity in the final analysis. One party must have the money to buy it, and the other party must be willing to sell it. There are many variables in this.

In other words, it is still uncertain whether you can listen to Jay Chou and others' songs on NetEase Cloud.

In addition, there has been a lot of buzz recently about the impending listing of NetEase Cloud. Netizens ridiculed that this is really a "happy event" for NetEase Cloud.

According to market sources, NetEase Cloud Music will seek a listing hearing as soon as this week, raising about US$1 billion (about HK$7.8 billion). The joint sponsors are Merrill Lynch, CICC and Credit Suisse.

In May of this year, NetEase Cloud Music submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In the prospectus, NetEase Cloud Music announced some core operating data. In 2020, the platform's revenue was 4.9 billion yuan, the online music service MAU (monthly active) reached 181 million, and the online music paying users was 16 million.