Wen | Zhang Shule (Columnist of People's Daily And People's Post and Telegraph, Observer of Internet and Game Industry)
After reading on WeChat, which can almost be a white prostitute, QQ Music also decided not to sell singing for a living.
Recently, QQ Music recently began to internal testing to see ads for free to listen to songs, non-green diamond non-paid package users, watch 15 seconds of advertising can listen to songs for free for 30 minutes, including the full version of the song that was previously only open to members.
Among them, Tencent has always owned the exclusive copyright of Jay Chou's songs are also among the free.
This is a new development that has been opened after online music platforms have given up the moat of the past of music copyright exclusive licensing.
In this regard, a number of media and Shule exchanged some views, and poor Dao thought:
The era of sitting in the existing copyright library and waiting to receive money or users has passed, and if it does not change, it is waiting to be subverted by the new functions of friends.
Functional modules, such as watching advertisements, are of course a way of revenue, which is similar to the routine of free reading applications, but it cannot make up for the difference in adding copyright.
The real breakthrough is still original.
In fact, this kind of pressure transmission is not only borne by online music platforms alone.
On January 6, 2022, the National Copyright Administration interviewed major record labels, songwriting rights companies and digital music platforms. The National Copyright Administration stressed that the authorization model should be settled through the guarantee deposit plus the actual usage share model, and exclusive copyright agreements should not be signed except in special circumstances.
The upstream is also under pressure, which makes the situation clearer, namely:
After the cancellation of the exclusive license, the upstream and downstream will have more positive and enterprising momentum in making new original music to obtain market initiative, including expanding more music derivative scenes and industry-related chains.
In the bargaining of copyright purchase, the past state of one rising and one waiting to be slaughtered will slowly dissipate.
At the same time, when downstream music platforms acquire foreign music copyrights, they will not burn money for exclusive purposes, and to a certain extent, there may be some kind of price tacit understanding.
It is foreseeable that after the cancellation of exclusivity, the copyright price will gradually fall back to normal values, especially if the original music, including the Divine Comedy, further explodes and gradually gains more share in the head music, which will further promote the price water level.
Previously, the copyright library did go crazy for a long time in the war of burning money to buy music on music platforms, which in itself was deteriorating the development ability of online music.
Now, everything is in the ice stage of spring blossoming, but it is only a question of what posture Tencent Music and NetEase Cloud Music use to embrace spring.
Especially NetEase Cloud Music, Alexander.
NetEase Cloud Music relied on original content such as huge playlists in the early days to form a differentiation from other player-mode online music platforms.
In the later stage, this model only ensures that it has considerable user stickiness and becomes the only two platforms, but it cannot make it truly profitable.
In terms of supporting original music, the cognition and strength of several online music platforms are actually similar, but the effect has not been good for many years.
After all, musical works need time to accumulate, rather than relying on short-term surprise support to achieve competition.
Therefore, capital will support this operating model to jump out of the player pattern and the trap of copyright wars, but it is also well aware that such a model needs to be incubated in the medium and long term.
At the same time, nowadays, the ability of short videos such as Douyin and Kuaishou to create explosive music is extremely strong, and many explosive models have come from short video platforms, which is bound to impact the model of traditional online music platforms.
Don't worry too much, though.
As mentioned above, all kinds of hits and divine comedies are very popular for a while, but the quality and quantity of musical works need time to accumulate.
The star-making functions of Douyin and Kuaishou are extraordinary, and they have indeed brought an impact on Tencent and NetEase Cloud Music in the field of original songs.
However, the latter has also been digging into the "exposed" scenes of various original songs, which may not be as short and flat as short videos, but it is more in line with the original musicians who pursue to find their own positions, rather than batching the so-called Divine Comedy.
After all, the music copyright market is only a small market by selling songs.
To develop, it is necessary to expand the scene, for example, from concerts (including online) to metaversms can be expanded scenes.
At the same time, it may be a direction to stimulate the enthusiasm of creators and use more and better new original hits to obtain value-added commercial returns for singles.
In the direction of profitability, online music platforms must escape the player model and expand commercial value in music and more scenes, such as short video background music, virtual idols and even other derivative chains (including nostalgic vinyl, national tide music peripheral products).
After all, the consumer mentality of paying for music has not really been cultivated, and the integration of original music and other cultural and entertainment products has not been smooth, these problems are actually areas that need to be incubated and at the same time mean blue ocean, and it is precisely the areas where its commercial value is undervalued and can be tapped.
As for whether there will be a question of "disguised exclusivity" in the future, I am foolish to think:
When regulation is extended upstream, this "disguised exclusivity" will become a target, and the copyright owner's behavior of crossing the thunder pool is too risky.
However, original music born on music platforms may have some rules, but after all, relative to the copyright library, the proportion is very small, and in order to stimulate creation, it may not be regulated for the time being, which may also become another form of disguised exclusivity.