Digital music charging is like the story of "Wolf coming", users scoff at it, and artists and singer record companies have never thought of making big money by digital music. As early as 20 13, Gao mentioned: "From June 1 day, music copyright was officially legalized, and online music downloads began to be charged. Good musicians can finally make a living by music. " However, it was not until 202 1 that digital music could not be heard/downloaded for free, and even users might find song resources that should be free.
Digital music enters the era of charging.
Free is the gene of the Internet industry. Video websites have broken the free mode. When will digital music usher in the highlight moment when members pay? Different from the ups and downs of video websites, the payment strategy of digital music is much more low-key, subtle and step by step.
According to Claire Kuo in the Internet circle, after 2022, QQ music, cool dog music, cool music and Netease cloud music will start charging. A very obvious phenomenon is that more and more songs begin to enter the "member library", and users have to buy members to listen to songs. As for downloading, there are more songs in the "member library". The songs of a singer who used to be known as one of the "three giants of QQ music" are now paid to download, and they have been free before.
The membership payment of video websites is related to the attractiveness of content, and the platform mainly relies on high-quality content to attract users to pay. QQ Music, Cool Dog Music, Cool Me Music and Netease Cloud Music have no clear timetable or major events to reflect the payment of members, but the reduction of free music libraries will "force" users to pay.
Netease Cloud Music 202 1 financial report shows that online music service revenue was 3.3 billion yuan, up 25.4% year-on-year. The number of monthly paid users of online music service reached 28.9 million, up over 80% year-on-year, and the payment rate of online music service increased to 15.8%.
Tencent Music's 202 1 fourth quarter financial report shows that the number of paying users of Tencent Music's online music service reached 76.2 million in the fourth quarter, an increase of 36. 1% compared with the same period last year. Compared with last month, the number of paying users increased by 5 million. The payment rate in the fourth quarter was 12.4%.
Judging from the financial reports of Netease Cloud Music and Tencent Music, the scale of paying users of online music services is skyrocketing. Although there is a gap with the number of paid members of video websites, it must be said that digital music has entered the era of charging, which has prompted this situation. The reason is:
First, the reduction of pirated content, the proliferation of pirated content in the early days of the Internet industry, including online novels, online videos, online music, etc. Today, the whole Internet industry is not popular.
Second, the improvement of users' willingness to pay. 10 years ago, it was impossible for users to spend money to buy virtual goods online, but now users spend more and more online every year. On the one hand, more and more high-quality content appears, on the other hand, users pay more attention to the user experience. Instead of wasting time looking for resources on the Internet, it is better to spend a little money to pay for the experience, especially the post-95 s and post-00 s netizens, who are very different from the generation after 70 s and 80 s.
Third, the reduction of platforms leads to limited platforms that users can choose. After the reshuffle of the digital music industry, there are only four mainstream platforms: QQ Music, Cool Dog Music, Cool Me Music and Netease Cloud Music. Qian Qian Jingting, Xiami Music, Domi Music, Everyday Music and other music websites have all become the past. Users can only listen to four mainstream apps if they want to listen to songs.
Digital music payment is finally no longer a story of "wolf coming", but a reality. Users have no choice. When all major platforms start charging, users can only choose to pay. For the digital music platform, although the member paid late, after so many years, the user finally paid. Although the form is not very glorious, it is worthwhile as long as it can promote the revenue of the company's online music business.
Tencent Music and Netease Cloud Music are not "happy"
Users are finally paying for digital music, which is naturally a good thing for Tencent Music and Netease Cloud Music. However, from the perspective of the company's overall business, Tencent Music and Netease Cloud Music are not happy, because another main business of the platform, webcasting, has encountered an increasing ceiling.
Digital music membership fees are in a downturn, and the platform has found a new way to catch the express train of webcasting, thus finding a way to make a profit.
The Q4 financial report of Tencent Music 202 1 shows that the income from social entertainment services and other businesses is 4.73 billion yuan, and social entertainment business accounts for 62% of the total revenue of Tencent Music.
Netease Cloud Music 202 1 financial report shows that social entertainment services and other income reached 3.7 billion yuan, up 63. 1% year-on-year, most of which came from live broadcast services. For the first time, social entertainment service revenue accounted for more than 50% of Netease Cloud Music's annual share.
Webcast allows Tencent Music to avoid falling into a state of loss year after year like a video website, and Netease Cloud Music also relies on live broadcast services to achieve a growth rate far exceeding that of the Internet industry.
Success is Xiao He, failure is me.
From 202 1, pan-entertainment live broadcast began to decline, which included both the impact of live broadcast with goods and the factors of webcast industry.
The Q4 financial report of Tencent Music 202 1 shows that the income from social entertainment services and other businesses in this quarter was 4.73 billion yuan, down 15.2% year-on-year, of which the number of paying users decreased 16.7%.
Netease Cloud Music 202 1 financial report shows that the income of social entertainment services and other businesses increased by 63. 1% year-on-year, and the income growth rate slowed down. In terms of social entertainment business, Netease Cloud Music's monthly revenue per paying user was 448. 1 yuan, down 2 1.9% year-on-year.
Similar to Tencent Music and Netease Cloud Music, the live broadcast business of Momo, which successfully transformed from a social platform for strangers to a social platform, also declined. According to the financial report, in Q4 of 20021,the live broadcast service income of Wenzhi Group was 265,438+488 million yuan, down by 7.7% year-on-year, while in Q4 of 20 19, the live broadcast service income of Wenzhi Group reached 3,383.5 million yuan, that is to say, the live broadcast service income of Momo 202 1.
Aauto Quicker and Yingke reduced their dependence on live entertainment services.
According to the financial report of Aauto quicks 202 1, the live broadcast revenue of Aauto quicks reached 30.995 billion yuan in 20021year, a decrease of 2.2.1400 million yuan compared with 2020, and a year-on-year decrease of 6.7%. Online marketing services will increase from 37.2% in 2020 to 52.6%, making it the biggest source of revenue for Aauto.
According to the financial report of Yingke 20021,the income of social network, live broadcast and blind date business in 20021was 5.744 billion yuan, 2.563 billion yuan and 6140,000 yuan respectively, accounting for 62.6%, 27.9% and 6.7% of the total income. In 20 18, the live broadcast business accounted for 96.59% of the total revenue of Yingke.
Judging from Tencent Music, Netease Cloud Music, Aauto Quicker, Yingke and Wenzhi Group, the peak period of pan-entertainment live broadcast has passed. Although they made a lot of money by relying on pan-entertainment live broadcast in the past, it is difficult for pan-entertainment live broadcast to improve in the future, which will not only affect the revenue and net profit of the platform, but also affect the valuation of the digital music platform in the capital market.
The increase in the number of paid members cannot hide the pain of Tencent Music and Netease Cloud Music in the live webcast business. If it is only supported by paying members, it is difficult for the platform to maintain profitability while doing large-scale revenue. In the future Internet industry, profit will be the focus of all companies.
When it comes to membership payment, users often criticize the platform for "ugly eating", but from the perspective of video websites, the advantage of membership payment is to encourage the upstream and downstream of the platform and the entire film and television industry chain. When the scale of users' payment reaches a certain order of magnitude, film and television companies will inevitably make money, and the influence of artists will increase, thus producing more good content. In recent years, there have been many high-quality online self-made dramas and online variety shows.