The song list was grayed out and the song was stolen？ Netease Cloud Music Trapped in ＂Member Puzzle＂

Feng Ming zhi ku mu mu

Netease cloud music seems to have fallen into the "Tacitus trap".

Recently, information such as "uninstalling and reloading Netease Cloud Music’s members", "Netease Cloud Music secretly deleted users’ local files" and "Netease Cloud Music is dead" has been rampant. In response to this phenomenon, Netease Cloud Music officially came forward to rumor that the recent false news is a malicious rumor against Netease Cloud Music, and Netease Cloud Music will also investigate the corresponding legal responsibility for those who spread online rumors.

From the time Netease Cloud Music was quietly removed from the shelves, to the time when Netease Cloud Music raised doubts among users and then vigorously refuted rumors, we can see the hidden problems in copyright and user services of online music platforms, and there is a difficult balance between copyright content and user services.

Netease Cloud Music Trapped in "Member Puzzle"

The membership mechanism of Netease Cloud Music has developed from "ordinary members and SVIP luxury members" to the membership privilege of "vinyl VIP and music bag", and "vinyl VIP" has become the mainstream membership mode of Netease Cloud Music.

Compared with members of other head music platforms such as QQ Music, Cool Me Music and Cool Dog Music, members of Netease Cloud Music still have certain advantages in terms of membership fees. The membership fee of 15 yuan per month is the same as that of other music platforms, but the membership fee of "vinyl VIP" of Netease Cloud Music is more favorable in the first three months, and users can enjoy three-month membership rights only by paying 40 yuan, which can attract many users to choose to open it.

After users open the "vinyl VIP", they can enjoy ten privileges, including "membership music library, lossless sound quality, free download, no advertisement, audio-visual theme, avatar pendant, personalized skin, mall discount, ticketing privilege and welfare coupon", among which "membership music library" is the most attractive membership right.

However, when users who use Netease Cloud Music choose to open "vinyl VIP", when they use Netease Cloud Music Platform, the voice of "Netease Cloud Music secretly deletes users’ local files" appears one after another, and doubts continue to appear around the core rights and interests of members of this platform.

On the one hand, the ingenious changes in the song list have attracted the attention of some members. Some members have found that the songs in the song list have disappeared inexplicably, which has aroused the dissatisfaction of many Netease cloud music users. Some users said that "some songs in the song list will turn gray", and some users said that this behavior of showing no song copyright is understandable.

On the other hand, this time, it is also the user dispute that Netease Cloud Music is suspected of deleting the songs in the user’s song list, and even deleting the songs stored locally, which undoubtedly pokes the pain points of many users.

However, Netease Cloud Music firmly denied this kind of behavior. Under the question of Zhihu’s "How to treat Netease Cloud Music’s statement denying that Netease Cloud Music secretly deleted users’ local files" and offering a reward of 100,000 for collecting clues, Netease Cloud Music Development Group gave several reasons why the song could not be recognized.

It said that some users filtered some folders when scanning local music in their mobile phones, or there were problems in recognition accuracy, or problems in reading and writing permissions of Android applications, which would lead to the failure to display songs. Netease Cloud Music said that it would optimize this function in the future.

At the same time, in response to the problem that many members said that the songs in the song list could not be played, Netease Cloud Music said in the answer that "some songs downloaded during the membership period will not be played offline when the membership expires or at the request of the copyright owner", which means that users can continue to play songs offline when they resume their membership.

In the "song deletion gate" where Netease cloud music is hard to distinguish between true and false, the debate about whether the music platform has the right to delete the user’s songs has also arisen. If this incident is true, a lawyer of China Consumers Association once said that "if the deleted song is downloaded from other paid software, the downloader has the right to use the song, and the music platform deletes it without the user’s permission, which infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of the downloader".

Music copyright and membership service are difficult to match, and online music platforms are in constant dispute.

For users who use online music software, music library and sound effects are important reasons for many users to choose different music platforms and recharge their members, and they are also important factors for these users to finally decide whether to stay on this platform.

Judging from the music library measurement of major music platforms, it is difficult to leave the music copyright in the music platform. In the early days, the online music platform has been in a state of incompatibility among the major platforms in terms of copyright, and the zero-sum game and mutual separation of different music platforms in terms of copyright also made the music copyright market finally fall into a state of smog.

Since 2015, the National Copyright Administration has been attacking music copyright, interviewing many domestic and foreign music companies and several major online music service providers in China, and proposing that "online music service providers snatch exclusive copyright and drive up the authorized price, which is not conducive to the wide spread of music works, the use of music by netizens and listeners, and the innovation and creation of local music". This move undoubtedly makes the online music market gradually break the monopoly of copyright, and makes music companies start to move towards a certain degree of copyright.

Under this circumstance, the copyright dispute of different factions’ head music companies seems to have entered the intermission. In 2018, Tencent Music, Netease Cloud Music and Ali Music successively reached a copyright agreement. First, Tencent Music and Netease Cloud Music granted 99% music copyright to each other, and then Netease Cloud Music and Ali Music also reached a copyright mutual grant agreement. The three giants in the online music market seemed to be in harmony in terms of music copyright.

However, under the overall stability and prosperity of the online music market in terms of copyright, the music platforms under the three major factions are still undercurrent, and copyright is still the limit when providing services to members in the platform.

Users who have purchased a number of music platform members concluded: "When using Netease Cloud Music, they found that the song list gradually turned gray by 50%, and then turned to QQ music, and the song list also turned gray by 15%." It is not difficult to find that the music copyright in the platform is still the limiting factor for many users to use the platform, and it is also the key point that affects users’ experience.

Although from now on, the music companies of the three factions have carved up the share of the online music market, there are still some omissions in the copyright of different music platforms, but from another perspective, seizing the "gray area" of the song list will also become the key for future music platforms to break through from many music platforms and gain greater market share.

How to balance the membership balance?

"The song can’t be played temporarily due to copyright reasons" seems to be an unavoidable curse for users of every music platform, and this is also the fuse that many music platforms eventually lead to the loss of platform users.

From the 2018 cmnet Online Music Industry Report, it can be seen that the number of duplicates between Tencent Music Platform and Netease Cloud Music has increased from 2017 to 2018. From now on, using multiple music platforms at the same time has become the status quo of the online music industry. Relying on only one music platform has become increasingly difficult to meet the needs of users, and the coordinated development of many companies has become an industry trend.

2018 cmnet Online Music Industry Report

In this case, the balance of members in different platforms is also increasingly difficult to balance.

On the one hand, whether the copyright content in the platform and the promised membership rights can maintain a dynamic balance is an important issue that exists in the music platform now. When members buy platform members, they will inevitably enjoy the corresponding music package privileges. However, when members find that song lists are frequently "grayed out", their song lists are constantly invalid, which means that the rights and interests of users who buy music platform VIP are damaged.

At present, QQ music still occupies a leading position in music copyright, but other platforms are still in a weak position in copyright, so from the perspective of music platforms, they need to consider the rights and interests that they can ultimately provide to users.

On the other hand, for users who use the music platform, in addition to listening to songs in the music library of the platform, accumulating their favorite song lists in the platform has become the focus of many users. If the "graying" of the song list only allows users to get songs through other platforms while using the platform, then the "disappearance" of songs in the user’s song list will eventually make users choose to leave the platform, which will eventually make users form a rejection psychology to the platform.

The graying of songs, the deletion of songs, and the inexplicable disappearance of songs are all hurting the psychology of the members of the music platform, which should also alert the online music industry. Music copyright is the basis for attracting the public to their own platforms, but real "membership service" is the key to keeping members on the platform and improving their penetration rate. Clarifying the needs of members will undoubtedly be crucial for the development of the platform.