In recent years, network broadcast and digital music have flourished, and more and more grassroots musicians have realized their dreams through online platforms. However, music has developed into an Internet music platform integrating social, original and fan economy. Music on the Internet platform has become the connection musicians, music agency and the user, the basis of forming digital music products production, dissemination and consumption patterns, music consumption has brought a lot of convenience for the user.

Recently, the domestic Internet surveillance authorities and DCCI data platform released the "2016-2017 Chinese digital music platform value research report" (hereinafter referred to as "report"), a detailed analysis and research the mainstream value of digital music platform, and predict the future development direction of the mainstream digital music platform. The report says that in the past year, China's digital music market has experienced the "most stringent copyright order" adjustment, and competition will be more intense in 2017.

Touch development boundaries

Already more than half in 2017, according to research firm Nielsen's latest data, in the first half of the physical album sales and digital music downloads are continues to decline in the first half of this year, in the industry at home and abroad is still not present a truly profitable Internet music platform.

According to China Internet network information center (CNNIC) issued in January 2017, 39 times the China Internet network development state statistic report shows that as of December 2016, 731 million Internet users in China, including network music user 503 million, an increase of 1.76 million from the end of last year, accounting for 68.8% of the netizens overall; Mobile phone network music user scale reached 468 million, accounting for 93.0% of music users in the total network and 5152 million from the end of last year, accounting for 67.3% of the total number of mobile phone users.

It can be seen from the data that, although user growth is decreasing, China's Internet music platform is generally booming. Number in our country, the potential number of users is huge, but most users lack the habit of paying consumer music, it makes the development of the Internet music platform is full of contradiction, the personage inside course of study about its prospects are more cautious attitude. The comments suggest that, in the case of domestic industry, the seemingly hot Internet music platform will touch its development boundaries.

Zhongyan, researcher sun yu jiao to analyzed the China sankei shimbun reporters reach the boundary of the reasons: "first of all, each big music platform users dividend gradually disappear, the competition between each other, may lead to music platform reached the flow boundary. Second, in nearly 10 years of development, the function of music platform has been gradually developing, but the function is too rich, also can appear mad, is also to the functional boundaries. Third, is copyright resource boundary, and the resulting high operating costs, such as commercial profit difficult dilemma."

Profitability is a major factor

Cultural industry research center of sichuan university and professor shang-wei CAI China sankei shimbun reporters: "many music platform to explore the function of many, including search, listen, download, the collection management, and voice search, live big data accurate recommendations, zone, etc., feature-rich arguably reached a certain limit. But for music platform, function into commercial value have yet to crack problems, cause invested a lot of resources to develop platform, but very few contradictions realizable way."

According to the third party statistics show that in 2015 the annual income of China's Internet music industry, only 400 million yuan or so, that's a very small income, don't say go than with the financial and real estate, is rarely just within the cultural industry. To calculate the cost per thousand music, the streaming media website needs to pay 2.5 yuan for the copyright, 2 yuan for the bandwidth, and the advertising revenue is only 5 yuan, and the net loss is 3 yuan.

The personage inside course of study says, the current problem of Internet music platform, is still the music with the original problem, digital music manufacturers how to realize the profit, how to cultivate more excellent original musicians and create more value.

Sun yujiao told reporters that China's music industry is growing rapidly, but the chain is not healthy. The new system is being gradually established after the traditional record industrial system was gradually dismantled by the Internet music industry. The relationship between the Internet music platform and the content side is the most subtle. With copyright resources the content of the party have bargaining power and music on the Internet platform and profitability, capacity of both copyright operation issue institutions but also in conjunction with musicians, certainly can gain the initiative in music protracted war. Internet music flat Taipei is likely more than keep the pattern of the nation, but copyright pressure if not ease, if we do not provide differentiated services platform, if the data is not transparent, industrial chain - commercial just harder if they do not get through consolidation, like dancing chain.

"Music is not a new product. Although everyone will listen to music, few people will pay for music." A music industry has told the media said, "most people through the Internet search that you want, led to the serious blow, traditional music online music platform is also difficult to profit, it was hard to live."

In July 2015, the national copyright administration issued a "about online music providers to stop unauthorized dissemination of music notice, require online music providers to stop unauthorized dissemination of music works. This is known as history's most severe copyright to come on stage to regulate online music market has played a very positive impact, "copyright confirmation is an important prerequisite for Internet music platform to carry out the charging mode, but the disadvantage of Internet music platform in China is that although large users, but there are really willing to pay for the copyright and copyright consciousness of people, after all, it's just a few." Sun yujiao told reporters.

Shang-wei CAI professor also told reporters: "in the long run, to cultivate the habit of consumers' music pay or very be necessary, but the contradiction between still more sharply in a short time. The advantage of the Internet is free, you have been accustomed to this pattern, if you want to hard to change this pattern, foster new consumption patterns, may need a long time and some of the auxiliary system design, but only for the platform itself is hard to do, because every company can't take the risk. Because with the payment method to profit, is to push some used to free users at the same time to other platforms."

In addition to the copyright issue, the challenges of the music platform are more than that. "From the user perspective, the rise of intelligent sound, the recovery of vinyl records, the spread of live online and offline performance hot, listen to music so much, all of this brings to the music on the Internet platform of different level challenge." Sun yu jiao said, "with the rapid development of science and technology, in the next five years, the way people listen to music will not be restricted to streaming media but more diversified, scene, intelligent, Internet music platform will may no longer be the mainstream way of listening to music."

Expanding profitability

Sun yu jiao told reporters Outlines several profit model: the Internet music platform "interface advertising revenue; differentiation service charges, such as membership model, can provide the download for paying members nondestructive, remove ads; differentiated services such as sales of digital music album, with live music services, extend to the upstream industry, provides the omni-directional promotion service for the singer."

"Users may no longer satisfied with simple function, and exclusive service fee, but tend to contain scenario listening, offline performance and interaction between the zero distance with the stars" one-stop "work style member system. For single pay less, for 'quality' or 'membership' paid more." Sun yujiao added.

Shang-wei CAI said, "Internet music platform development, has accumulated a lot of fans, this is the number of traffic resources, and the number of traffic resources can be secondary development. The flow into the community to run and use of community resources for the development of large, it can become a large direction of the development of the Internet platform, is to explore ideas."

"Through online aggregation to establish community link between viscosity, and then developed a series of offline music products, such as concerts or KTV this whole scenario of music consumption. You can also through the community, the extended and music related consumption, such as the consumption culture and daily necessities, and even the other necessities of daily life, such as automobile, real estate, etc." Professor shang-wei CAI explains, "in fact, also including chengdu, this line of thinking, to create the music capital cities a direction of the development of music industry. If music platform just doing music, may have to face now profit model not clear the current situation of immature, but with music, put a lot of consumer products form together."

However, the industry is optimistic about the outlook for the future.

Ding Bo netease cloud music vice President, said in an interview with the media space is optimistic for the future earnings, "and the western music industry at 30% ~ 30% of pay rate, compared to China's current pay rate is only 5% of online music, there is great room for growth. In the original background, music users pay awareness to improve faster. In the past year, netease cloud music pay membership increased nine times, the number of paid digital album to buy rose 7 times, digital album sales increased 16 times, continues to grow this year."

Sun yu jiao also said, "although overall, the current development of Chinese music on the Internet platform will soon reach the border, the giant platform will face to face a fierce fight. But there is no doubt that once get through this period of industry competition, most of the music copyright and experience for the user's platform, will inevitably usher in the vigorous development of its future."