China-based e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, one of the world’s biggest companies, will close its music streaming app Xiami Music on February 5.
The firm announced the news via Chinese social media this week, citing “operational adjustments”.
The news of Xiami Music’s impending closure follows Alibaba’s acquisition in 2019 of a minority stake in Tencent Music’s biggest rival, NetEase Cloud Music.
Together with Yunfeng, Alibaba invested approximately US $700m in NetEase Cloud Music.
Alibaba appears to be banking on NetEase as its music bet, while shutting down a rival (and potentially gifting some of its market share to NetEase) in China’s digital music market.
“It’s hard to say goodbye after being with you for 12 years.”
Alibaba
“Due to operational adjustments, we will stop the service of Xiami Music,” said Alibaba in a post announcing the news.
“It’s hard to say goodbye after being with you for 12 years.”
Xiami was bought by Jack Ma’s Alibaba in 2013, having originally debuted in 2008.
As noted by Reuters, Xiami’s parent company poured millions of dollars into the platform to try and compete with dominant China-based music streaming players like Tencent Music Entertainment, owner of QQ Music, Kuwo and KuGou.
TechCrunch points out out that Xiami’s challenges in the market started in around 2016 following Tencent’s purchase of a majority stake in China Music Group.
That deal secured a tranche of exclusive music deals for Tencent Music Entertainment; its apps subsequently enjoyed an approximate 75% share of China’s music streaming market by 2017.
In 2018, NetEase Cloud Music inked a partnership with Alibaba’s Xiami music streaming service in order to share libraries and grow their respective repertoires.
That move was widely seen as an attempt to strengthen both platforms against Tencent Music.Music Business Worldwide
