The profit model of musicians has been destroyed, and online music platforms promote industry digitalization

musicians who become famous do not lack the ability to survive, and their ways of realization are more diversified. The problem now is that people who are really trying to create good music do not have a good way of life, and newcomers urgently need a platform to help them shine.

original title: C-end money-making models such as records and ringtone downloads have been destroyed, and musicians' new money has become unpredictable Nicholas Negroponte's "Digital Survival" was so popular that it was out of stock. This year, the Electronic Industry Press released the 20th anniversary edition of the book, which suddenly rose to 68 yuan, nearly four times that of the original.

the state of "digital survival", which once seemed out of reach, has now become the mainstream way of life. According to data released by CNNIC, as of June 2017, the number of Internet users in China had reached 751 million, with an Internet penetration rate of 54.3%.

Internet and mobile Internet bring not only convenience, entertainment, virtual and wealth, but also "gluttonous monsters" for some industries. The music industry is fragmented and crumbling by the impact of the Internet and mobile Internet.

musicians have had a very glorious history. Even without concerts, they can earn a lot of money just by downloading records and ringtones. In 1991, Zhang Mi's album "Miss Public Relations" sold more than 5 million. In 2000, there were not a few singers who sold more than 1 million singers. Beyond, Zhou Huajian, Zhang Huimei, Andy Lau, Aaron Kwok and Liming all sold more than 10 million copies in the history of Chinese record sales. Yang Chengang has revealed that the song "Mouse loves Rice" brings 170 million of the company's revenue. In addition, online singers such as Xu Yuteng, who sang "wait a minute", and Tang Lei, who sang "lilac", also rely on ringtones to download a lot.

but by 2013, the entire recording industry was already miserable. Music critic Zou Xiaoying revealed on Zhihu that qu Wanting sold only more than 30,000 copies of "my Voice" in the 2013 ranking of alien mainland pop albums. As for independent musicians, it would be nice to sell 500 records in 2014.

ringtone download, the time of fire is even shorter, and it will soon disappear from the stage of history.

Records and ringtone downloads, two ways of income from C-end, have been destroyed, musicians are equivalent to losing their money, and the new way of making money seems to be a long way off.

interestingly, although the traditional music industry is full of people, the number of people who like music has not decreased. By June 2017, the number of online music users had reached 524 million, ranking fifth in terms of user size and utilization rate in Internet applications, which is higher than that of online games and online literature.

on the one hand, the main profit mode has been destroyed, on the other hand, the number of users in the industry is increasing. What on earth is the problem? Is it that musicians didn't find a digital way to survive? Or is the establishment of the rules of the music industry not perfect? Or is it that users are not willing to pay? Perhaps, there are all these factors. However, the current situation is that the consumers of musicians are becoming Internet and mobile Internet, and the trend is unstoppable, just as Nokia's Symbian can't stop Android and Apple's iOS. In the face of digitization, musicians should think about how to survive in the digital age.

strong > online music platforms support musicians / strong >

with the development of major online music platforms, in addition to expanding users, downloads, retention, activity, etc., online music platforms are also sparing no effort to promote the upstream of the industrial chain, such as legalization. At present, several mainstream online music platforms are taking legalization. Such as NetEyun music, cool I music, KuGou music, QQ Music, Xiami music, etc., legitimate is the premise of the positive development of the industry.

not only in terms of establishing industry rules, the online music platform's promotion to the upper reaches of the industry chain also includes launching original musician support programs to help more original musicians launch more good music and survive in the digital age.

on May 5, 2014, Xiami Music launched the Light-seeking Project;

in April 2015, QQ Music launched the "New Sound Power" project;

on September 16, 2015, KuGou Music announced the launch of the "100 million Music Dream Fund Program".

on September 8, 2015, NetEase Yun Music announced the launch of the "ideal musician support Program".

October 28, 2015, QQ Music announced the launch of the platform opening strategy.

on November 22, 2016, NetEase Yun Music announced the launch of an independent musician support program called "Stone Project" in Beijing.

January 2017, NetEase Yun Music announced its appreciation to all musicians.

May 3, 2017, Xiami Music announced the launch of the light search program II;

2017, Tencent Music Entertainment Group Group announced the launch of Tencent musicians program

NetEase Yun Music launched the first season of NetEase Yun musician Salon on Hangzhou MAO Livehouse on August 26th, with the theme "how to make your music heard by more people?" .

in terms of time period, online music platform support for musicians began in 2014, the most intensive this year. According to Ding Bo, vice president of NetEase Yun Music, 86% of musicians do not know how to promote themselves, so NetEase Yun Music musician Salon also really helps musicians solve practical problems.

strong > Why are online music platforms keen to support musicians? / strong >

first, differentiation competition. Compared with the known music market, by supporting musicians, we can dig out more unknown markets, which can not only help musicians grow, but also expand the influence of the platform, and compete differently with other platforms. For example, NetEyun Music has become the largest original music platform in China by constantly supporting original music.

second, march to the upper reaches of the industrial chain and expand the platform's voice in the upper reaches of the industrial chain. If only through the purchase of copyright from record companies to do distribution, it is of little significance, it is difficult to break even, the channel value is limited. By supporting original musicians, it can become a specific case, and then through specific cases to attract more original musicians to upload music on the platform, when many musicians regard this platform as the main music release platform, the basic ecological environment is formed. Ding Bo said that at present, 40, 000 people have settled on NetEase's independent musicians platform, and more than 800000 original works have been uploaded.

third, feed the user back. For users, the fun of the unknown is greater than that of the known. By supporting original musicians, online music platform can dig out more unknown good music and songs, which are exactly what users need. Zhao Lei became popular with a song "Chengdu" on "Singer". In fact, before Zhao Lei became popular, his fame came from NetEase Yun Music platform. Zhao Lei's digital album "can't grow up" sold more than 220000 copies on NetEase Yun Music, which is larger than that of QQ Music, KuGou and other platforms. Musicians like Zhao Lei, Xie Chunhua, Chen Ji and other musicians actually have many users like them. If they were not dug up by NetEase Yun Music, it would be very difficult for users to hear these good music.

musicians are the "root" of music. Without the creation of musicians, it is difficult to produce more good music, and to support musicians is to support the platform itself.

strong > what do musicians need? / strong >

in the current digital age, the original "press conference, playing lists, announcements, activities, marketing" and other methods are no longer practical, online music platform real money support is really what music people need, but music people need not only financial support, and even if hundreds of millions of funds support, distributed to everyone's music, there is not much. What do musicians need besides money?

1, lasting influence. Similar to Zhao Lei's overnight popularity, of course, musicians have a long career, and everyone and every time can not be expected to be popular. Moreover, for emerging original musicians, it is not easy to stand out from many musicians. The Internet pays attention to the head effect, that is, the more head people can get more resources, the more money they can earn. And the more the tail, the more difficult it is to get ahead. QQ Music's top 10 digital album bestsellers are all famous singers, such as Jay Chou, Li Yuchun, Lu Han and Bigbang.

how to release the influence, as a musician, you must first make your work "visible", otherwise, it will only become the "nameless grass" in tens of millions of copyright repositories.

influence is gradually released only if there are enough listeners, and persistence depends on operational ability.

2, the social ability of the platform. Social networks bring musicians not only influence, but also the opportunity to communicate with fans at a zero distance. Without social relationships, musicians and fans are separated, and it is difficult to produce cohesion. NetEyun Music, Kuwi Music, KuGou Music, QQ Music, Xiami Music and other platforms all contain social skills to varying degrees.

unlike popular social networking platforms such as Weibo and Wechat, online music platforms are more vertical and accurate, which is of great value to musicians.

musicians who become famous do not lack the ability to survive, and their ways of realization are diversified. The problem now is that people who are really trying to create good music do not have a good way of life, and newcomers urgently need a platform to help them shine.

from one way of life to another, the process must be very long and painful. If some people adapt, they can make a lot of money and make a lot of money, while others can only sigh and feel sorry for themselves if they don't adapt. Just like the online store at that time, people with sharp vision and strong action have already become rich.

Nietzsche said: "without music, life is worthless." I believe that all of us love music and hope that music people can live honorably and honorably. In the digital age, music is changing, and musicians also need to make progress.

Edit: mary