The Chinese music scene is in for a huge shakeup as web commerce conglomerate Alibaba has announced a music division. The company will reportedly be combining two of its holdings, Tiantian and Xiami, into one massive streaming service titled Alizila.
Alibaba acquired Xiami during 2013, a move that seemed suspicious considering the company's previous holding of Tiantian. How long Alibaba (similar to Amazon.com for China) has been planning the launch of the new platform is unknown. Song Ke, a former music executive for Warner Music, will serve as CEO, while singer-songwriter and talk show host Gao Xiaosong will serve as its chairman.
"It is hoped that [Gao and Song] will creatively disrupt and catalyze the music industry," read a statement from Alibaba, a company worth $207 billion. "Combining their cumulative experience... with Alibaba's capabilities in the Internet space and big data."
This news might not mean too much on the international front, especially in the United States, where users can choose between new options Apple Music and Tidal, as well as other streaming mainstays such as Spotify and Pandora. China is a market that calls for streaming options perhaps more than any other however. Reports in recent years have indicated that as much as 99 percent of music acquired in the country is done so by piracy. Although Western markets debate whether streaming pays the musicians behind the work enough, the possibility that performers will be paid anything g in China has to be considered a huge step forward.
Not that Alizila is the first option for the nation: Tencent, Alibaba's main competitor, has announced deals with Sony Music and the Warner Music Group during 2015. When one or both gets their platforms off of the ground, it will hopefully have a massive impact on the levels of piracy in the nation.
