Some of the major music companies in China are expected to form an alliance, which will begin charging for music downloads at the beginning of next year. Reports say that Baidu Music and Tencent Music are the major music companies, which could be a part of the new alliance.
Users will now have to pay an amount to download music from the internet. The subscriptions for unlimited downloads are expected to cost between 10 and 15 yuan per month, which is a price level that was jointly reached by the major record companies in the country.
Wang Hao, the chief executive officer of the Xiami website said only hearing music online is expected to be free of charge. The chief executive added, “You won’t have to pay anything to enjoy the music online, but if you want to download it, you will either have to subscribe to the service or pay for each single song”. Wang also said that the era of freebies for China’s online music industry might come to an end.
Wang also explained that the radical change in the industry might bring a positive impact to the online music business. Moreover, the Chinese government has also released documents to boost the development of copyrighted and paid music online.
