BEIJING (CHINA) – In a move that would push Alibaba Group to take a step back from the Chinese entertainment industry the group will close its music streaming platform ‘Xiami Music ‘next month.
“Due to operational adjustments, we will stop the service of Xiami Music,” the online music arm of the Chinese e-commerce giant said on Tuesday on its Weibo account, adding that the closure will occur on Feb. 5.
“It’s hard to say goodbye after being with you for 12 years.”
The app which was acquired in 2013 currently only has 2% of China’s music streaming market despite the company investing millions of yuan. China’s online music market is currently dominated by Tencent Holdings. KuGou Music, QQ Music, KuWo, and NetEase Cloud Music are the other music streaming platforms in China.
Xiami’s closure also comes after Chinese regulators announced that they had launched an antitrust investigation into Alibaba, which beyond its core e-commerce business also operates in sectors such as financial services, cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
However, this does not mark the end to Alibaba’s participation in the online streaming market. In September 2019, Alibaba invested $700 million in one of Xiami’s competitors, NetEase Cloud Music.