How did Gao Xiaosong and Song Ke get vacated by public opinion?

As rumored in the industry at the end of July, after nearly two months, Ali Music carried out a major executive adjustment as scheduled on the 19th of this month - Gao Xiaosong, the former chairman of Ali Music, has been appointed as the chairman of Ali Entertainment Strategy Committee, Song Ke has been appointed chairman of Ali Music, and Yang Weidong, president of Heyi Group (Youku Tudou), is also the CEO of Ali Music. The density of this adjustment, the high level and the huge impact of this person adjustment can be called the highest in the music industry this year.

Since announcing the helm of Ali Music in July 2015, Gao Xiaosong and Song Ke have experienced a fierce copyright war and launched "Ali Music" with a huge structure, and after the two took office for a full 14 months, the changes they ushered in also triggered many interpretations, "being hollowed out" and "Ali Music encountered marginalization" are endless.

It seems understandable that the music industry has undergone major changes in 2016, and when the fight has not yet been won or lost, it is the critical period of Ali Music, and the move of "changing generals" will inevitably cause doubts. However, for Ali, who always shouts "embrace change", it is also normal for Ali music to have a big change.

Since the adjustment of Ali Music's personnel, we have also inquired from various sources, some of which may not have been mentioned. Here, based on public and non-public information, we also talk about the possible considerations and future trends behind Ali Music's personnel adjustment.

Personnel adjustment: do you want to "fade out" and "airborne" so quickly?

Gao Xiaosong can hardly say "completely fade out". According to the internal letter of Yu Yongfu, head of Alibaba's leading group for cultural and entertainment work, Gao Xiaosong, chairman of Alibaba Music, is latest in his position as "chairman of the Alibaba Entertainment Strategy Committee", but the responsibility of "being fully responsible for the international strategy of Alibaba Entertainment" does not state what specific tasks he is responsible for, which is also a major reason for his decline.

However, many information shows that after the promotion of Gao Xiaosong, there will be more contact with Ali Music, and it is difficult to fade out. If you look back at Gao Xiaosong's experience in the industry, it is not difficult to find, but whether it is in Taihe Wheat Field or Evergrande Music, he has always been "hanging up" and does not do specific work, compared with the previous posture of "flying like a crane in the clouds, flying around and flying to the prime minister", although Gao Xiaosong of Ali Music is not in China most of the time, he is very strong in matters such as copyright wars and macro planning.

People who do not have much contact with Ali Music may not know that Gao Xiaosong, who is good at negotiation and communication, has been absent from China for a long time during Ali Music's work, and an important task is to open up overseas resources for Ali Music, and has negotiated several transnational cooperation projects. Therefore, this time Gao Xiaosong led the international strategy of Alibaba's great culture and entertainment, which is also expected.

We still don't know what the "several transnational cooperation projects" operated by Gao Xiaosong are, but judging from Gao Xiaosong's past actions, with his influence in the entertainment industry, it seems that no one can replace his position in the internationalization of Ali Entertainment, and with the many core information he has mastered in more than a year, including financing negotiations, it is indeed difficult to say that he has completely "faded out".

What is Song Ke's "innovative business"? As for Song Ke, who loves to post "machine sets" in the circle of friends, during his tenure as CEO of Ali Music, he experienced the breakdown of the copyright mutual grant negotiation and copyright war with friends and businessmen, and will change the version of Everyday Sound and launch "Ali Planet", whose latest position is the chairman of Ali Music, "responsible for the innovative development of Ali Music's performing arts business".

Needless to say, the acting business undoubtedly refers to the direction of offline expansion of the "Ali Planet" that has just been launched for less than half a year, and Song Ke still directly controls this business after serving as chairman, which also shows that Ali Music attaches great importance to it. If Ali Music has made a big move into the performance market and just does live broadcasting like other Internet platforms, it can really wash and sleep. Since Yang Weidong is the CEO, it is likely to combine the resources of the excellent soil and the planet platform to complete a series of online and offline integration.

Back to Ali Planet, this platform has been online for several months, although there has not yet been a project that can become a tipping point, it has indeed been a continuous business, and the recent voice in the media has also been significantly higher. Therefore, it is said that Ali senior management is quite satisfied with the performance of Ali Music. Song Ke has previously mentioned: "Ali Planet has started from scratch, fans have surged to millions, and the prototype of fan e-commerce has emerged; compared with the same period last year, the revenue has increased several times." "Therefore, in summary, it seems that the old Song is suspected of being overridden, and it seems that it is not very valid."

In addition, it may be worth paying attention to Yu Yongfu's vague "innovative development" in the internal letter, as for what the specific connotation is, the author has not received further information at present.

Yang Weidong's "integration task". From being in charge of the Tudou business to the president of Heyi Group (Youku Tudou) to concurrently serving as the CEO of Ali Music, Yang Weidong has achieved a two-level jump in his personal career in just half a year. Its main task at Alibaba Music is to "further enhance the strategic synergy between Alibaba Music and other segments of Alibaba Entertainment, and accelerate the opening up of audiovisual resources and platforms".

In view of the beginning of the establishment of the "Ali Grand Cultural and Entertainment Sector" in June this year, Yu Yongfu mentioned: "The focus of the first stage is to first complete the 'three links', that is, information communication and talent communication, and finally realize the strategic communication and form a common 'one map'." Therefore, this personnel adjustment of Ali Music is the intention of Ali's senior management to try to integrate music and video first: Yang Weidong is also the CEO, and it is easier to smoothly carry out internal work. As a result, Ali Music will further get rid of the role of a simple music player.

Yang Weidong as CEO of Ali Music shows that Ali Music may open up the channel of listening to music (shrimp rice) and watching music (Youku), and will acquire users with "comprehensive entertainment", coupled with Ali Planet's fan e-commerce, and Song Ke's upcoming performance business, it seems to be a layout of the whole industry chain, so compared with several other players, Ali Music is obviously more ambitious.

Ali's large cultural and entertainment sector has just been established for three months, and from the perspective of "integration and interoperability", the executive adjustment of Ali Music is just the beginning, and there may be more changes in the future.

What is the future of Ali Music?

This is indeed not a simple personnel adjustment, followed by more blockbuster news, including financing rumors. Regarding this financing, some people in the capital circle said that Ali Music's A round of financing is quite sought-after, and the valuation is also "very high".

Capital is indeed an important element in driving exponential changes in the industry. Not long ago, Tencent merged QQ Music and Ocean Music and controlled a new company; NetEase Cloud Music announced the first round of financing plans; coupled with the financing news revealed by Ali Music, the head company of China's Internet music industry finally ushered in the era of big capital.

But spending money to buy copyright is only the initial stage of the Internet music industry, even if each family has ushered in a large amount of financing, it may not be as simple as the audience expects to simply exert efforts on copyright. The development models of QQ Music, Ali Music, NetEase Cloud and Taihe Music have their own emphases, in addition to the intersection in the field of exclusive digital albums and copyright music libraries, the possibility of comprehensive confrontation is unlikely - the development of China's music and entertainment industry is expected to change greatly.

The best fate of Ali Music is to integrate into the Alibaba entertainment sector and continue to develop.

*The article is the author's independent opinion and does not represent the position of Tiger Sniff Network

This article was published by Tiger Sniff Network with the permission of Gewu Squeak and edited by Tiger Sniff Network. Reprinting this article requires the author's consent and please attach the source (Tiger Sniff Network) and a link to this page. The original link https://www.huxiu.com/article/164764.html

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