On the 4th of February, music streaming service Xiami responded to a newly implemented block by Tencent-owned mobile messaging service WeChat, which now prevents users from sharing tracks directly to their “Moments” feed (a basic newsfeed that is incredibly popular for sharing photos and redirected content from third-party apps).
An official post offers a playlist and series of somewhat complicated instructions that aim to help fans (of what is essentially the biggest rival to Tencent’s very own QQMusic) bypass the block. It’s not the first time Tencent has played this card: in September 2013 Alibaba tried to take on WeChat by introducing its 来往 mobile messaging service. Foreseeing the development of a competing walled garden Tencent acted swiftly, blocking access to Xiami, but later reversed the action.
These kinds of moves are displays of competition in its crudest form, and with Line recently acquiring MixRadio, what we’ll end up with in the end is a further balkanisation of the digital music ecosystem. We have commented in the past on the difficulties digital streaming services have faced converting freemium users to paid service tiers – if more efforts were spent on creating amazing user experiences and smart ways of curating and recommending music, perhaps these rivals could win people over through ingenuity rather than protectionism.