Launched in 2008, Alibaba have announced they will be shutting down their Chinese music streaming service Xiami Music in February.

Alibaba yesterday officially announced the closure of music streaming platform Xiami Music via WeChat and Weibo as the business is reshuffled. Xiami have stopped offering memberships and album purchases. Downloading music and content will be ceased on February 5th. The company’s musician platform will remain open for those who compose and share work on the platform.

After 12 years of companionship, we are reluctant to say goodbye. We welcome more musicians to join our new digital music platform ‘Yinluo音螺’ and share your beautiful music with more people.

Xiami

Founded in 2006 and acquired by Alibaba in 2013, Xiami Music was one of the big three music streamers in China alongside competitors Tencent (who run QQ Music, Kugou and Kuwo) and NetEase. With 30 million tracks, a focus on indie music and smart discovery, Xiami Music attracted a loyal following of those with niche tastes. As Chinese technology conglomerate Tencent focused on exclusive music deals for its streaming services, Xiami lost the rights to a lot of the music on its platform and thus users left. By 2017, Tencent controlled 75% of China’s music streaming market.

Alongside the announcement, Xiami have launched a playlist export tool, membership refunds and musician earnings withdrawals. Playlists can be transferred to NetEase Cloud Music. Alibaba have a long established relationship with NetEase. The company bought a $700 million stake in NetEase in September 2019 and included NetEase Cloud Music’s VIP service in their 88VIP loyalty program last August.

RouteNote distribute music to Xiami via Kanjian. If you have chosen Kanjian in the stores selection page, don’t worry, we’ll continue sending your music to all the other Asian stores still operating.