【英文朗读】Digital music market rapidly expanding

Digital music market rapidly expanding

00:08①China's digital music market has witnessed steady growth along with the popularization of the mobile internet and relentless official efforts to combat piracy, and Generation Z consumers－born between the mid-1990s and the early 2010s－are increasingly willing to pay for copyrighted online music, experts said.

00:34②Revenue of China's digital music market is expected to hit 42.89 billion yuan ($6.7 billion) in 2021, compared with 35.73 billion yuan in 2020, said iiMedia Research. The number of digital music app users is expected to rise from 618 million in 2020 to 645 million in 2021, data for which is yet to be finalized.

01:11③Cloud Village Inc, the music streaming arm of Chinese internet company NetEase Inc, said it generated most of its revenue from subscriptions, advertising and when users buy virtual items on its platforms. The company debuted and raised $421 million via its IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Dec 2. 

01:38④In addition, with the arrival of the 5G era, music consumption scenarios for users will be more diversified as memberships, paid albums, songs and livestreaming are becoming the main forms of payment, it said.

01:56⑤Experts said the young generation can afford the expense of digital music content, as expenditure on digital songs or albums is much less than purchasing physical records in the past. They also showed fewer objections to paying for subscription services.