Starting from 3pm, users said online that while the mobile and web apps could be opened, they were unable to play music. Instead they received messages saying “data error” or “failed to retrieve play information”. The web version displayed a “502 bad gateway” error.
NetEase Cloud Music said in a statement on its official Weibo account that the outage was caused by “infrastructure failures”. The outage was fully restored by 6pm, according to the company. As compensation, NetEase said it is offering users a free seven-day membership that they can claim on August 20.
NetEase did not immediately respond to an emailed inquiry from the South China Morning Post regarding the specific cause of the outage.
NetEase Cloud Music, a subsidiary of China’s second-largest video gaming company, was listed independently on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2021. According to its earnings, the platform had 206 million monthly active users as of December 2023, with 44.12 million of them paying subscribers. The average revenue per paying user stood at 6.9 yuan (US$1) per month.
The company achieved its first full-year profit last year, when annual net income reached 734 million yuan on 7.9 billion yuan in net revenue. NetEase Cloud Music is set to report its earnings for the first half of 2024 on Thursday.
In comparison, Tencent Music Entertainment – which operates rival apps QQ Music, Kugou Music, Kuwo Music, and the karaoke app WeSing – reported a 17.7 per cent year-on-year increase in paying subscribers to 117 million in the second quarter, with music subscription revenue reaching 3.74 billion yuan.
NetEase Cloud Music shares rose 2.9 per cent today to HK$94.25 (US$12), valuing the company at HK$19.8 billion.