Choice of Social Music Systems in China: A Study of NetEase Cloud Music

Social music is gaining popularity, but there is still little understanding of why it is popular in China. In this study, we applied mixed methods and used NetEase Cloud Music (a popular social music app) as the research platform for a preliminary exploration of user’s motives and their relationship with technology acceptance and social presence. The interview study (N=21) shows that users preferred NetEase Cloud Music rather than other services because of five reasons (recommended by acquaintance, good UI design, accurate recommendation and classification system, wonderful comments and a sense of community, and user relation activities). The survey study (N=246) shows that wonderful comment and a sense of community is strongly related to social presence; good UI design is strongly related to ease of use; accurate recommendation and classification system is strongly related to usefulness. We discuss the practical implications for designers and the platform.