In any account, Douban is just a loose alliance of different platforms, including Douban Broadcasting, Douban Group, Douban Instant Chat, Douban Market, etc. Users of these platforms, however, are largely isolated from each other and seldom do they have the chance to get in touch.

Although Douban has attempted to push users out of their small circles, go beyond separate book, film and music items and communicate with each other on the giant Douban Square and has launched a variety of products, including Douban Square, Douban Alpha City and Douban Instant Chat, they all ended up in failure.

If we conclude that Douban Dongxi failed because it’s off the track of Douban’s core business, then Douban FM’s failure reflected Douban’s incapability in the paid content business.

On August 10th, Douban users first came to know the “tragedy” (Douban Dongxi and Douban FM were to be closed) from Douban Community. Within a few hours, the news was reposted for 700 times, leaving lots of comments and complaints underneath.

“Internally, we’ve already been told that they were to be cloased, but it’s still no officially announced yet,” a former Douban staff told TMTPost. We are also told that Douban FM’s team was currently undergoing personnel turnover and transfer. However, another insider revealed to TMTPost that Douban FM wouldn’t be closed down completely. Since Douban didn’t bother to purchase copyright anymore, users will be allowed to link their Douban FM accounts with other third-party music streaming platforms. Nevertheless, Douban FM will cease to exist, except in name.

Among 1,571 pieces of songs liked by TMTPost journalist via Douban FM, only 397 are left available.

The closedown of Douban FM has to do with copyrights.

Although Douban FM once attempted to charge users 10 yuan per month, or 50 yuan for half a year, it was just like a drop in the bucket. Without adequate budget to purchase copyrights, Douban FM’s music library ceased to expand for a long time. Although Douban FM once allowed users to create their own channels, it still has to face the controversy over copyrights.

Launched in November 2009, Douban FM was one of the first few platforms to offer music streaming and recommendation services. Based on users’ preference data and an effective algorithm, Douban FM did manage to provide users with first-class music streaming and recommendation service.

However, as one former Douban FM intern said, in content industries like music and video, IP is crucial. Therefore, product interface, user experience and algorithm optimization should all be based on an adequate amount of contents.

However, as the Chinese music industry enter the second-half copyright battle, Douban FM has no choice but to give up.

Moreover, since Douban FM was reluctant to add search function and provide users with a variety of music lists such as editor’s pick, it failed to meet users’ various needs and rise into a comprehensive music APP where users can both actively select music lists and passively listen to recommended lists of music.

In addition, since Douban separated Douban FM from Douban Music, it missed the golden opportunity to build an active music community. On second thought, however, it might simply be beyond Douban’s capability.

Once upon a time, young Chinese internet users were so enthusiastic about Douban Film Lists and Douban Book Lists. Today, however, NetEase Cloud Music Lists have become the new favorite.

Since music-listening and reviewing are separated on Douban Music, it has already been replaced by alternative music communities, such as NetEase Cloud Music.

Today’s users have already been accustomed to looking through music reviews while listening to music. Therefore, it’s natural that music reviewing platforms such as Douban Music will gradually pale into insignificance.

Besides Douban Moment, Douban Dongxi and Douban FM, Douban Photography and Douban Ticket are said to be closed down too.

Launched in 2016, Douban Photography was an online photographer appointment platform for female users and was once regarded as a promising O2O photography platform. However, as all the photographers on Douban Photography have become unavailable, it’s only a matter of time when it will be officially closed. At the same time, as Douban has almost quitted the film ticket booking market, it’s natural that Douban Ticket will also be closed.

Douban might be getting rid of “useless” early and loyal users

Besides getting rid of sideline businesses, Douban has also been adjusting its positioning and operation model since last year.

As a matter of fact, shortly after Douban released its commercial “Our Spiritual Corner” in March 2016, Douban has started to “invade” in users’ spiritual corners.