Is the charge for smart speakers ＂nesting dolls＂ reasonable？

　　Recently, many smart speaker users have reported that they have been "cut leeks". Users accidentally discovered that smart speakers at home must open exclusive members to play music and other content that could be heard for free before. In fact, a similar "nesting doll-style charging" situation has appeared on the TV side. Relevant people believe that with the increasing awareness of copyright protection, consumers have accepted to pay to watch film and television content, but the practice of suddenly charging or restricting playback channels is suspected of infringing on consumers’ right to know and arm’s length transaction rights. Content platforms should use more and better content and better consumer experience to increase user revenue.

　　Who accounts for the majority of speaker expenses?

　　One year membership fee is equivalent to one speaker.

　　"The smart speaker Xiaodu bought before has not been used very much. Recently, my child went to school and wanted to use the Xiaodu speaker to listen to songs. It prompted me that I need to bind a member. I bound the green diamond membership of QQ Music, but it said that the paid songs must be bound to Xiaodu’s own members, 108 yuan a year." Xiaoshan, a consumer from Beijing, was angry, believing that this sudden charging behavior was "cutting leeks" by the smart speaker.

　　In addition to Xiaodu, there are many different brands of smart speakers that have also been complained. "In the past, Tmall Genie could play designated music, but later playing designated music asked me to bind a member. Now popular songs are also bound to a member. What other smart speakers are free of charge?" "When the JD.com Jing Fish Seat speaker was purchased, it only said how many resources it had, but did not mention the payment.

　　Beijing Youth Daily reporters found in an interview that smart speakers that could play music and tell stories for free with their mouths have also begun to charge, causing consumers to express dissatisfaction.

　　From the specific price point of view, the membership fee is generally between 109 yuan and 159 yuan per year, including QQ music/Kugou music/Kuwo music and other music speakers music library, some story books and other content.

　　A reporter from Beiqing Daily searched for "smart speakers" on the e-commerce website and saw that the price of various hardware devices is not high at present. You can buy a smart speaker for 89 yuan, 119 yuan or 134 yuan. If you want to buy one with a screen, the price is slightly more expensive, around five or six hundred yuan. However, buying hardware is just the beginning, and the subsequent membership fee is the bulk of consumer spending. The one-year membership fee is equivalent to the price of an ordinary speaker.

　　There are also consumers who say that even if they recharge their members, they can’t all be free. Take music as an example, members can only choose one of three music libraries in music speakers such as QQ Music/Kugou Music/Kuwo Music. Due to the copyright of these music libraries, each music library has incomplete songs. "If you want to listen to all of them, you may have to buy three copies."

　　What if you don’t want to open a membership?

　　Customer service: You can connect to the Bluetooth of the mobile phone to play songs.

　　In this regard, the customer service of the platform with smart speakers responded: "We have checked internally, because the free resources provided by the music copyright party to the speaker side will be dynamically configured in terms of ownership, hotspots, and regions. It has been optimized for your feedback. According to the requirements of the copyright partner, the songs you are currently on demand need to be bound to the music member account before you can continue to play. It is recommended that you follow the prompts to bind."

　　Another speaker platform customer service said: "Music members from other channels, such as QQ Music’s Green Diamond members, NetEase Cloud Music members, etc., currently do not support logging in to use on speakers. We have cooperative relationships with QQ Music, Kugou, Kuwo, etc. They provide music resources. If you listen to member music on speakers and other devices, you need to open a speaker member with music rights."

　　The customer service also said that there is currently only one way to listen to audio without purchasing members: connect through Bluetooth, and then play the three-party music app member resources logged in on the mobile phone.

　　Therefore, binding membership is not a unilateral requirement of the hardware platform, but a common requirement of the music content copyright providers behind it, including QQ Music, Kuwo Music, Kugou Music, etc.

　　The Beijing Youth Daily reporter saw that the current QQ music green diamond charges 168 yuan/year, and there are more advanced super members and audio-visual members, with prices of 348 yuan/year and 288 yuan/year respectively, while speaker members need to buy separately.

　　In fact, there is a similar situation on the TV side. Not long ago, the topic of "charging multiple members of a smart TV costs nearly 1,000 yuan a year" became a hot search. That is to say, the members of the mobile and TV terminals of major video software are not interoperable, and users who buy the video VIP on the mobile terminal do not mean that they can watch VIP exclusive content on the TV terminal. If they want the family to sit together and watch, they have to buy a more expensive VIP. These apps say that the definition of the TV terminal is higher, so the price is also different. For example, the membership of the Tencent video app is 168 yuan/year, and the TV terminal is 278 yuan/year. Some apps also disable functions such as screen projection and mirroring.

　　In this regard, the Shanghai Consumer Protection Commission issued a document saying that screen projection is a normal usage scenario for mobile end users. Consumers pay, and it is the consumer’s right to watch or cast the screen on the mobile phone. The platform’s practice of restricting consumers’ screen projection in the app is unreasonable, and it is even more unkind to want to use this method to increase charges. Video platforms have no right to improperly obtain mobile phone permissions and interfere with consumers’ use of third-party apps or connections to cast screens.

　　Does "nesting dolls" infringe?

　　Alleged infringement of consumers’ right to know

　　During the interview, the reporter of Beiqing Daily found that some consumers accidentally realized that some content needed to be paid during the use of the speaker, rather than receiving a notification from the platform. This made them feel very bad, thinking that the speaker and the platform were "quietly raising prices behind the back of consumers".

　　In this regard, a lawyer told the Beijing Youth Daily reporter that this kind of "nesting doll-style" behavior, which has suddenly changed from free to charging, is actually suspected of infringing on consumers’ right to know. "First of all, the propaganda information of these speakers is not clear at the time of sale, which is suspected of infringing on consumers’ right to know. The right to know refers to the authenticity, accuracy and appropriateness of consumer information when consumers buy goods and services, which is the guarantee for consumers to make rational choices." Secondly, the lawyer said that platforms such as QQ Music, Kuwo and Kugou, which actually hold content resources, should also open their services to more consumers. " The audio platform should simplify the membership system and clearly inform consumers of the main rights and obligations in the form of text prompts in the pop-up window, so that the majority of consumers can understand and understand the purchase authority. In addition, the video platform unilaterally and suddenly changed the terms that are unfavorable to consumers, suspected of infringing on consumers’ arm’s length transaction rights. "

　　Lawyers also said that the agreement of the video platform is often changed, and consumers should be informed of the change of the agreement by means of pop-ups, etc., and the rights and interests of the original users should be protected. Changing the content of the agreement on a fair and reasonable basis is not a unilateral restriction on the rights and interests of users. For example, there are platforms that suddenly change the content of the agreement and restrict the listening channels of members’ audio. Such unilateral changes and make unfavorable terms to consumers are suspected of infringing on consumers’ arm’s transaction length rights.

　　point of view

　　Both the device side and the content side require multiple considerations

　　With the strengthening of copyright protection awareness, users have been willing to pay to watch film and television content, but merchants ignore consumers’ perceptual experience and opinions in addition to charging. The reason is that on the one hand, because the output content of audio and video content copyright owners is becoming more and more powerful, consumers can only choose from the resources they provide, and have no bargaining power; on the other hand, there are no clear laws and regulations or national standards or industry standards to regulate member business. But it should also be noted that the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television have clearly put forward the principle of combining service costs with social affordability.

　　No matter when, respecting users and cherishing consumers’ favor should be the "golden rule" pursued by merchants and even the industry. Obviously, charging users in disguise with the "nesting doll-style charging membership" and the incompatible overlord clause of multiple end points will not only look ugly, but also consume the good user experience and trust in merchants accumulated in the early stage, shake the foundation of the content payment model, and even destroy the payment cake.

　　In this regard, both end point equipment manufacturers and content providers need to consider many aspects, abandon the narrow interests of thinking mode, combined with multi-end point compatible market needs, explore the development of a membership system to meet the needs of users, and bring more and more rich video resources to the people, so as to go a long way.

　　This group article/reporter of this newspaper, Wen Jing

　　Coordinator/Yu Meiying