Building an empire
Alibaba's foray into music is only its latest venture into the entertainment industry over the past two years.
In March 2014, Alibaba acquired Hong Kong-listed entertainment firm ChinaVision Media Group, which it later renamed Alibaba Pictures Group.
The company has since started to make its own movies.
Also, in a bid to encourage ordinary Chinese to invest in movie production, Alibaba launched a mutual fund called Yulebao in March 2014.
By buying into the fund, which pays for production costs, individual investors can receive a share of a movie's box office.
In addition, Alibaba acquired in November 2014 an 8.08 percent stake in leading domestic movie production firm Huayi Brothers for 1.53 billion yuan ($235 million). Its rival Tencent also bought a 8.08 percent stake in the company.
Alibaba has gone beyond production. In November 2015, it announced that it would acquire US-listed Chinese online video provider Youku Tudou Inc in an all-cash deal, to tap into the fast-growing online video market. The deal is worth around $4.6 billion.
There were also other investments in the cultural sector.
Alibaba invested in the social networking site Weibo, acquired Hong Kong's leading English language newspaper - the South China Morning Post - and also invested 1.2 billion yuan in a soccer team, the Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club.
Strengthening the core
Together, these investments might seem random, but analysts said they will pay off down the line, and most will tie back to its core business.
Chinese Internet users are getting used to the idea of paying for streaming media.
Song Ke, CEO of Ali Music, told the news portal sina.com in an interview on Friday that some consumers have formed the habit of paying for video streaming services, which is potentially good news for the music industry.
Movie industry investments could also have a considerable payoff.
China's total box office topped 44 billion yuan in 2015, up 48.7 percent year-on-year.
During the Spring Festival holidays alone, the domestic box office topped 3 billion yuan, setting a record for the industry.
Long-term returns are without a doubt a major reason why Alibaba made these investments, but a more important factor is that these deals could serve its core e-commerce business, said Hou Tao, vice president of the leading entertainment consultancy EntGroup.
For instance, entertainment websites like Youku Tudou and xiami.com, or the video content developed by the company, could serve as a platform to promote stores or products on Alibaba's e-commerce platforms.
Users of these entertainment websites could also be turned into users of Alibaba's e-commerce platforms.
Tencent formed its movie unit in September 2015, which could also help promote Tencent's social networking and gaming businesses, Hou told the Global Times on Sunday.
Zhang from iiMedia shared Hou's view.
"Genetically, Alibaba is still an e-commerce firm. What it does now is all for the future of its core business," he said.
