(Yicai Global) March. 6 -- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and NetEase Inc. have decided to bury the hatchet with a deal that will see them share exclusive music copyrights across their respective Cloud Music and Xiami streaming platforms.

The agreement will see Beijing-based NetEase share song catalogs from record labels including EE-Media Co., Avex Inc. and HIM International Music Inc., while Hangzhou-based Alibaba will allow access to content from Rock Records Co., SM Entertainment Co. and BMG Rights Management GmbH.

Competition among online music platforms in China has focused very much on copyright issues over the past few years. The National Copyright Administration called on Alibaba and NetEase to iron out their differences and promote the full authorization of their respective song rights following a string of legal cases, which had also involved fellow streamer Tencent Holdings Ltd.

Last month, Tencent Music and NetEase Cloud Music agreed to share copyrights covering 99 percent of their libraries and they may cooperate further in projects related to music rights.

The three companies dominate China's music market, with Tencent operating the country's three most popular streaming apps by user numbers, Kugou Music, QQ Music and Kuwo Music. NetEase Cloud Music and Xiami rank fourth and fifth, respectively.