Recently, NetEase Cloud Music's "Million Prize AI Music Creation Competition" officially concluded. After a professional jury and public voting by more than 30,000 music fans, "Unikara"'s work "Just Right" won the championship, "Burrito Truck Cannon"'s work "Second Heartbeat" won the runner-up, and "Shou De Mao"'s work "Year-End Summary and Conclusion" won the third runner-up. The 10 new stars with creative potential have also been announced, and the list of winners of the competition is being announced.
The song "Just Right" composed by the musician "Unikara" won the competition championship "Peak Golden Melody Award" and received a bonus of 500,000 yuan. "Just Right" is a work that expresses the rhythm of life and emotional blankness, paying tribute to Fang Datong's "Orange Moon" album. The author uses R&B, neo-soul, etc. as the core when creating. The lyrics focus on daily moments that are easily overlooked. The melody retains the natural rhythm and human flavor, and is close to the texture of real singing. The theme of the song hopes that "oneself" can learn to slow down, not pull or escape in relationships, and find the "just right" that belongs to each other. Peng Fei, a well-known producer and music composer, commented: "(This is a) relatively complete work. It feels like the author put a lot of thought into its creation. The music library materials are used in multiple languages and styles, and there is a certain space for popular potential."
Musician "Burrito Truck Cannon"'s "Second Heartbeat" won the runner-up "Best AI Exploration Award" and received a bonus of 200,000 yuan. This work was inspired by the question "When AI can perfectly simulate human emotions and creativity, will people feel threatened or surprised?" and AI's answer to this question, emphasizing the AI's "desire to be treated as the same kind" emotion. Well-known lyricist Hong Ruiye commented: "The lyrics are great. 'Why the second tone' was used in the planning to arouse curiosity. The style of the song is not guava, but more of a new soul style. Overall it is excellent."
The musician's "Year-End Summary and Conclusion" won the third runner-up "Best Creative Award" and received a bonus of 100,000 yuan. Competition judge and AI musician "Roaming Conference Room" commented: "(This is) a positive song with a complete structure and rich details. It uses a large number of life symbols to create a strong sense of substitution. The whole song perfectly combines the two themes of bidding farewell to the past and embracing the future."
The competition also has 10 "Rising Stars with Creative Potential" awards, with bonuses of 20,000 yuan each. The list of winners has also been announced: Le Jiupei ("Want to Kiss You"), Lan Yan ("In a Time You Don't Know – Scarecrow x Wall Breaker CP Song"), Harris ("Umbrella Tends to You in the Wind and Rain"), Mengying ("Missed Call"), potherD ("If Wukong Goes to Deliver Food"), Sweam Lee ("Reflection"), Kag Chuu ("Ode to Mongolia"), Wu Lin ("Looking at each other is a spiritual kiss without contact"), Xiaotang Acridine ("Love You from Zero Distance"), XIAO_YUking ("You are fine").
In order to encourage the creation of high-quality AI songs, NetEase Cloud Music launched the "Million Prize AI Music Creation Competition" on December 11, 2025, inviting well-known professional musicians and AI music experts such as Peng Fei, Ruiye, Guan Tiantian, Roaming Conference Room, An Qi, etc. to form a professional jury, hoping to explore "what high-quality AI music should look like" and let more people feel the more possibilities of "AI+ creativity" at a higher level. In addition to bonus incentives, contestants who publish their works on NetEase Tianyin will also have the opportunity to receive exclusive incentives for AI songs, tens of millions of promotional resources, free AI creation points, platform contract cooperation and other generous resources.
Competition judge and AI musician "Roaming Conference Room" said in an interview: "I think it is a big trend for all walks of life to embrace AI, and high-prize competitions can promote the development of AI music. This is a virtuous circle. AI is still a tool in the end. Only when people use it will it be better used, and more people will use it if it is better."
It is reported that this competition attracted a total of more than 20,000 people to participate, with more than 50,000 submitted works, more than 30,000 review partners, and more than 100 million online exposures. The prize money and influence are the highest in the field of domestic AI music competitions. The competition has become one of the landmark events of domestic AI music creation.
AI is reshaping the music consumption scene, influencing and restructuring the entire music industry. In this process, NetEase Cloud Music insists on being at the forefront, not only promoting the deep integration of AI technology into users' music listening scenes, but also helping to build a healthy AI music industry ecosystem through systematic measures such as "creation tools + business mechanisms + benchmarking events". In the future, NetEase Cloud Music will continue to explore more possibilities of AI music.
