Taiwan lyrics site Mojim's disappearance draws mixed reactions from HK netizens

Netizens in Hong Kong have expressed their disappointment at the abrupt disappearance of the Taiwanese lyric website Mojim.com (魔鏡歌詞網), which used to upload lyrics of Cantonese pop songs. 

It comes as several netizens said they discovered Mojim.com did not appear in the results of Google or any other search engines when they searched for lyrics on Tuesday (2 July), according to multiple media reports such as HK01 and NowTV. Some of these netizens said while they were still able to access the site on 30 June,  it appears the site may have shut down on 1 July.

A check by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE found that when searching for Mojim.com, the website appears to be unreachable, indicating the site is no longer accessible.

The sudden unavailability of Mojim.com has sparked a mix of reactions from netizens. Since 2 July, media intelligence firm CARMA has observed over 800 mentions. Of these, 35.5% were positive and 8% were negative.

Many netizens expressed their disappointment and confusion, wondering why the website had shut down without any notice or explanation, said CARMA’s HK GM Charles Cheung.

“Some stated that the shutdown of Mojim.com marks the end of an era, and they cannot accept the loss of collective childhood memories,” Cheung added. Some speculated that the closure might be due to copyright issues or legal problems. A few were hoping that it was just a temporary suspension and that mojim.com might be undergoing a system update, according to Cheung. 

Meanwhile, social monitoring firm Meltwater saw over 200 mentions regarding the shutdown of Mojim.com, with 30.2 positive, 11.8% negative, and 58% neutral sentiments.

Keywords associated with Mojim.com include “detailed lyric” (詳盡歌詞), “operation without intention” (無心運作), and “KKBOX”.

According to HK01, Mojim.com was established in August 2005, allowing netizens to view the lyrics of global popular music for free. It covered the song lyrics of artists from Asia, Europe, America, Japan, and Korea over the years. The website was authorised by the Music Publishers Association Of Chinese Taipei (MPA) (台北市音樂著作權代理人協會) in 2008 and became a licensed online operator.

The website solely relied on advertising revenue while updating song lyrics on a daily basis. Its most distinctive feature was the inclusion of the sentence "更多更詳盡歌詞在※ Mojim.com 魔鏡歌詞網" (More and more detailed lyrics at ※ Mojim.com).

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