Rocker Wang Feng in concert in Shenzhen Photo: CFP
A show at last year's 500 KM City Music Festival in Kunming, Yunnan Privince Photo: CFP
While the Internet has affected nearly every part of our lives, from the way we correspond with friends and family, to how we shop for clothes, to how we consume news, perhaps no other industry has been more affected by the World Wide Web than the music industry.
While MP3 players and ear buds are seen everywhere throughout China today, the country's recording companies don't reign over their songs' presence on the Internet, leaving them to seek out new ways to make money aside from the outdated medium of CDs.
Online offerings
During the Spring Festival Gala broadcast by Hunan Satellite Television (HST) earlier this year, pop music diva Faye Wong sang her new single "Wish," but many viewers were disappointed in the performance.
However, just as netizens were posting negative comments about the disaster, a cover version of "Wish" by an unknown singer quickly attracted attention on the Internet, with many saying it was much better than Faye Wong's rendition.
The singer, nicknamed "Soda Worm," said he loves singing and occasionally uploads his recordings online. Clicks on his website have surged to over one million, and his version of "Wish" has earned him many new fans.
Like "Soda Worm," there are dozens of previously unknown singers becoming popular via online performances, without the help of traditional mechanisms like recording companies and talent shows.
For singers that have already enjoyed some fame, seeking out new ways to gain more exposure is the key to staying in the game. Li Xingliang, who won sixth place in the Super Boy competition held on HST in 2010, is trying to figure out what he should do next to make himself known by more people.
Having majored in industrial design at university, Li, from Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, said he was still an amateur singer, and that while he planned to improve his singing and produce original music, the most important task would be harnessing the power of the Internet.
He recently chose Sina Weibo as the venue to release a single he recorded for a film. More than a hundred thousand fellow Weibo users are now following him, and his music has been reposted by many of his fans, providing promotional support without costing him a dime.
Evolving to survive
For the music industry, this might be the best of times, or the worst.
Despite the fact that many songs you can rip for free off the Internet are of much poorer quality than the studio recordings that are put on CDs, the reality is that digital music has won the hearts of today's music listeners. The younger generations are highly skilled at searching for music on the Internet, which has resulted in the downfall of China's recording industry.
Insiders say that nowadays few music companies view CDs as a main source of income. Instead, merchandising popular songs has become their bread and butter. Cooperating with cell phone companies and offering music for CRBT (Color Ring Back Tone), for example, is part of these companies' new business model.
Songwriter Cui Xu explained that selling compact discs is absolutely no longer a profitable business. Today, he said, a songwriter could earn about 8,000 yuan for a song through the traditional channels, but he could earn "far more money if he writes a hot CRBT song."
Profit distribution woes
Another reason for the decline of China's recording industry is the way profits are divided up. According to former CEO of Warner China Xu Xiaofeng, in 2011, the gross income of China's music industry was over 30 billion yuan ($4.76 billion), but only two percent of that went to recording companies and artists.
"There are few people buying compact discs today, which used to be the main way most music companies earned money," lamented Xu. He added that the profit division ratio between China Mobile and copyright owners is 98 to 2, which caused recording companies and artists to rake in such a small fraction of industry profits.
Aside from this, as the cornerstone of the music industry, the karaoke market makes profits of over a hundred billion yuan each year. However, between January 2007 and the third quarter of 2009, copyright owners only earned 12 million yuan.
"Radio stations and television channels don't pay copyright fees when they play a song," Xu said.
When Song Ke quit his job as CEO of Taihe Rye Music, the Chinese mainland's largest pop music company, industry observers described his exit as "an earthquake." He said he was disappointed with "the dim future of the pop music company," and predicted that "the death of CDs is coming."
Still, there are people trying to sail the stormy seas. The National Music Industry Base (NMIB), which is currently under the authority of Xu Xiaofeng, is among those working on new ways to make profits.
In cooperation with a professional financial management company, NMIB has initiated a special fund dedicated to making original music. In exchange for copyright ownership, the special fund offers financial support for singers and music producers and helps them produce their records. The artists agree to return the money one day when they get famous, explained Xu.
Hosting music festivals has become a major source of income for NMIB. In cooperation with theaters, live music venues and bars across the country, it has successfully held more than 20 music festivals, gaining revenue by offering advertising space.
Global Times