Mixed notes sounded on future for music business

Song, who studied science at Tsinghua University, founded the Taihe Rye Music label in 2004 and later headed Warner Music Group's operations in China.

He is now chairman of entertainment company Live Nation China, having also served in that role at online retail giant Alibaba Music. In 2012, after quitting his job as Taihe Rye Music's CEO, Song opened a Peking duck restaurant in Beijing, stirring controversy at the time with his comment, "Recorded music is dead."

Song said: "Let me ask you a question. There are two K-pop groups (from South Korea) breaking into the United States market-BTS and Blackpink. Their albums are in the mainstream music charts and their shows have sold out fast in the US. Why isn't any pop group from China capable of achieving such commercial success?

"I have asked my colleagues from the US and they have no idea why K-pop has been so popular in the West. We had a long discussion and the answer is that we (in China) lack a good system for the pop music industry."

Song was referring to the process of producing musical content that can generate profits, and also the commercial distribution and copyright protection system and marketing strategies.

He said that compared with movies, television shows and video games, the quality of musical products has declined. The movie industry has progressed from black-and-white pictures to 3D IMAX productions, while musical platforms have progressed slowly. Listeners have no interest in paying for a song or album when there are no stringent standards to prevent music being copied and distributed illegally.

"Music is art, and art is rare and valuable. Valuable things should be paid for," he said.

In 2014, Song was appointed chairman of the nonprofit trade group the China Music Industry Committee, or CMIC, which has more than 100 members from record labels and distributors. In 2017, it launched the China Music Industry Committee Music Awards in the hope of restoring some respectability to the industry and setting standards for it, rather than the industry being "just a visual showcase".