Mixed notes sounded on future for music business

The jury for the first awards comprised 101 members of the committee, all from record labels and distributors. Veteran songwriter and producer Jonathan Lee from Taiwan was the chief consultant.

Song said, "Few singers showed up at the gala because the results were not unveiled until later that night. People were watching and waiting to see if the awards were 'fair' and 'authoritative', as we had claimed.

"We are in the era of the hit single, as albums mean less and less to today's consumers. When you look at the statistics for digital music, it relies on stars such as Jay Chou who has a large number of followers and his musical heritage is passed on from one generation to the next. The fans have a longtime commitment," he said.

"Perhaps a greater problem lies in the quality of the music. We need more talent, such as sound engineers, producers, designers and marketing management."

Song's hesitancy in celebrating a boom for the industry probably stems from the performance of the recording business on the Chinese mainland, which struggled to survive during the 2000s after the internet took off.

In the 1990s, he witnessed a time when singers easily sold millions of cassette tapes and qualified people worked in the industry. But when large amounts of pirated music arrived on the market, few companies were serious about helping performers.

So, should the industry be worried? In a word, no.

Yang Qihu, general manager of Tencent Music Entertainment Group, or TME, said: "While people don't need music to live, they need it all the same. It's in our DNA and we're always going to consume it in one form or another. What we are seeing now is the business transforming as music streaming becomes the consumption method of choice for listeners."

Before the advent of digital music, vinyl records dominated the market from 1945 onward, and from 1980 to 2000, cassettes and compact discs were the best-sellers.

With the arrival of the internet era in the early 2000s, sales of recorded music fell, with consumers looking to digital music and subscription services. According to the report released during the forum, sales last year fell by about 2 percent year-on-year to 300 million yuan.

Yang said there were about 38 million digital music subscribers in China last year, with the proportion of users paying for services comprising just 5.3 percent of the market.