Audiences, businesses quick to move online

Online concerts

With offline performances canceled due to the pandemic, record companies, music and livestreaming platforms have organized online concerts and music festivals featuring leading singers and bands.

Music platforms and record companies are also using online performances as an opportunity to promote new singers and bands, and to generate fresh ideas for performances.

Most online concerts and music festivals are free, and viewers can communicate with musicians by making comments during livestreaming sessions.

In April, music streaming service provider NetEase Cloud Music launched 100 online concerts, with the money earned from them going to the singers and bands as part of a program to support musical talent. The platform later staged pay-per-view concerts featuring celebrities such as the hit band TFBoys.

On April 11 in Beijing, the National Center for the Performing Arts launched its Spring Online Concert series for audiences forced to stay home due to the pandemic.

Viewers are offered music by composers such as Beethoven, Mahler and Mozart performed by the China NCPA Orchestra. The first online performance attracted more than 30 million hits.

A report by market consultancy iMedia Research stated that in the first half year of this year, more than 80 million people were subscribing to online music performances.

The suspension of offline concerts and music festivals has triggered demand for online entertainment and spurred the development of virtual concerts.

The report said more than 64 percent of respondents said online music performances had become an important source of entertainment for them during the pandemic. Over 63 percent said that when they chose an online platform, their main consideration was the musicians who were performing.

Initially, online music platforms largely depended on their singers and bands to attract viewers, which led to fierce competition, the report said.

It added that it is important for the online music performance market to attract new users, retain regular ones and explore ways to make money, such as by staging paid-for online concerts.