Online distributors keen to boost live streaming of shows

South Korean band Girls' Generation is one of the groups featured in Tencent K-Pop Live, a series of real-time broadcasts online.[Photo provided to China Daily]

She also says that most of the live streaming is free for Tencent's subscribers now; fees will be charged once live-concert broadcasting becomes more standard fare.

Yin Liang, Chinese Internet company LeTV's music division director, says business models for this content are still evolving, and that prices depend on the length of shows and the popularity of the artists.

In August 2014, Yin initiated the idea of streaming live Chinese rock singer-songwriter Wang Feng's concert held at Bird's Nest. Each online user was charged 30 yuan ($4.80) for Wang's concert while prices for real tickets ranged from 280 yuan to 1,680 yuan.

Around 75,000 viewers watched the concert on LeTV.com. The successful live streaming gave Chinese Internet companies confidence about making money from live broadcasting of such events.

Since then, LeTV has broadcast live shows of domestic and foreign artists for a fee. From Sept 19-28, LeTV had a live-streaming schedule of 20 shows, including the 2015 Global Citizen Festival headlined by Beyonce and Coldplay on Sept 26 in New York City, with 18 yuan charged for each show.

"Though most Chinese Internet companies haven't made profits from live streaming yet, the situation is about to change," says Jiang Shu, CEO of Tree Music, a Beijing-based indie music company, who worked with Tencent on the June broadcast of Chinese rock singer Luo Qi's concert in Nanjing.

More than 1 million people watched the concert live online and within three days, about 4 million more tuned in.

On Oct 24, Chinese folk band Wild Children, which is under Jiang's label, will hold a Beijing concert, which will be streamed live.

"I will cooperate with more Internet companies to live stream shows," Jiang says.

"For us, the content provider, what we want now is the wider influence of the artists. As for profits, it's a matter of time."