Domestic music market burgeoning thanks to IP protection

The Chinese music market, once seen as chaotic but now viewed as having enormous untapped potential, was in the spotlight at Music Matters, one of the most influential music conferences in Asia, which was held in Singapore from Sept 9 to 13.

The Tencent China Music Forum, organized by Tencent Music Entertainment Group, part of China's internet giant Tencent, took place during the event on Sept 11 and 12, featuring a number of high level content sessions.

Andy Ma, Warner Music's CCO for China, shared a story at one of those sessions.

"About two days ago, when I was in Beijing, I heard a dialogue in a subway station. One young guy asked 'How can I get that song? It's a new release' And the guy he was with said, 'Just pay for it. We just pay 10 bucks and then we get so many subscriptions.' Wow! You see? Consumer behavior is changing. They are more willing to pay for music."

He said that the young generation in China, not just in the first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, but also second-tier cities such as Chengdu and Chongqing, are hungry for new culture. Young Chinese people listen to the international repertoire and then use the Chinese language to be more dynamic, for instance, hip-hop in Chinese.

According to a recent report by the London-based International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the Chinese music market is undergoing a turnaround and it has huge market potential.

The market took a turn for the better in 2011, when QQ Music, a music streaming and download service owned by Tencent, established partnerships with a lot of music labels, including the major ones, Warner Music, Sony Music and Universal Music.

In 2012, the overall recorded music revenue in China was around $88 million. And it grew to $92 million 2013, then $97 million in 2014, which is steady without large growth. A big breakthrough came in 2015 when it soared to $202 million for the year.

"The protecting of intellectual property rights was the reason for this," as Cussion Pang, CEO of Tencent Music Entertainment Group, said at the forum.

And paid services such as those offered by QQ Music really began to take off after China's National Copyright Administration issued a notice in 2015 that online music delivery platforms had to remove all unauthorized songs.

"Right now we have a comprehensive music catalog with over 70 million songs. And we're also helping Chinese labels distribute their music overseas as well," Pang says.

There are about 700 million music lovers in China now, and for QQ Music, the number of monthly active users is about 400 million, which represents nearly 90 percent of the country's online music market.

Besides the forums, Music Matters also features an attendant music festival and this year there were performances by 40 acts from 12 countries, including one by indie rock band, Rid, from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Founded in 2014, the five members - vocalist Hohchahar Sudul, guitarist Hogjim, bassist Shigeta Shisuke, horsehead fiddle player Hhaimuritai and drummer Zheng Xuyang - combine traditional Mongolian music with contemporary music elements.

"This is the first time for us to introduce a Chinese band to Music Matters, which is a great showcase," says Liu Zhao, founder of Stellion Era Cultural Communication, the Beijing-based company, which is the promoter of the band, Rid. "We want to introduce more Chinese bands to overseas audiences, letting them see the diversity of the music scene in China now."

chennan@chinadaily.com.cn