Comments on: Establishing a music business in China http://blog.pepsicozeitgeist.com/2010/03/establishing-a-music-business-in-china/ Just another WordPress weblog Mon, 30 Aug 2010 04:44:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Joshua Cheek http://blog.pepsicozeitgeist.com/2010/03/establishing-a-music-business-in-china/comment-page-1/#comment-83 Joshua Cheek Fri, 02 Apr 2010 01:50:36 +0000 http://blog.pepsicozeitgeist.com/?p=894#comment-83 - China’s Population: 1.6 Billion (the figures are understated. I have this from a member of the CPC). - Capital of China: Beijing (formally Beiping) since established by the Ming Emperor Yongle in 1403, with several excursions to Nanjing. - Name 5 Cities in China besides Shanghai, Beijing: Guangzhou, Xian, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, Dalian, etc. - Name 5 Chinese Music Artists: Ayouduo, Song Zuying, Deng Lijun (Teresa Teng), Faye Wong (Wong Fei), Peng Liyuan, Sa Dingding - Name the biggest selling music artist in terms of CRBTs (China Ringback Tones): Deng Lijun (Teresa Teng) - How Many Music Festivals are in China? Which genre? Rock? Traditional? Classical? - Name the Chinese Equivalent of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and MSN YouTube: Tuduo and 56.com Facebook: Xiaonai,Yiqi - neither are very popular. Twitter and MSN: QQ rules the Chinese IM aether! What do I win??? Jamila, I appreciate VERY much what you are saying. My experience is from the OPPOSUITE perspective - promoting Chinese music and artists in the west, so perhaps my perspective is unique and different. Working the music business in China is compares favorably to sopping yourself down with blood and chum and diving into a shark tank! Your points 2 and 5 are definitely related. You will LOSE a ton of money for an indefinite period while you try to find a local partner. Sincerity is of NO benefit dealing in the Chinese market. Contracts are nothing more than practice in the art of arguement and will dutifully be ignored the minute the ink has dried! I agree COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY with your points 3 and 4! A competent Chinese-language website is ESSENTIAL! So is finding a competent interpreter you can TRUST! Do NOT accept interpreters provided by your contacts or Chinese partners! TRUST ME ON THIS! I brought my own translator to a meeting (she was a colege student, totally unattaced to the music industry) and I was STUNNED at what my "partner" was saying during the meeting! Is there potential? Yes. On both sides. There is a market for western acts in China; and for my part, Chinese music is one of the most ancient, beautiful and complex arts produced by humanity. I cannot say the same for Mandopop or Cantopop... and there is passing interest in Chinese Rock and Punk (but it has a LONG WAY to go before rivalling J-Pop or Japan's music scene...). Final advice? LOVE China or you will end up HATING China! This is a PERILOUS market! On the bright side, as Vietnam's economy grows more robust, more artistic opportunities will develop! The food is great, the people are beautiful and the culture is also amazingly complex - though blessedly more transparent than China's. Tony Bourdaine laoves Vietnam... he may have a point! - China’s Population: 1.6 Billion (the figures are understated. I have this from a member of the CPC).

- Capital of China: Beijing (formally Beiping) since established by the Ming Emperor Yongle in 1403, with several excursions to Nanjing.

- Name 5 Cities in China besides Shanghai, Beijing: Guangzhou, Xian, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, Dalian, etc.

- Name 5 Chinese Music Artists: Ayouduo, Song Zuying, Deng Lijun (Teresa Teng), Faye Wong (Wong Fei), Peng Liyuan, Sa Dingding

- Name the biggest selling music artist in terms of CRBTs (China Ringback Tones): Deng Lijun (Teresa Teng)

- How Many Music Festivals are in China? Which genre? Rock? Traditional? Classical?

- Name the Chinese Equivalent of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and MSN
YouTube: Tuduo and 56.com
Facebook: Xiaonai,Yiqi – neither are very popular.
Twitter and MSN: QQ rules the Chinese IM aether!

What do I win???

Jamila, I appreciate VERY much what you are saying. My experience is from the OPPOSUITE perspective – promoting Chinese music and artists in the west, so perhaps my perspective is unique and different.

Working the music business in China is compares favorably to sopping yourself down with blood and chum and diving into a shark tank! Your points 2 and 5 are definitely related. You will LOSE a ton of money for an indefinite period while you try to find a local partner. Sincerity is of NO benefit dealing in the Chinese market. Contracts are nothing more than practice in the art of arguement and will dutifully be ignored the minute the ink has dried!

I agree COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY with your points 3 and 4! A competent Chinese-language website is ESSENTIAL! So is finding a competent interpreter you can TRUST! Do NOT accept interpreters provided by your contacts or Chinese partners! TRUST ME ON THIS! I brought my own translator to a meeting (she was a colege student, totally unattaced to the music industry) and I was STUNNED at what my “partner” was saying during the meeting!

Is there potential? Yes. On both sides. There is a market for western acts in China; and for my part, Chinese music is one of the most ancient, beautiful and complex arts produced by humanity. I cannot say the same for Mandopop or Cantopop… and there is passing interest in Chinese Rock and Punk (but it has a LONG WAY to go before rivalling J-Pop or Japan’s music scene…).

Final advice? LOVE China or you will end up HATING China! This is a PERILOUS market! On the bright side, as Vietnam’s economy grows more robust, more artistic opportunities will develop! The food is great, the people are beautiful and the culture is also amazingly complex – though blessedly more transparent than China’s. Tony Bourdaine laoves Vietnam… he may have a point!

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