CHINA // INDUSTRY NEWS
// IFPI GLOBAL MUSIC REPORT HAILS CHINA’S SUCCESS
By The Numbers
I have a weird way to measure China’s impact on the global market that I like to do every year as the IFPI report comes out. No, it’s not to check the country ranking, though that would be a fair test, as China has risen steadily over the years. It’s to count the number of times China is mentioned in that report. And I have to say, this year is a real winner.
Let’s look at some historical numbers:
- 2019 – mentioned 9 times, a few references to a “digital transformation”, noted opportunities for Western artists who want to come to China, and hopes that the West will “fall in love with C-pop”. This was the year after it entered the top ten, so people were rather excited.
- 2020 – mentioned 16 times, but nearly all were about the artist Tia Ray, otherwise there was a brief nod to developing copyright laws.
- 2021 – mentioned 16 times, but about half were about the artist Chen Li Nong, and a lot of discussion of the numbers in Asia in general, appreciate the writer who noted in that segment “We should no longer look at Asia as one giant block”.
- 2022 – mentioned 7 times, most were Universal quotes pushing their endeavors locally.
- 2023 – mentioned 4 times, three of which were just mentions of it in now being in the top five globally.
- 2024 – mentioned 14 times, if you don’t count the previous years’ (likely sponsored) artist spotlights, that’s the most yet. Let’s go!
I was happiest to see the number of different ways China is mentioned in this years’ report. There is a whole section on China alone, that doesn’t focus on any specific artists, referring to “a global opportunity”, two mentions of China in “Asia, K-Pop and the rise of the ‘superfan’”, and some nice quotes from a Universal exec in ‘The Artist Partnership’ section. Fantastic.
Growth Rate
The biggest mention of China in the report’s coverage was in the growth rate – 25.9%, the fastest rate of increase in any top 10 market. This alone is noteworthy, though there’s some context I can add here.
Chinese companies have been pushing for paid subscribers like crazy over the last year or so. This is a marked shift from the several years before that, when the push was around platform user growth. And the DSPs are largely achieving this growth by taking things away from fans, in a way that I don’t think listeners in the West would be able to handle. Countless tracks are now “VIP only”, meaning you have to be a paid subscriber to listen past the first 15 seconds. It’s user-unfriendly, frustrating for artists who see play counts dropping in many cases, and frequently derided online. Did that sound negative? Sorry, what I meant to say is that it is working, at least on the whole. Revenues are going up, as are paid subscriber numbers. I can’t imagine a world where Spotify, YouTube, and the like just turned off the hose of freely accessible music on their listeners, but from what I can see in China, people are more amenable to it than their online commentary would suggest. And that’s what’s driving the growth we’ve seen in the IFPI report, in my opinion.
Chinese Artists
Notably missing from the report this year is a large spotlight on a Chinese artist. From what I can tell, they just haven’t worked out the way labels wanted them to. Flashing big numbers on a page doesn’t work, Americans do not listen to Chinese music, and I’m not exactly sure why. There are some breakout examples I covered in past newsletters, but those are the exception, not a signal of the industry as a whole. The truth is, for most Chinese artists, it doesn’t matter – the local market is large enough to support their career, it’s only superstars that need to look overseas for continued growth. This was definitely the case for touring artists during COVID, who enjoyed the fruits of the border closure, but it is certainly the case for others. The one outlier here may be EDM DJs, who continue to land killer collaborations and placements on international labels.
Labels are hoping for a repeat of the trend of K-Pop, but there are no signs of it, despite the optimism of some quoted in the IFPI report: “the cultural influence of Chinese music is poised to amplify globally”.
The Artist Partnership
This section includes some insight into what labels are doing for artists in China. “a key factor to artist partnerships in a fast-growing market like China are the services and support a record company can provide.” But it’s not just record companies providing those services and support (shameless self plug here for Groove Dynasty), and sometimes record companies are not that great at it. If you’re an A-list major label artist, yeah you’re probably getting a lot of support via local marketing, DSP pitching, playlists, influencers, etc. But a lot of international artists are going that route themselves, and reaping the benefits on their own.
Another quote from this section “In a world with so much noise and so much volume, our role as the artist’s greatest champion is more important than ever — helping them tell their story and curate their vision, while fiercely protecting their work and their brand.” What an eloquent way to describe what I do, in a place where not taking part in your own marketing doesn’t just mean that nobody is paying attention, but that someone else could be telling your story in a way you don’t like.
Some Other Bits
Content is king, a fact that is highlighted in other areas of the IFPI report. “Short-form video in particular must go hand-in-hand with a move towards long-form and paid streaming”. Again, back to the beginning. A big following in the country is great, but now that the royalty and subscriber rates are in a better place, connecting that following to your streams are more important than ever.
In 2024, there are ways to do this other than simply linking a track. Online cultures in China form around topics, and those fans can be loyal and rewarding. Some examples Sony gives, “we have a boy band in Taiwan called Ozone who have become strongly associated with fashion, whilst Hong Kong singer Mischa Ip, and Sichuan-born singer Sury Su, whose music primarily revolves around gaming, have become the most associated with gaming in people’s minds.” Not stated are the fan groups that support those trends – fashion bloggers on apps like RED or gamers on video platforms like Bilibili, both platforms covered in previous newsletters.
IFPI // Global Music Report 2024
// WESTERN POP MUSIC IN CHINA
Nice little guest column by Kanjian Music in Music Ally of how Chinese pop music has become more Westernized. The obvious example is hip-hop, a genre that has exploded in China in the last few years, that takes its production directly from the US style.
Music Ally // The localisation of Western pop music in China
// GIG LIFE PRO MARKET REPORT: CHINA
GLP is a truly wonderful organization, a network of music business professionals and artists based in Asia, that frequently come together for meetups or online discussions, and a team of writers that cover news from across the region. This month they did a long overview of the market in China, featuring a few quotes from myself. Outside the market stuff the report also outlines some local labels doing good work in the country. The piece is subscriber-only but available on the free tier, just sign up to read.
Gig Life Pro // Market Report: China
// DSP SUBSCRIBER GROWTH
I may have covered this to death in my writing above, but just to drive the point home: NetEase and Tencent both released subscriber figures in March from the end of 2023. All good numbers. Interesting note in the NetEase piece, that they are now selling physical albums on the platform, and that their revenue numbers include mp3 downloads. Note these platforms allow albums to be purchased multiple times, a common trick from superfan groups to boost their idols’ numbers in the app.
Music Ally // NetEase Cloud Music ended 2023 with 44.1m paying music users
Music Ally // Chinese DSP Tencent Music ended 2023 with 106.7m paying users
// MUSIC AS A HOBBY IN DECLINE
Just in case this month’s newsletter is a bit too chipper, or in case you frequently make the mistake as I do, of thinking that the general population sees music through industry growth and detailed reports, here’s a reminder: a lot of people play music just for fun, Children included. And for those kids and hobbyists, the overall economy can make a big difference in the day-to-day expression of that fact. The economy in China is slower than usual at the moment, forcing a lot of kids to stop lessons. This piece doesn’t cover it, but I can bet music instrument and gear sales have followed a similar pattern.
Reuters // Sports and music lessons for China’s kids in sharp decline
SPOTLIGHT // CHINESE MUSIC
This section highlights local Chinese artists, DJs, and labels.
// PUMAN – PUMAN
There’s a small but dedicated reggae scene in China, especially in the Western province of Yunnan, where local band Puman hails from. Their self-titled album linked below mixes Chinese ethnic instruments and vocals in a modern way for a killer rock reggae vibe, definitely worth a listen. Dig deeper in their catalog for remixes and dub versions. This album was put out by the label Sea of Wood, also quoted in the GLP article above. I saw them last year on a Tuesday night in Shanghai, where they played to a room full of screaming young fans.
