Hate Generated by AI, How distributors are letting this happen

AI generated music is being used to spread hate, typically localized to the United States, has now seeped into Europe. There is a “disturbing trend” of right-wing AI-generated songs spreading hate speech against immigrants. AI-generated earworms are spreading hateful rhetoric on Spotify, TikTok, and anywhere else you consume music online. 

How is AI music getting onto these platforms anyway, let alone hate music? Through your distributor. Many of the biggest distributors are so free in their quality checking that an unbelievable amount of fraudulent accounts have been created, and questionable, if not fraudulent or even downright nefarious content, is being uploaded to the streaming services though these distribution platforms.

If you are unsure of what I am talking about then have a look at this video. Basically it shows you how fraudsters fraud the systems, how easy it is to make a distribution account and upload whatever. So, nasty people not only flood the streaming platforms with fraudulent or AI music, but also pretty much anything their hate desires. 

What is happening?

Sure the streaming platforms may eventually take down the degenerate generated AI music, but by then the damage has already been done. So why do they let this content go live anyway? Well if it generates streams it generates royalties and you can be sure that they will be withholding any royalties from any suspect releases or fraudulent activity. Cha-ching! $$$

Even though steps are being taken to prevent more AI content from being uploaded for monetization, people have other motives, mainly to collect listeners and followers. According to Deezer: 28% of all music delivered to streaming is now fully AI-generated. What? Now real human independent music is competing with not only the top 1% who take 80% of all the royalties, but also AI music holding more than a quarter of the new streaming catalog, which the streaming services don’t even have to pay.

AI music may get to the streaming platforms but many, like Deezer, won’t pay for any streamed music that turns out to be AI. Even China has put their foot down and won’t pay for any AI music streamed on their platforms. Musicinfo, as a distributor, is keeping AI music off its distribution channels, we feel it is essential to keep real genuine music created from the hearts of flesh and blood separate from Ai music. It won’t be long that it will be the AI itself who is the uploading its own AI generated music. We’ve got to draw a line now before it becomes too blurred.

What can be done?

How can you be sure you are not supporting AI music getting distributed? Make sure that your distributor is not uploading AI generated music. How do you do that? Well, it may not be completely apparent from their front page or terms, but if they say upfront that they already allow in a little AI, you can be sure there is a heck of a lot more coming in through their back door. Make the switch to a distributor who supports flesh and blood musicians 100% and does not accept any AI content and join or create your own Anti-AI Music Movement. 

Sources

https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2025/11/09/ai-generated-hate-songs-dutch-spotify-charts/'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plleJ0Zv0Ww 

 https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2025/07/14/velvet-sundown-spotify-removal

https://www.thebridgechronicle.com/tech/youtube-no-monetization-ai-generated-videos-july-2025

https://newsroom-deezer.com/2025/09/28-fully-ai-generated-music/ 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyd3r62kp5o

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Tencent Music’s SVIP subscriptions topped $2 billion in 2024, fueled by over 121 million paying users—with ARPPU (Average Revenue Per Paying User) rising thanks to premium features and AI-enhanced experiences. — Cussion Pang, Executive Chairman, Tencent Music Entertainment Group.

Cussion Pang attributes this surge to user willingness to pay for enriched experiences such as high-quality audio, AI mix tools, and access to exclusive concerts. “We see everyday users upgrade—and we’re reinvesting that trust into content and tech features that drive deeper engagement,” he explains.

Surpassing the 5th position

China’s music economy is no longer a sleeping giant—it’s a global contender. In 2023, China became the fifth-largest recorded music market in the world, according to the IFPI Global Music Report, driven largely by streaming subscriptions, live events, and tech-integrated experiences.

Its remarkable 25.9% revenue growth makes it the fastest among the world’s top ten markets today. China’s digital music revenue surpassed USD $1.5 billion, showing double-digit year-on-year growth. With a rising middle class, an increasingly mobile-first population, and a government keen on promoting cultural exports, China’s music industry is positioning itself as both a creative and economic force in the global market.

According to the IFPI’s 2024 Engaging with Music report, when surveyed on which country’s music listeners had streamed most in the last 12 months, 19% of global respondents cited China—placing it just behind major music-exporting nations like the U.S., South Korea, and the U.K. While not at the top, this figure marks a notable surge in China’s cultural export visibility, particularly among younger demographics. With rising global interest in C-pop, classical crossover acts, and Mandarin-language hits, China’s influence in music streaming is steadily growing and poised to rise further in the coming years.

Chinese Giants

Chinese music giants like Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) and NetEase Cloud Music are expanding overseas—investing in foreign labels, acquiring catalog rights, and forming distribution partnerships in Southeast Asia and beyond. Meanwhile, emerging domestic acts are gaining visibility via platforms like Douyin (TikTok’s Chinese sibling), which is increasingly seen as a launchpad for global stardom.

Tencent Music’s Q2 2025 Revenue Jumps 18% on Paid-User Growth - Super Premium subscribers surpassed 15 million. Chinese online music and audio platform Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) has reported significant gains in its Q2 financials. TME operates China’s music apps QQ Music, Kugou Music, Kuwo Music and WeSing. Total revenue for the quarter of $1.18 billion (RMB8.44 billion), a 17.9% YoY increase which the company puts down to strong YoY growth in revenues from online music services.

Musicinfo in China since 2017

Musicinfo succeeds by going where others don’t—and helping artists do the same

Musicinfo's success stems from its strategic specialization, cultural fluency, and artist-centric innovation. By focusing on the Chinese digital music market—a space often overlooked or misunderstood by Western distributors—Musicinfo carved out a niche that offers real value to independent artists seeking global reach.

Musicinfo has positioned it not just as a distributor, but as a gateway to new audiences and revenue streams. Combined with a lean, transparent pricing model and growing analytics capabilities, Musicinfo empowers artists to expand internationally without losing creative control.

Sources

https://www.musicpressasia.com/2025/07/24/will-china-lead-music-business-industry-in-the-next-decade/ 

https://newindustryfocus.com/articles/tencent-music-s-q2-revenue-jumps-18-on-paid-user-growth

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Bytedance, the creator of Douyin and its little sister Tiktok, unleashed the streaming service, Qishui Yinyue, “Soda Music,” back in 2022 to work in tandem with Douyin.

Soda aka. Luna leverages Douyin’s massive user base of over 700 million daily active users, Soda Music attracts younger audiences through social recommendations and personalized algorithms.

Soda operates on ByteDance’s own personalization algorithm, pushing songs based on user listening habits and of other listeners with similar preferences.

In direct competition with Tencent Music Entertainment Group’s QQ Music, Kugou Music and Kuwo Music, and NetEase Cloud Music, Soda Music is still a rising competitor. However, its growth is accelerating, especially due to bundled memberships. 

The app also has the ability to show synchronized lyrics and allows Douyin users to synchronize their music lists with the Soda app.

Similar to Resso in India, which was launched by ByteDance to rival Spotify, shares the synchronized lyrics feature with in Soda. 

Douyin has been key in the boost of old songs which can also be seen in Soda. The data shows that the exposure share of songs released in previous years on Douyin had increased from 70% in 2023 to 76% in 2024.

It has become common industry practice to leverage short video trends to rediscover and repromote segments of existing songs.

Artists outside of China can now get their music to Soda Music with accredited digital music distributors.

Sources 

https://musictech.com/news/industry/tiktok-parent-bytedance-launches-new-streaming-service-in-china/

https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/douyin/soda-music-%E6%B1%BD%E6%B0%B4%E9%9F%B3%E4%B9%90/

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TikTok was shut down on Saturday night and then back online the next morning. How does that make you feel that someone can pull on your strings so easily? Well, how do TikTok users feel?

Shopify has ranked TikTok as the 5^th biggest social media app with 1.7 billion users. Its position to influence the masses is obvious and also the point of concern with data collection. In the United States there are 170 million users regardless, and after a brief shutdown, have tasted what it is like to go cold turkey. How will you cope?

If you are a “TikTok Refugee” look to new platforms, the Chinese app Xiaohongshu, aka. “The Little Red Book” or just “RedNote”, are growing in popularity. RedNote has rocketed to the top of Apple's app store in the United States.

The Chinese social media service Xiaohongshu, also known as Red, has been particularly popular. RedNote, which has been compared to Instagram, became the most downloaded app in the Apple Store in the United States on Tuesday.

More than 700,000 new users have joined the service in two days, according to Reuters. Americans who have joined RedNote have called themselves “Tiktok refugees” on the app. Unlike TikTok, for example, RedNote has not been made into separate versions for domestic and international markets, but is primarily aimed at Chinese users. CNN reports that Chinese users have shared tutorial videos for newcomers on how to use the app.

Behind RedNote is the Chinese company Xingyin Information Technology, headquartered in Shanghai. The app was originally launched in 2013 and has become one of the most popular social media services in China, with Chinese media reporting that it has around 300 million monthly users, Reuters reports. 

RedNote adheres to strict state censorship. The app emphasizes lifestyle, entertainment content and, according to experts, actively blocks serious and political content on the platform. 

Even if TikTok manages to remain present in the US, RedNote is a place where musicians and artists can access more fans. Now that it is getting hype so too are new members, some gaining 10,000s of follower in only a matter of days. 

https://musicinfo.io/blog/red-xiaohongshu/

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We all know that there are so many things lacking in what streaming services could be offering to their listeners and to their artists. 

1. Have more intuitive non-biased algorithms that will find me similar music that I have NEVER heard before. We all know there are over 100,000 tracks uploaded every day. Why listen to the same stuff over and again pushed by these services?

2. Have new release charts of ALL the releases not just the ones they are paid to promote. Yes I am lazy and want someone to do all the work too so premade playlists can be handy, however there gets to be a point when enough is enough, I just can't take it anymore, if only there was an other option.

3. Make it easy for me to see who in the world is listening to the same music as me and what other kinds of music they are listening to over there.

4. Let me zoom in on the cover art and even let me download it as my device wallpaper.

5. Every artist has an artist page with links to their social media and websites.

6. Let me know the names of all the contributors on the release, the composers, songwriters and performers, etc. -If there was this level of accountability on a release then there would be a lot less “artificial” content-

7. Let listeners add comments and have discussions about the music, where the music is being listened to.

8. Make it possible and easy for me to make cash payments directly to my artist. We all know artists are getting a raw deal with streaming music, even with its pros, the cons seem to outweigh by far, let us fans put the dough into the pockets of the ones making our music.

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AI Music

Click create. Is this what music making has come to?

If you dare to try Suno, the AI music service, you are welcomed with this message.

Welcome to Suno! We are a community of musicians and technologists creating a world where anyone can make music. No instrument needed, just your imagination. 

With Suno, you can make a song for any moment with just a few short words. 

Type in a prompt (for example, “a groovy house song about my dog Luna”)

Click “Create”

That’s it…

This is your chance to express yourself in new and exciting ways. So, what are you waiting for? Dive in, start creating, and see where your imagination takes you. We can’t wait to hear what you make.

Self-expression = click create.

This is how music is being made now. This is “making” music.

This reminds me of grade 10 biology when our teacher explained that flowers have sex, that sexual reproduction is no more than the sharing and combining of DNA. To my buddy’s dismay, “but, where’s the unh, the flow, the love? Aaargh, this can’t be true!”

What will be next? Will our love making be reduced to: click create?

Yay, that sounds like super happy fun times! Actually that sounds terrible.

Making music is so much more than combining sounds and words. Why has it been reduced to, click create? Because it is easy, mindless, accessible and profitable.

Do we have a choice? Always, but the right choice is never made easy.

The Guilty

AI is taking over the world right now. It’s not like the Matrix where an AI being creates robots to physically contain and control us. It is a war for our attention. It is happening right now in our minds, psychologically and behaviorally. You’ve gotta be the boss, not your device.

Apps and social media are stealing and controlling our attention. And now we are learning that making music is: click create. Everyone who has used it has already been infected.

The biggest record companies Universal, Warner and Sony have sued Suno and Udio the AI generative music services for copyright infringement. Copyright may be a reason but the real reason is control. They want to have control over the content, over the technology, over us.

Lawsuits have come just months after nearly 200 artists including Billie Eilish and Nicki Minaj signed a letter to stop the “predatory” use of AI in the music industry. Sorry ladies it's already done.

This predatory use of AI is happening now. The biggest music distributors are accepting AI created content. The biggest streaming services are making their own AI music and pushing it, leaving less royalties to pay out to real artists.

The Resistance

I really love discovering new music and artists, but I don't want to have to keep asking "is this made by a person or AI?" It sucks that I have to now do that - and it's honestly exhausting.

How do you know that the music you are listening to is not AI?

There are AI detection tools like ircam amplify & AI Voice Detector, which can help. Google has also started to “Watermark” their AI generated content so that it can be recognized and identified as AI. 

The best is to educate yourself and familiarize yourself with AI music and use your intuition.

Try to find out as much about the artist as you can. See that they are real people, anyway isn’t that what music is all about? Connecting with people.  

There are independent labels and distributors that are resisting AI generated music. They can be a beacon for real musicians to empower their voices against the big wheels. Would you rather spin or be spun? Let's stop the spread of AI Music.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckrrr8yelzvo

https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2023/05/are-tunecore-cd-baby-distrokid-symphonic-blocking-ai-music.html

https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/1duhw5q/with_ai_music_now_flooding_streaming_services/

How to Distribute Music

Let’s keep it simple and start from scratch. Here is how you distribute your music digitally.

Here are the bare essentials that everyone who distributes music needs to have to create a release and get their music to their listeners around the world. It’s simple, so let’s make it easy to follow the process.  

1. Have music to distribute 
2. Have cover art for your release and artist
3. Have your metadata and copyright information
4. Get EAN/UPC code for your release/Album
5. Get ISRC codes for the tracks
6. Find a distribution service

Have music to distribute

Your music is written, recorded and mastered. You have already planned how you would like to make it available to your listeners, either as an album of multiple songs or as singles. It is as ready as can be, just how you would like to listen to it yourself. The release must have a name. The tracks are ready to be uploaded to a distribution service in a .WAV file format.

Have cover art for your release and artist

Your release cover art and artist image are designed and ready to be sent out to the world. They are the best visual pieces of your release that represents your music and your artist or band. They are artistic and high quality and need to be square with a minimum of 3000 x 3000 pixels in size. The artist picture is needed for your artist profile in the digital stores.

Have your metadata and copyright information

The metadata is all the technical information about the song and recording. It is quite simple if you are the only contributor in the music, you wrote the song, recorded the song, mixed the song. It gets more complex when there are more contributors or if you have used licensed or borrowed music.

You need a list of all the people who have contributed to the music and the percentage of the rights they hold.

• Performers/artists and their roles; main, featured, remixer, etc. 

• Other contributors: composer, lyricist, producer, etc.

• Publisher, C-line (song composition owner), P-line (sound recording owner), 

• Lyrics & lyrics owner

Check out here an example of how to create a release and the metadata requirements.

Or click here if you rather watch how it's done

Get an EAN/UPC Code

This is a code that is unique to your release/album. You only need one EAN (European Article Number) or one UPC (Unique Product Code) per release. It is the barcode or serial number that identifies your release. Most distributors will supply an EAN or UPC code when you create your release for free or for a cost.

Get ISRC codes for your tracks

An ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) is needed for every track. It is the unique identifier for the specific version of the song and will remain the same for the lifetime of the song. It is used to track the usage of the song. Most distributors will supply an ISRC when you create your release for free or for a cost.

Find a distribution service

This may be the most mind boggling part, which service to choose. Every service has its strengths and weaknesses in costs and extra services and functions they may offer. In the end it doesn’t really matter, they will all get your music to the biggest stores. However, though some may boast the biggest service and most stores or the most features, they may be lacking in reach to essential countries where emerging listeners are the future of the global audiences. 

Conclusion

There can be much more covered in greater detail for each phase of distribution. This is the breakdown of the process, bare bones for digital distribution. Happy distributing! 

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The fun - Creating!

If you are an independent artist you know that the creative process is something magical and when you get submerged into it, the feeling is irreplaceable. The idea, the excitement, putting the work in, hitting the wall, breaking the wall, arranging, modifying, and finishing the song and recording. Once the piece of art is ready, you feel like you have changed the world a little bit. Time has not been wasted and you’ve actually done something meaningful.

The pain - After creation

But wait - what about after this? You have to make sure that the recording sounds good, do the necessary fixes and find the right places to promote (and most likely learn something about the work and find ways to improve yourself for future endeavors). This is the part that is not so much fun for most artists. It takes time to do all of this properly and time is of the essence here - release while it's fresh so you can move on to the next project!

The painkiller - Musicinfo Release Assistant

We have a solution. We have published Musicinfo Release Assistant that helps to find the right market fit, right promotion channels, analyzes possible flaws in the production, and suggests improvements and parties that can actually make those fixes for you (+more!). It analyzes your song and gives tailored recommendations based purely on the audio of your song.

Since the Release Assistant is still in BETA, we would appreciate your feedback and hear suggestions on improvements! There are still things to be polished, new features to be added, and possibly some issues to be fixed. Let’s make this tool even better together!

The Release Assistant is free to use up to 5 songs. Test it and get instructions on how to get your song featured on our genre-matching Spotify playlist for free!

Start here!

The vision - AI and music

Many, including us, are worried about AI created music and its profound effect on the music industry. Will the human-made songs drown in the saturated sea of artificially created audio? How can we make sure that companies won’t use our music to train AI? The recent lawsuit against AI music generator companies Suno and Udio for mass infringement of copyright shows that bigger players have taken action against the latest issue.

We want to keep the creative control, responsibility, and initiative in the artist's hands. Although Musicinfo Release Assistant is partly AI-powered, it doesn’t create new music, but helps already created music to succeed and find its audience. Musicinfo Release Assistant is made to help artists, not to harm.

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Sources

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/major-record-companies-sue-ai-music-generators-suno-udio-for-mass-infringement-of-copyright/

Promotion is essential

The Chinese digital music market has its own unique traits such as the emphasis on social interaction between the artists and the fans in some DSPs, but at least one thing is the same compared to the western digital music market: Promotion is essential for artists.

One of the best ways of getting visibility for artists is to pitch their songs to a popular playlist with a fitting genre. This is a high demand service in western streaming platforms; if you do an online search for “get your music on playlists”, you’ll get loads of pages discussing this topic (most of them focus on Spotify). 

In China the story is similar. Playlists are popular and people find a lot of new favorite songs and artists from them. We made a blog about the effects of playlisting music in NetEase in 2022. Now we’ve analyzed our streaming statistics again from other artists and the effects of playlisting are still univocal: The songs get significantly more streams after playlist placement!

Playlist effects

Here are some playlisting examples mostly from the electronic music genre in NetEase (and one in QQ Music!).

NetEase example 1 - Electronic genre

Here we have a really successful example of an artist who got an electronic music song to a playlist in NetEase via Musicinfo. The song was put to a playlist for the first time in May 2022 for one month and its streams multiplied in the following few months. The artist playlisted the same track later for a second time in January.

NetEase example 2 - Country music genre

This second example shows a country music song that got over 600 times more streams per month than before putting it to a playlist. The effect of increased streams was visible months after the playlist took place!

The artist also playlisted another song in May of 2022 and in January of 2023, so the synergy of playlisting two songs most likely helped to gain huge stream numbers for the first song.

NetEase example 3 - Electronic music

In this example we see the same story: The playlisting works and multiplies the streams for many months!

NetEase example 4 - Electronic music

Here we examined how playlisting one song affected the total streams of the artist and the increase in the total numbers of songs streamed from the artist. As the streaming numbers skyrocketed with a factor of 2000 after playlisting the song, the other songs got more attention too! 

QQ Music example - Electronic music

All of the previously mentioned examples have been in NetEase, but we have recently started pitching songs to playlists in QQ Music as well! We do not yet have the streaming data from QQ music after the first playlistings from our own artists, but at least the comments in the playlisted song show that it is getting visibility!

How playlisting works and how you can get your songs to a playlist

We have many partners in China who have a variety of different popular playlists available and we are constantly looking for new ones to expand our playlist reach. We have suitable playlists for basically any kind of music. Once we’ve found the perfect playlist for a song, we get it to the Top 10 and the song will be on the playlist for a minimum of one month.

Get your songs to playlists here!

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China has undeniably become a major competitor in music on the global stage. It is the 2^nd biggest Asian music market, only just behind Japan and now the 5^th biggest global market having passed France in 2023. To understand China’s digital landscape is to know how essential China is to establishing your fanbase in the global market.

The role of social media and current copyright policy and greater visibility of the thriving underground music scenes like with the advancing electronic music scene have advenced the market unlike anywhere else.

The distribution model is different, unlike in the west the streaming platforms like Netease and QQ act as distributors. This affects the dynamics of the market for independent musicians and labels. Mature indie labels such as the Taihe Music Group remain essential in distributing music with their long time experience in the indie scene, holding more influence in representing content to the market.  

Unlike in the west there are many types of paid and free users, allowing more types of listeners to access content, essentially bringing more value to the content as they are converted to higher paying users. The market earnings from recorded music increased more than 28% in 2022 with streaming having 89% of that share.

Global streaming revenues increased over 10% by the end of 2022 to $12.7 billion with 589 million paid users. Tencent with its three platforms – Kugou, Kuwo and QQ – leads the way in China with over 106 million paid users. 

Kugou Music tends to attract an older audience, generally over the age of 35. QQ Music, on the other hand, appeals to a younger crowd, typically between the ages of 23 and 28. Listeners between 18 & 23 years old tend to choose Netease music to satisfy their preference to indie music with nearly 206 million monthly active users and more than 44 million paid users.

The number of short video users was more than 1 billion by the end of 2022 this means that more that 70% of the whole country has accessed short videos dominated by the platform Douyin with over 600 million users.

Live Music Scene

The live music scene just opening last year is a shell of it’s former glory after covid. Though foreign artist have started to return the demand is smaller from the extent of venues closing down during covid. Budgets are tight until the live scene has time to grow.

Variety shows are a center of music discovery bringing much indie music to the mainstream. By hosting indie performances they have brought a spotlight on the underground scene for advancing genres like electronic, rap and folk, as well as others.

Social Media In China

The social aspect, on the streaming platforms like Netease and QQ music, of music consumption is crucial. Unlike the platforms in the west, in China they act as both social networks and streaming platforms, like a fusion of Instagram and Spotify.

China’s social media ecosystem is separate from most of the world due to internet regulations, regardless of the absence of Facebook and Twitter, it is the world’s largest social media market.

Social media is deeply rooted in Chinese daily life with platforms like WeChat and Weibo that function as “Super Apps,” providing digital environments to manage all entertainment and practical aspects of daily life.

Unlike K-pop which is a genre unto itself, C-pop is a broad term that includes various distinct genres of popular music from China, showing that foreign content to still has time to influence the listeners and leave a lasting impression.

Take Away

Consider China’s music market:

- The strength it holds in the global music playground, to have your music there through the right channel, now for the future.

- Its demand for new music, and the high value placed on new foreign content.

- Listeners are much more socially active, engaging more with the music and artists, though comments.

- Find the best path to position your content to the market, to get the greatest value.

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Sources

https://technode.com/2023/03/03/short-video-users-top-1-billion-in-china/

https://globalmusicreport.ifpi.org/

https://www.giglifepro.com/articles/market-report-china

China has undeniably become a major competitor in music on the global stage. It is the 2^nd biggest Asian music market, only just behind Japan and now the 5^th biggest global market having passed France in 2023. To understand China’s digital landscape is to know how essential China is to establishing your fanbase in the global market.

The role of social media and current copyright policy and greater visibility of the thriving underground music scenes like with the advancing electronic music scene have advenced the market unlike anywhere else.

The distribution model is different, unlike in the west the streaming platforms like Netease and QQ act as distributors. This affects the dynamics of the market for independent musicians and labels. Mature indie labels such as the Taihe Music Group remain essential in distributing music with their long time experience in the indie scene, holding more influence in representing content to the market.  

Unlike in the west there are many types of paid and free users, allowing more types of listeners to access content, essentially bringing more value to the content as they are converted to higher paying users. The market earnings from recorded music increased more than 28% in 2022 with streaming having 89% of that share.

Global streaming revenues increased over 10% by the end of 2022 to $12.7 billion with 589 million paid users. Tencent with its three platforms – Kugou, Kuwo and QQ – leads the way in China with over 106 million paid users. 

Kugou Music tends to attract an older audience, generally over the age of 35. QQ Music, on the other hand, appeals to a younger crowd, typically between the ages of 23 and 28. Listeners between 18 & 23 years old tend to choose Netease music to satisfy their preference to indie music with nearly 206 million monthly active users and more than 44 million paid users.

The number of short video users was more than 1 billion by the end of 2022 this means that more that 70% of the whole country has accessed short videos dominated by the platform Douyin with over 600 million users.

Live Music Scene

The live music scene just opening last year is a shell of it’s former glory after covid. Though foreign artist have started to return the demand is smaller from the extent of venues closing down during covid. Budgets are tight until the live scene has time to grow.

Variety shows are a center of music discovery bringing much indie music to the mainstream. By hosting indie performances they have brought a spotlight on the underground scene for advancing genres like electronic, rap and folk, as well as others.

Social Media In China

The social aspect, on the streaming platforms like Netease and QQ music, of music consumption is crucial. Unlike the platforms in the west, in China they act as both social networks and streaming platforms, like a fusion of Instagram and Spotify.

China’s social media ecosystem is separate from most of the world due to internet regulations, regardless of the absence of Facebook and Twitter, it is the world’s largest social media market.

Social media is deeply rooted in Chinese daily life with platforms like WeChat and Weibo that function as “Super Apps,” providing digital environments to manage all entertainment and practical aspects of daily life.

Unlike K-pop which is a genre unto itself, C-pop is a broad term that includes various distinct genres of popular music from China, showing that foreign content to still has time to influence the listeners and leave a lasting impression.

Take Away

Consider China’s music market:

- The strength it holds in the global music playground, to have your music there through the right channel, now for the future.

- Its demand for new music, and the high value placed on new foreign content.

- Listeners are much more socially active, engaging more with the music and artists, though comments.

- Find the best path to position your content to the market, to get the greatest value.

Musicinfo Newsletter Signup

Sources

https://technode.com/2023/03/03/short-video-users-top-1-billion-in-china/

https://globalmusicreport.ifpi.org/

https://www.giglifepro.com/articles/market-report-china

Where are your royalties, let’s find out.

Did you know that 20-50% of all royalties generated never make it to artists and song-writers and that there can be nearly 900,000 sources from the usage of your music. There is an unfortunate amount of unattributable payments due to incorrect licensing information or a lack of knowledge of who to pay. The purpose of the complexity of the royalty chain is so that royalties end up in the “black box of royalties.” And the ones who have the most invested hold the biggest claim to the royalties that end up in that black box.

Today's music business is a dense, often convoluted landscape of revenue streams. You have to be on top of things to make sure you get all your royalties. Thankfully, you aren't on your own. As an independent artist, it is imperative that you claim your royalties not only for your own pocket but also to take it away from those who support this current system of misinformation.

Artist vs. Songwriter

To find out what royalties are available to you, we have to start by determining if you're a songwriter, an artist, or both. The distinction between artist and songwriter is essential because there are royalties specifically for artists, and there are royalties specifically for songwriters. The complicated part is that a lot of us are both, or use these terms interchangeably.

If you are a songwriter you are interested in Performance Royalties as they pertain to the composition of a song

If you are an Artist (performer) you are interested in the Master Royalties and Neighboring royalties as they pertain to the sound recording of the song.

What’s up with the USA?

One important point to make is the difference in how royalties are collected and paid inside and outside of the USA. It is important because the USA is one of the biggest music markets yet has a different set of laws. The USA does not recognize Neighboring Rights, so when a song is broad casted on the radio the radio station only pays for the use of the composition to the writers, not the sound recording to the performers.

Also, if you distribute a cover song digitally in the USA you need to purchase a license to do so. You would then be required to pay additional licensing fees depending on the amount your cover song has been played. Whereas in most countries outside of the USA the DSP supplies these licenses as a part of their service and pays the Performance Rights Organization the country accordingly.

This makes it complicated because almost every country outside of the USA follows the same standards, particularly the other biggest music markets of Europe and Asia.

China and other countries

The conventions that have been established to help standardize and govern the rights of music and the collection of royalties are in the most part have been signed and agreed upon by most countries. There are many emerging countries whose industry standards are at a different level, due to lack of infrastructure or historical culture towards copyrights.

China is a notable force in the music industry holding now the 5th position behind: the USA, Japan, the UK and Germany. The developments in China are staggering in the pace in which the market has established itself, however the infrastructure is still wanting. There is a PRO in China however it is not firmly established in the collection of royalties or with its counterparts abroad. So even though your PRO or Publishing Admin may be “collecting” from China, the majority of the royalties are still being collected by the DSPs. In this respect to collect your royalties (master and publishing) from China you need to distribute your music so the DSPs will be able to connect the usage of your content and pay the royalties to you. 

Song-writer Royalties: The Composition (Performance and Mechanical royalties for publishing)

If you are a song-writer you are entitled to claim royalties that pertain to the composition of the song, melody and lyrics, when your song has been recorded and played back or live. Performance “Composition” royalties (a.k.a., public performance royalties) are generated when a song is performed in public: On stage, on a jukebox, in a store, on a TV show, on the radio (AM, FM, Pandora, Sirius XM, etc.), or on Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube. 

What to join? Publishing Administrator or not?

To collect your performance royalties you need to sign up to a Performance Rights Organization (PRO). For the plays of your song. Nearly every country has at least one PRO, and they are the ones who will collect the royalties generated from within their own country. Most are not for profit so it doesn’t cost anything to become a member.

To collect your mechanical royalties you need to sign up to a Mechanical Rights Organization (MRO). For downloads, streams and covers of your song. They work similar to PROs but only deal with mechanical royalties.

Many PROs also collect Mechanical royalties and they are named Collective Management Organizations (CMO). 

Most of the PROs in the counties of established music markets outside of the USA; Germany (GEMA), France (SACEM), Japan (JASRAC), and the UK (PRS), etc., are in fact CMOs and collect both performing and mechanical royalties. 

Once you are a member you would need to register your songs that you have distributed. They will then track the usage of your music and pay you. They will not pay for unregistered songs and there is a limit on how far back they will pay you if your song has been played in the years before your membership.

No publisher? No problem, register yourself

The PRO will automatically split the royalties 50/50 for songwriters and publishers. If you do not have a music publisher, you do not have to miss out on the publisher's share. Your PRO can pay you 100% — both the songwriter's 50% and the publisher's 50%. You need to register yourself as a publisher from your PRO and then register your music with you as the publisher. 

PROs only collect from their own country, however they have set up partnerships with other PROs across borders to pay and receive publishing royalties to artists of their own and other countries. Many of the biggest PROs are partnered together so you can be sure that when your song is played abroad that those royalties will be collected by your home country PRO. However not all PROs are partnered together so you will need to be diligent and know in which country your music is being played and that your PRO is collecting royalties from that country. If not you will need to apply to the PRO of that country to be eligible to collect royalties from that country.

It is good to keep track of the countries your music is getting the most plays and know if your PRO is collecting from that country.

The reason you would follow this method is that many of the PROs are non-profit, so it may be more affordable for you to collect royalties this way. The other way or even to supplement your membership with your PRO is to sign up to a Publishing Admin company. They have agreements with PROs, CMOs and MROs all over the world to collect royalties from an extensive amount of territories. They could have better coverage and also offer other services that may be beneficial to your royalty management. They, however, are most often a pay per service and although may be more convenient, may not be completely necessary or within the budget for the self-publishing musician.

Artist Royalties: Sound recording (digital & neighboring rights royalties) 

Sign up with a digital distribution company. All the usage of your music on a Digital Service Provider (DSP) streaming or otherwise will be paid to your distribution company and then to you.

In the USA you will need to sign up to SoundExchange which collects digital sound recording performance royalties from non-interactive streaming services (internet radio).

The USA doesn’t recognize neighboring rights and therefore does not pay neighboring royalties (sound recording) for music broadcasted on radio, they only pay publishing royalties (composition) which can be collected by a PRO (BMI, ASCAP or SESAC). Countries outside of the USA pay for neighboring royalties and publishing royalties, but they only pay the American song-writers publishing royalties. These neighboring royalties are anyways collected from the DSPs which end up in the “black box”, usually paid out and kept by the record label who owns the license of the song. Some American artists have gone as far as recording their music in international waters to be able to claim these royalties when their music is aired on international radio.

Sync-licensing (Synchronization)

This is a specific license to use your music in synchronization with visual media: TV, movies, ads, etc. For a typical production your music is licensed to be used with a specific visual production or project. The license covers both the publishing and master and is paid to the licensor who would then pay the label or rights holder. Other sync possibilities are micro-sync-licensing which makes your music available to a much wider audience like digital downloads, however your song is downloaded and licensed to be used with a specific project. It would require a new license for every new project and returns a substantially bigger sum. Sync-license agreements would not generate royalties as the purchase of the license defines the total usage and cost. 

How to get your Royalties

Interactive Streaming

Non-interactive Streaming

Digital Download

Broadcast Radio

Sync-licensing

China

Conclusion 

Although royalty collection can be confusing it is not endless. There are other sources of digital music royalties such as from standalone lyrics or even voiceover but the return from these sources are often tiny to the amount it costs or the time involved to get them. So distribute your music, sign up to your local PRO and consider a Publishing Admin service, this way you will be at least getting the royalties that are possible to get.

Glossary

Black Box – The place that all unclaimed royalties go. When a song is used royalties are collected but there are many reasons why it is not possible to pay those royalties to the musicians: Law and legislation across territories prevent royalties to be paid to artists abroad; The usage of content may not be properly tracked; Musicians simply are not aware of how to claim their royalties. These royalties then get paid to the ones who have the biggest claim in the market.  

Broadcast radio – good old AM/FM radio, via radio waves. 

Collective Management Organization (CMO) – Collects for both Performance rights and mechanical rights.

Composition – the song: underlying melody and music, and lyrics, governed by publishing rights.

Digital Service Provider (DSP) – Any service that makes your music available digitally for their audiences to use or listen to, and may be interactive as in streaming services like Spotify, or non-interactive such as internet radio stations like Tunein. 

Master rights – The rights to the usage of the sound recording.

Mechanical rights – The rights to the usage of the reproduction of the composition, such as in cover songs, physical distribution, and streaming.

Mechanical Rights Organization (MRO) – Collects for Mechanical Rights, the usage of the reproduction of the composition, in streaming or downloads. DSPs require a mandatory mechanical license to stream (reproduce) or for downloads.

Neighboring rights –  Are the royalties generated from public performance or broadcasting of sound recordings on non-interactive digital services (internet or satellite radio), terrestrial radio, television, cable music channels, cinemas, public spaces, and businesses. 

Performance Rights Organization (PRO) – Collects for songwriters and publishers (Composition).

Performance rights – when a song is played and used, listened to. It covers the composition. This includes all forms of music usage when played back from a recording or in a live performance.

Royalty ­– the recurring payment made to the rights holders of a song.

Sound recording – the recorded sound by the performers and artists of the composition, this is also known as “the master”.

SoundExchange – collects Performance royalties for digital non-interactive streaming (webcast – digital radio – satellite radio) from the USA and Internationally. Its main customer base are US citizens, but it is also possible to become a member from abroad. The USA doesn’t recognize neighboring rights and therefore does not pay master rights for music broadcasted on radio.

Webcast – non-interactive form of content provided by a digital service.

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Red Xiaohongshu, also known as the Little Red Book or RED, is a Chinese social e-commerce platform which facilitates cross-border e-commerce, allowing users to purchase products from international brands directly on the platform. This feature enhances product diversity and offers users access to a wider range of goods. It started as a platform for users to share product reviews, travel experiences, and lifestyle content, and has evolved into a popular platform for discovering and purchasing products. Users can browse and buy products recommended by others, influencers, or brands, as well as share their own experiences and recommendations. 

Red Xiaohongshu has become a significant social media platform in China's social commerce landscape, particularly among younger consumers interested in fashion, beauty, and lifestyle products. Xiaohongshu primarily focuses on fashion, beauty, lifestyle, and travel content, and is primarily used for product discovery, reviews and e-commerce, and while it's not specifically geared toward musicians, it is still useful for establishing market visibility.

Musicians can use Xiaohongshu to promote their brand, especially if your music aligns with the interests of the platform's users (e.g., lifestyle, fashion). You can share behind-the-scenes content, lifestyle shots featuring your music, or collaborations. If you have merchandise such as clothing lines or accessories, Xiaohongshu would be the platform to showcase and sell these items. Users often look to influencers and musicians for fashion inspiration, so having a presence on Xiaohongshu can help drive sales.

You might even get noticed by an influencers and would want to collaborate with if you have the same focus audience. These influencers can help promote your music or merchandise to a wider audience. While Xiaohongshu is not primarily a music-sharing platform, musicians can still share content related to your music, such as music video teasers, behind-the-scenes footage of recording sessions, or travel vlogs from tours.

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Public domain is music that is not governed by copyright and is free for the public to use, share, and distribute without the need for a license or permission from the original copyright owner. When music enters the public domain, it means that the copyright protection has expired, or the creator has voluntarily relinquished their copyright rights.

Copyright protection for creative works, including music, is limited in duration. Once the copyright term expires, the music becomes part of the public domain. Copyright terms vary by country but generally last for the lifetime of the creator plus an additional 50 to 70 years.

It is important to note that there is a difference in composition and in sound recording. Although the sound recording may be a performance of a composition of music that is in the public domain the sound recording itself would most likely still be under copyright and subject to licenses and royalties.

Public domain music can be used, modified, performed, recorded, and distributed without any restrictions. There is no need to pay royalties, license fees, or obtain permission from the original composer or their estate. It is music available for anyone to use, including artists, filmmakers, educators, and the general public and can be used for personal or commercial purposes without limitations. Sound recordings in the public domain can be freely sampled, remixed, or incorporated into new compositions, making it a valuable resource for artists and creators.

Much of the music in the public domain consists of old compositions, folk songs, and traditional pieces. This includes classical music, traditional folk songs, and other works where copyright has expired, however It's important to note that not all older music is necessarily in the public domain. In some cases, works may still be under copyright due to specific circumstances, such as copyright renewals or extensions. 

Additionally, new arrangements or recordings of public domain music may have their copyrights for the new version. Therefore, it's advisable to research and confirm the copyright status of specific musical works before using them in your projects, especially if you plan to create derivative works or use recordings made by others.

When making music for your personal interest you may use whatever content you can get your hands on, this lies in boundaries of “fair use,” however if you plan on sharing your music to the public or for monetization you need to be sure where your content is coming from and treat it with the rights it deserves.

It is not necessary to mark your original music work as public domain if it contains samples from the public domain. However, it's crucial to understand that while the original written music is no longer protected by copyright when a song is in the public domain, there are still copyrights that can apply to the recordings. In the USA, no sound recordings are public domain due to a complex mix of Federal and State Law, so sampling public domain recordings is not permitted.

So in the USA you would need to acquire permission from the rights holders to use any sampled sound recording that is not under a royalty-free or creative commons license.

Flims are another source of content that many artists like to add to their music. You can find a list of public domain films in the USA from here. 

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Creative Commons is a set of copyright licenses that allow creators to specify the permissions they grant to others regarding their creative works, such as text, images, music, and more. These licenses are based on copyright law but are more flexible than traditional copyright. 

Creative Commons licenses make it easier for creators to share their work with the public and specify the conditions under which others can use, remix, and share those works. It's a tool that strikes a balance between copyright protection and openness, enabling a more open and collaborative culture of sharing creative content. Creators who choose Creative Commons licenses retain their copyright but allow others to reuse their work with standardized terms.

There are several types of Creative Commons licenses, each with its own set of permissions:

Attribution (CC BY): allows others to distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon the work, even for commercial purposes as long as they give appropriate credit to the original creator.

Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA): allows for remixing, tweaking, and building upon the work, even for commercial purposes as long as the new work is released under the same terms and provides the proper attribution.

Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND): permits redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as the work is passed along in whole and unaltered, with the proper attribution.

Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC): allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work for non-commercial purposes only and requires proper attribution.

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA): allows for remixing, tweaking, and building upon the work for non-commercial purposes as long as the new work is released under the same terms and provides the proper attribution. 

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND): is the most restrictive, allowing others to download the works and share them with others as long as they provide proper attribution, but they can't change it in any way or use it for commercial purposes.

Be sure when downloading content from the internet such as images, text or sound clips, the licenses they are governed with so you are not in a pickle when you decide to take the next step to distribute your music to the pubic for or not for monetization.

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Royalty-free music refers to a type of music licensing that allows individuals, businesses, and organizations use music in their projects or content without the need to pay ongoing royalties or fees. When you purchase a royalty-free music license, you typically pay a one-time fee for the right to use the music within the terms specified by the license, which most often allows the user to use the music indefinitely. This is in contrast to traditional music licensing, where you might have to pay royalties each time the music is used such as in public performance, broadcast, or distribution or for any other usage like sampling. 

With royalty-free music, you pay a single upfront fee to obtain the right to use the music in your projects. This fee may vary depending on the type of license you purchase and the intended use of the music. Royalty-free music licenses often come with a set of terms and conditions that specify how you can use the music. These terms can vary, but they are typically more permissive than traditional music licensing.

Once you've purchased a royalty-free music license, you do not need to pay additional royalties or fees each time you use the music, regardless of how many times you use it. There is a wide variety of royalty-free music available, covering different genres and moods, making it suitable for various projects, including videos, presentations, podcasts, and more.

It's important to note that royalty-free music doesn't mean the music is entirely free. You still need to purchase a license for the specific track you want to use, but the license grants you the right to use the music in your projects without incurring additional costs. The terms and conditions of the license may vary, so it's essential to read and understand them to ensure that you're using the music in compliance with the licensing agreement.

Royalty-free music is a popular choice for content creators, video producers, and businesses looking for cost-effective and convenient solutions to add music to their projects without the complexity and ongoing financial obligations associated with traditional music licensing.

There are numerous services and websites that provide royalty-free music licenses, allowing you to find and use music for various projects without the need for ongoing royalty payments. These services offer a wide range of music genres and styles, making it easy to find the right track for your needs. Here are some popular royalty-free music libraries and platforms.

Tunetank: simple affordable way to browse through sound with a user-friendly interface and functions.

AudioJungle: a part of the Envato Market, AudioJungle offers a vast collection of royalty-free music tracks, sound effects, and audio files for various purposes.

Epidemic Sound: Epidemic Sound provides a subscription-based model for creators, offering a vast library of high-quality music tracks and sound effects.

Pond5: Pond5 offers a wide range of media content, including royalty-free music tracks, sound effects, and stock footage, which you can purchase individually or via a subscription.

PremiumBeat: is a music library by Shutterstock, offering high-quality royalty-free music tracks for use in videos, films, and other projects.

Artgrid: is a subscription-based platform offering a collection of high-quality royalty-free music and video footage for filmmakers and video creators.

AudioBlocks: provides a subscription-based model, offering a vast audio library with royalty-free music tracks, sound effects, and loops.

Free Music Archive: This is a resource for finding free and open-source music for various uses. However, be sure to check the specific licensing terms of each track.

Jamendo: offers a library of royalty-free music tracks that are suitable for content creators and businesses, with different licensing options.

Incompetech: offers a wide selection of royalty-free music in various genres. It's a popular choice for YouTube creators.

YouTube Audio Library: provides a library of music and sound effects that YouTubers can use for free in their videos, with clear licensing terms.

Machinima Sound: royalty-free music and sound effects that are often used in gaming content and videos.

Before using music from these services, make sure to review the licensing terms for each track to ensure you're in compliance with the specific requirements. Some may require attribution, while others may have restrictions on usage in commercial projects. The availability of tracks, licensing terms, and pricing can vary between these services, so it's essential to choose the one that best suits your needs.

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Direct music licensing is a process in which music rights holders (usually composers, publishers, or performing rights organizations) grant permission to a music user, business or organization, to use their musical compositions in commercial or public situations. As a music user you would need to research and find the rights owners to ask permission to use their music in your creation.

You need to acquire a license when you:

use samples (sections of a song recording or from the composition)
remix a song
use lyrics or a portion thereof
cover a song and record it for physical distribution
cover a song that has never been covered before
digitally or physically distribute a cover a song in the USA

As a producer there is a debate whether or not you need to clear samples in your production. I guess it depends on your creative process and work ethic. Are you going to produce dope beats with uncleared samples only to get denied rights, or are you positive that your beats are so dope they’ll get cleared no doubt?

If you are using music for your personal private creations that will never see the light of day except in your own home, then that would fall under the “fair rights usage” and you don’t need permission to use any content. However you may be in a pickle if when you do want to share your music publicly or monetize your music that you would first need to clear it, meaning: get the rights and licenses.

You may need to acquire a direct music license when there is no other way to legally use the music you would like. It is unlike traditional blanket licenses offered by performing rights organizations (PROs) like ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC, which cover a wide catalog of music, direct licensing involves negotiating licenses for individual songs or a specific set of songs. 

In most cases the composer or writer of the music would need to hear your creation to see if they accept how you are going to use it. They may or may not accept. The conditions of the usage would be negotiated and set out in the license contract, usually with the assistance of a legal professional. 

In direct licensing the music user and the rights holder or their representatives negotiate and create customized licensing agreements. These agreements specify the terms, conditions, and fees for the use of specific songs. 

You would need to acquire a license whenever you plan on using someone else’s music for commercial or public purposes. This would include the publishing or composition license and the master license if you intend to use prerecorded sounds as samples or remixes.

In direct licensing, you typically negotiate with the songwriters, composers, and music publishers directly or through their representatives, rather than with a PRO. This allows for more flexibility in terms of agreements. It's important to note that the process of direct licensing can be complex, as it involves negotiating individual agreements for each song.

World renowned Deborah Mannis-Gardner shares her experience with acquiring permission for hit songs over the decades in this video.

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The methodology states:

“As in previous years, results from China and India are not included in `global´ figures cited in this report, as the size of these countries would have a considerable impact on the weighted average figures used.”

“Results from Indonesia, Nigeria, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and UAE are not included in global figures to ensure long-term trending remains accurate.”

-The global report should headline, “Global report excluding India, China etc.”-

Yes weighted averages would be skewed, but is this not the world we live in its entirety. Our current global population is 8.1 billion, to exclude these territories with a combined population of 3.2 billion and you leave 40% of the world population out of the picture.

-What can be derived from this is: including these territories, specifically to China and India, as our music audiences will have a: considerable impact.-

There is a special focus for each of these “non-global,” territories to include them in the report. It is interesting how in these territories there is a 50% increase of illegal usage of music. On the flip side there is a 20% increase in licensed streaming usage of music compared to the “global” territories. Without more details about how the numbers were attained this seems like an abnormal difference.

I see two factors: access and knowledge. How accessible is the music that people are searching and how knowledgeable are they of the source. When high quality licensed services readily accessible then people won’t go elsewhere.

-listeners recognize that it is important for their mental health.-

The most important message from this report is: music is listened to all over the world to relax, cope with stress.

All in all this is the go to for the most readily available overview of the global world report.

Report

https://www.ifpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IFPI-Engaging-With-Music-2023_full-report.pdf

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How to use music that is not 100% your original creation. This is a guide to clarify how you can use prerecorded sounds and music in your creations.

If you use prerecorded sounds, compositions or lyrics in your music you need to find out the rights of that content. This is most important if you have any intention of sharing or publishing your music for or not for profit. This is your responsibility to give respect to the original creators to make sure you are using their creations legally. At no time can you use someone else’s creations without their permission or by abiding to the licenses that accompany the content. 

Depending how you plan on using the content you would need to clear the content before you use it. Whether it is for a live performance, or composition or sound recording or adding to a video, or use as background music or what have you. Here we will focus on compositions and sound recording and the  four different categories of usage rights the content you use may fall in.

Direct Licensing

Direct music licensing, often referred to as direct licensing, is a process in which music rights holders (usually composers, publishers, or performing rights organizations) grant permission to a music user, such as a business or organization, to use specific musical compositions in their commercial or public activities. 

In direct licensing, you typically negotiate with the songwriters, composers, and music publishers directly or through their representatives, rather than with a PRO. It's important to note that the process of direct licensing can be complex, as it involves negotiating individual agreements for each song. These agreements can specify the terms, conditions, and fees for the use of specific songs. 

Some content, especially from very popular or famous artists, may be very difficult and expensive to acquire licenses for. Some content may be available on a royalty-free basis provided by a licensor. 

Royalty Free Licensing

Royalty-free music refers to a type of music licensing that allows individuals, businesses, and organizations to use music in their projects or content without the need to pay ongoing royalties or fees for each use. When you purchase a royalty-free music license, you typically pay a one-time fee for the right to use the music within the terms specified by the license. This is in contrast to traditional music licensing, where you might have to pay royalties each time the music is used in a public performance, broadcast, or distribution. 

There are services that will act as an intermediary to acquire the permission to license the content with music that is well known. Many of the royalty-free services have a stock catalogue that creators would have access to with a membership.

Loops and samples provided with any Digital Audio Workstation are royalty-free. You can’t sell the loops/samples alone, by themselves, they must be part of some other work. So as long as you're including them with other instruments it's fine.

You need to check the licenses of any content you download from the internet or acquire otherwise. Even if there is no obvious license it doesn’t mean the content is not under copyright.

Creative Commons Licenses

Creative Commons is a set of copyright licenses that allow creators to specify the permissions granted to others regarding the creative works, such as text, images, music, and more. Creative Commons is a type of Copyleft licensing which retains copyright but enables others to reuse the work with clear standard terms.

Creative Commons licenses make it easier for creators to share their work with the public and specify the conditions under which others can use, remix, and share those works. It's a tool that strikes a balance between copyright protection and openness, fostering a more open and collaborative culture of sharing creative content.

There are 6 types of CC licenses: 

Attribution (CC BY): Allows others to distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon the work, even for commercial purposes, as long as they give appropriate credit to the original creator.

Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA): Allows for remixing, tweaking, and building upon the work, even for commercial purposes, as long as the new work is released under the same terms and provides proper attribution.

Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND): Permits redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as the work is passed along unchanged and in whole, with proper attribution.

Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC): This license allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work for non-commercial purposes only and requires proper attribution. 

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA): Allows for remixing, tweaking, and building upon the work for non-commercial purposes, as long as the new work is released under the same terms and provides proper attribution. 

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND): This is the most restrictive, allowing others to download the works and share them with others as long as they provide proper attribution, but they can't change them in any way or use them for commercial purposes.

Public Domain 

Public domain music refers to music, sound recordings or compositions that are no longer protected by copyright and are free for the public to use, share, and distribute without the need for a license or permission from the original copyright owner. When music enters the public domain, it means that the copyright protection has expired, or the creator has voluntarily relinquished their copyright rights, Creative Commons CC0, no copyright.

Copyright protection for creative works is limited in duration. Once the copyright term expires, the music becomes part of the public domain. Copyright terms vary by country but generally last for the lifetime of the composer plus an additional 50 to 70 years. Sound recordings will generally enter the public domain after 70 to 120 years from the date of publication.

Public domain music can be used, modified, performed, recorded, and distributed without any restrictions. There is no need to pay royalties, license fees, or obtain permission from the original composer or their estate. It is available for anyone to use and it can be used for personal or commercial purposes without limitations that can be freely sampled, remixed, or incorporated into new compositions

It's important to note that not all older music is necessarily in the public domain. In some cases, works may still be under copyright due to specific circumstances, such as copyright renewals or extensions. Additionally, new arrangements or recordings of public domain music may have their copyrights for the new version. Therefore, it's advisable to research and confirm the copyright status of specific musical works before using them in your projects, especially if you plan to create derivative works or use recordings made by others.

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Under the current “pro rata” model held true in Spotify and Apple, money from your dedicated fans goes into a giant pool that's paid out to artists based on their share of total streams. This mostly benefits mega stars.

Spotify figures out how many streams came from a given country and then calculates the portion of those streams that went to specific artists. This causes smaller artists who might not have such a massive reach, but have a dedicated loyal audience, not getting much money because they share a smaller portion of the overall streams.

Effectively, if The Weeknd or Harry Styles gets 5% of all streams on Spotify in any given period they and their labels will get 10% of your monthly subscription fee, even if you never listened to any of their songs.

Rolling Stone reported in 2020, that the top 1 percent of streaming artists end up getting 90 percent of the revenue.

If you were to take the more than 1.6 million artists who released music to streaming services in the past year and a half and ranked them by their total streams, you’d find that the top 16,000 of those artists pulled in 90 percent of the streams. And it doesn’t take more than a basic grasp of math to realize that this leaves 1.6 million artists with just 10 percent of the streams. 

FYI the current number of artists on Spotify has now grown to about 9 million, this means more share less.

This “pro rata” model typically benefits the major labels and the most popular artists. When you listen to music on the streaming services what do you hear on these platform generated playlists, radio stations and suggestions: More of the same top artists represented by the biggest labels. This has changed very little if at all over the last 3 years.

Obviously this is not acceptable. Not only from the view of the music creator, independent label and self-publisher but also from the fan’s’ point of view. It too sucks knowing that these superstars are taking money away from your choice artists.

Yet, I cannot feel too bad about using streaming services. The subscription fee is for using the service. No longer do I need to carry around all my CDs or be limited to the storage capacity in my device. And new releases are automatically available. But there must be a better way to focus user and fan activity and payments in a more meaningful way.

Lets see how the biggest record labels will get their fingers into the new payment models. We’ll take a look at the most recent deal with Universal and Deezer, as well as the first change in the “pro rata” model founded by Soundcloud and Warner.

Micropayments and Tips: A Better Way to Pay Your Artists

If only there was a way for a fan to pay directly to the artist. Wait, hold up there is. Though Netease and Tencent in China use the “pro rata” model, they calculate the accumulated streams of a given artist and pay out according to the type of user: free, subscribing, or VIP. So the pay per stream varies from user to user. Already there is a distinction between users. But even, is the possibility for the listeners and fans to give gifts directly to their artists.

Yet another advance in China that the western services are lacking and struggling to “catch up to”, if that is even a tangible consideration for the streaming services to implement?

Micropayments and digital tips are common in China. There are apps that allow people to tip or give monetary gifts. However, many platforms have this function built into their system as they do in the music platforms in China like QQ and Netease as well as Douyin and others. And you can always use a 3^rd party app to send a gift to the ones you choose. How awesome would it be to go to Spotify or Deezer or Apple and leave your thoughts and show your love as comments to your artist as you listen to their music, as they do on Netease and QQ. And also showing your support by giving them a tip or virtual gift.

Moving Beyond Pro Rata

Universal has struck a deal with Deezer or is it vice versa? Deezer CEO Jeronimo Folgueira says that the deal is the “most ambitious change” to the economies of music streaming since it first started.

Focusing on artists who have a minimum of 1,000 streams per month with a minimum of 500 unique listeners will get a “double boost.” Is that 2x per stream?

They will get another “double boost” if the song was actively searched for by the user rather than suggested by the system or on a playlist. Is that 4x times per stream?

This Artist Centric streaming model is definitely a move forward. It seems though that the ones it benefits the most are the artists who are already taking the majority of the royalties. So any artist who has more than 1000 monthly streams and 500 different listeners will now be taking double of what they are already taking. Where is this coming from?

Denis Ladegaillerie of Believe, expressed his concerns that this 1000 streams/500 listener threshold will increase over time. Essentially squeezing out any upcoming artist with fewer than the threshold.

Jeronimo Folgueira of Deezer has addressed a very sore point in the streaming world, “There is no other industry where all content is valued the same, and it should be obvious to everyone that the sound of rain or a washing machine is not as valuable as a song from your favorite artist streamed in HiFi.”

Deezer is planning to replace non-artist noise content with its own content as functional music which won’t be included in the royalty pool. And of course tackling fraud by driving a better new and improved fraud detection system, making it less attractive to fraudsters and protecting the royalties.

So at least we can count on 2 things: Artists will receive a smaller payout if their songs play as part of an algorithmic playlist and will not need to compete with background noise tracks. Please remember this is only on Deezer. And how about all artists that are not part of Universal Music Group do they share pro rata of whatever is left over?

As of now Spotify is not on board, “We are willing to make the switch to a user-centric model if that’s what artists, songwriters, and rights holders want to do. However, Spotify cannot make this decision on its own; it requires broad industry alignment to implement this change. The research we’ve seen to date suggests that a shift to user-centric payments would not benefit artists as much as many may have originally hoped.”

Another possibility implemented by Tidal is their Direct-to-Artists payment model established in 2022. As a listener and subscriber your monthly fee will be allotted to a pool of royalties based on your subscription tier. As a premium HiFi plus subscriber it is estimated that 10% of your fee will go directly to your artists you listen to.

At the forefront we have Soundcloud and their Fan-powered royalty model since 2021. This is only available to independent artists who monetize directly with SoundCloud. The more time your dedicated fans listen to your music, the more you get paid. So a user paying $10 a month only listens to five artists, those five artists will get a split of that $10, after SoundCloud takes its cut, no matter how many times the user listens to each of them.

This model that seems to benefit independent artists is a collaboration with Warner Music Group, having cut a licensing deal with SoundCloud to adopt the streamer’s Fan-Powered Royalties system. WMG is the first major label to adopt the system, and its embrace of the model could signal a larger shift for the industry. Warner and independent artists are like oil and water, could there still be a light at the end of the tunnel for independent artists? 

Conclusion

The structure of payments between streaming services and labels or independent artists are in need of change. 

There is an inability to distinguish premium content, any stream over 30 seconds in length counts the same. This means that the music that has a higher value is not recognized.

An alternative is a more flexible artist-centric model that seeks to distribute payouts based on the value an artist creates and provides for the platform.

Fan-powered royalties means a subscriber’s subscription fee or advertising revenue will be shared among the artists they actually listen to, rather than going to a big pot and being split up among the platform’s most popular artists.

Streaming platforms have more pricing power than they have demonstrated in prior years as several major music streaming platforms have increased their prices on their standard services; however, the average revenue per user on paid streaming music services has fallen by 40% since 2016.

Apple Music and Spotify have essentially lowered the value of their catalogues by introducing family plans and smaller prices for bundled users, but maybe they are preparing for the next generation of users.

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Sources

https://www.goldmansachs.com/intelligence/page/music-streaming-services-are-on-the-cusp-of-major-structural-change.html

https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/2/22309090/soundcloud-artist-stream-pay-listener-fan-royalties

https://press.soundcloud.com/197001-soundcloud-introduces-fan-powered-royalties

https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/21/23272548/warner-music-soundcloud-user-centric-model-spotify

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/tidal-to-launch-user-centric-royalties-system-and-direct-to-artist-payments-for-new-19-99-hifi-plus-tier/

https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2022/03/24/spotify-artist-payments-2021/

https://www.euronews.com/culture/2023/09/07/music-platform-deezer-launches-artist-centric-streaming-model

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/believe-applauds-deezers-action-on-noise-but-questions-new-artist-centric-royalty-models-impact-on-rising-artists/

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-66729571

https://www.billboard.com/pro/soundcloud-fan-powered-royalties-user-centric-payment-system/

https://www.universalmusic.com/universal-music-group-and-deezer-to-launch-the-first-comprehensive-artist-centric-music-streaming-model/

https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/news/top-1-percent-streaming-1055005/

Content ID is a very useful tool for artists who are releasing content where 100% of the recorded music is original. It will track your content across the platforms where it operates so you earn every time somebody uses your music, especially on visual media platforms where fans create content using your audio which helps widen your reach and engagement.

Content ID Services and Fraudulent Activity

Unfortunately, people have misused content ID systems across the music industry which has led to mass takedowns of content and numerous lawsuits. The most common issues, coming from YouTube Content ID, have extended across other content ID platforms such as Meta, Soundcloud, Audible Magic and Sound Exchange. 

Notifications to distributors have been sent out by the stores regarding upcoming changes across content ID platforms which may affect your existing live catalogue of music on these content ID platforms. As trusted partners, these platforms have reached out to us to let us know that they are applying more strict measures as to the type of content which can be delivered to their content ID systems. This means they are going through their live catalogue and removing content which they regard to be in violation of the content ID rules. 

The content sent to content ID systems must:

• You must have exclusive rights to the music.
• Must not contain any free or paid samples or beats.
• No karaoke recordings, remasters, sound-alike recordings, or dubbed content.
• No Sound effects, soundbeds, or production loops.
• Please see Google for a more detailed list of requirements for Content ID.

Free beats, samples and paid for beats are widely accessible to artists through numerous third party loop and sample services. When music that contains this type of content is delivered to content ID systems multiple matches are detected for many different songs and the original copyright holder cannot be securely identified.

We will keep in close contact with you if we receive notice from the partners of the removal of any of your content. Unfortunately, we have no control over the content these platforms will remove and due to the seriousness of the situation, content cannot be reinstated once it has been removed.

This has affected all distributors, so we strongly advise if your music is affected by these changes not to re-upload to content ID through another distributor. This action is fraudulent and puts your music in risk of being removed from all platforms and legal repercussions.

Please know that content ID systems are separate to standard streaming and download services. If you notice your music is removed from any of the platforms that use a content ID system, without any claim of fraudulent activity, will have no effect on the status of your releases on the other platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music.

Content Platforms that have content ID

YouTube content ID is best known for establishing the use of content ID which automatically fingerprints, scans and manages content.

Facebook Rights Manager allows content owners to upload and manage their copyrighted videos to help identify, monitor, and take actions on others’ content that matches the fingerprints.

TikTok has something similar to content ID. It allows creators to set up a "Pro Account" to manage copyrighted content and potentially monetize it.

Instagram also has its own rights managing system for managing copyrighted content on the platform.

SoundCloud has a system for music copyright management, allowing content owners to monitor and control the usage of their music on the platform.

Vimeo has its own content identification system that allows content owners to protect their videos and manage how they are used by others.

Methods of Content ID

Fingerprinting Is a digital stamp of the content, reflected by its audio and visual features. Videos, music and music uploaded to platforms that utilize content ID systems creates a unique digital "fingerprint" for each piece of content.

When new content is uploaded to the platform and fingerprinted, the system scans and compares it with its database of fingerprints. When a match is found, it means the uploaded content contains copyrighted material.

Depending on the terms set by content owners, the platform will take specific actions, which may include blocking the uploaded content, monetizing it on behalf of the copyright holder or tracking its statistics. The system will generate reports and analytics for content owners showing how their copyrighted material is being used, helping the content owners monitor and manage their copyrights effectively.

Content creators who use copyrighted material in their content may have options depending on the platform's policies. If they meet certain criteria, they might be able to use the material which may include sharing revenue from their content, or they might have to remove or replace the copyrighted content.

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Sources 

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2605065

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_ID_(system)

https://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/Editorial/Featured-Articles/YouTubes-Digital-Fingerprints-How-Content-ID-Protects-Videos-78358.aspx

https://www.unchainedmusic.io/blog-posts/what-is-content-id

https://www.wyzowl.com/youtube-content-id/

https://www.trackclub.com/resources/copyright-claim-vs-strike/

https://uppbeat.io/blog/youtube-content-id/

A new dawn on the stage

In March commercial shows from abroad resumed and the amount of offline live concerts grew rapidly. The online concerts popularized during the pandemic are here to stay, but “real” live performances are something that cannot be replaced. People are craving for a connection with artists and sharing space with other fans.

Bright weather for live performances - The first half of 2023 in numbers 

In the first half this year, there were more than 193,300 concerts, a 400% increase year-on-year, collecting $2.12 billion USD at the box office, a 670% increase year-on-year, and the size of audiences were more than tenfold.

This spring showed and increase in all kinds of live performances (music, theater, etc.). In addition to the substantial increase of audience attendees, the ticket revenues from the first quarter of the year were about 111 percent higher than a year ago, reaching nearly $700 million USD. 

According to Damai, the largest online entertainment ticketing service in China, there was a 127% rise in box office sales in February and March compared to the same period in 2019. Also during the same period, the volume of ticket buyers rose by 87% and the number of events tripled..

During the five-day May Day holiday alone there were 31,100 commercial shows organized across the country with a total audience of 8.65 million people and $220 million USD ticket revenue. The large number of events also created around $167 million USD from other services like transportation, accommodation and dining. 

The China Association of Performing Arts (CAPA) expects the number of music concerts and festivals in 2023 to surpass the pre-pandemic levels of 2019. So far the rise has been more than promising.

As a side note about live-performances: The city of Shijiazhuang is rebranding itself as the Chinese capital of rock 'n' roll and is arranging a three-month long citywide music festival from July to October as a part of this campaign. There will be nearly 20 rock music performances happening on any given weekend during the festival in the city. This once-thriving textile and manufacturing city is hoping to make itself more attractive and boost its economy with the image makeover.

Clouds in the sunny sky - Issues in the live performance market

The growth in the live performance market has been fast and the future looks promising, however this has caused a shift in ticket sales and has pushed venue capabilities as the market catches up to the demand. 

Already seen early this summer, large-scale concerts have diminished the attention of the smaller live house venues. The audiences end up spending their money on the bigger, more attractive concerts, leaving live house concerts with fewer ticket sales than originally estimated. Since many live houses have a hard enough time selling tickets, the costs of touring (transportation, food, accommodation) for smaller artists have become too much to handle, which has led to cancellations of performances and tours. This has caused the smaller venues to lose money. The rising cost of tickets and the slow of income growth in China means that the consumers have to be more choosy when buying tickets, essentially taking away even more sales from the smaller venues. 

Despite the increase in ticket cost, the venues still need to catch up to the quality of service with the sudden increase of ticket sales and mass amount of concert goers. There have been complaints about the lack of supporting services at many big concerts: The air conditioners don't work, the queues for food and toilets are too long and the lineups lack diversity. So there is lots of room for improvement such as for foreign artists to fill the lineup to create a more attractive lineup.

Solar panels and neon lights - Solving the issues

The “imbalance” of large and small concerts is not confined to China, this is happening in other markets globally and will probably continue throughout the year. So unfortunately smaller and medium-sized artists will likely need to reconsider their gigs and touring schedules. To adjust to the current situation, smaller venues are starting to focus on expanding their audiences by booking more popular artists to support the smaller ones, as well as, upping their services and lineups to provide a more high-quality experience to their audiences. 

For the time being smaller artists can focus on releasing awesome music (obviously), promoting it and actively building a network of bigger artists with whom they could do joint gigs. Promote their digital presence in China so that when the time comes to tour their fans will be waiting for them with open arms.

A Clear horizon - The big picture

The big picture: The live performance market in China is growing. This is a good thing as the music markets settle back into a constant rhythm after the disruption of the covid lockdown, new opportunities are just around the corner for independent artists to tour and travel in China. This shows the demand by listeners to get out of their social distancing and mingle.

Large venues and festivals will set the scene, creating space for smaller artists to enter the scene. As the market stabilizes audiences will be less likely blinded by the lights of the big performers and look locally for more cultural experiences. Also the prices of the tickets cannot keep rising endlessly, if people can't afford the tickets there wouldn't be any live performances.

The example of the city Shijiazhuang (the capital of rock 'n' roll) rebranding itself with a musical genre and arranging a ton of concerts gives hope to various rock artists. Rockers can feel that they are being supported by a higher facet. Hopefully we will see this trend happening in more cities and towns for other genres as well!

Good news for foreign artists wanting to perform in China is that there is a big demand for international artists and many music festivals are diversifying their line-ups so that both domestic and other artists are more equally represented. A similar diversification can also happen among the smaller venues. 

During these short-term difficulties both smaller venues and artists need to remain calm and move forward steadily by doing the things they can do. The industry will continue to grow and evolve. If you are an artist interested in expanding your audience in China and start laying the foundation for playing there live one day, check out our distribution, promotion and music synchronization services at https://musicinfo.io/ or contact us for a tailor-made package.

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Sources:

• https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/TPidX2B3d0Az6vU7CMsl4Q

• https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202305/15/WS64619deca310b6054fad2feb.html

• https://www.iq-mag.net/2023/05/china-live-music-market-explosive-growth/

• https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3214594/chinas-post-covid-performing-arts-scene-poised-explosive-growth-concerts-and-festivals

• https://www.chinairn.com/news/20230803/110232825.shtml

• https://new.qq.com/rain/a/20230708A01XLE00

• Shijiazhuang rebrands itself as the Chinese capital of rock 'n' roll – The China Project

• Live performances set the stage for full recovery - Chinadaily.com.cn

What is ambient music?

Ambient music is a genre that focuses more on creating different sonic atmospheres, moods and tones over traditional musical melodies, structures or rhythms. These soundscapes can be created for example by using traditional instruments, synthesizers, sampling recordings and nature sounds.

The genre originated in the 1960s and 1970s partly due to the introduction of the synthesizer to the big audience. It was popularized by the British musician Brian Eno in 1978 with his album Ambient 1: Music for Airports (which has been actually installed and performed in several airports!). One of the precursors of ambient music was French composer Erik Satie, who among other things composed background music to be played during e.g. dinners. He wanted this “Furniture music” (as he titled it) to create a background atmosphere without drawing the attention away from the actual activity at hand.

The rise of ambient music in China

In recent years China has witnessed a rise in the popularity of ambient music. This can be seen from the emergence of new ambient music festivals, experimental music venues and the rising number of Chinese artists exploring and creating ambient compositions. Some examples of older and newer Chinese ambient music artists and artists incorporating ambient elements include Hualun, Xie Yugang (the guitarist of the post-rock band Wang Wen) and Solent.

There are also many Chinese record labels dedicated to ambient and other “non-traditional” music genres. One of them is the experimental record label Playrec, which has many artists who explore the limits of audial expression.

We can also see the rising trend in the listening amounts of ambient music from our own Musicinfo artist database. For example the number of listens per track in the “electronic ambient” genre rose almost 1000% from 2021 to 2022. A similar trend can be seen in the “nature” genre as the listens per track have skyrocketed a staggering 1300% from 2021 to 2022.

Possible reasons of the rise of ambient music in China

Urbanization and escapism: The rapidly urbanizing cities in China can create stress-inducing environments which generate an increasing demand for ways to relax and escape the fast-paced new lifestyle. Ambient music can be one convenient solution for that - just put on your headphones and drift off to your peaceful place.

Emotional well-being: The age we live in is characterized by societal pressures and ambient music can offer a therapeutic sonic experience helping with emotional release.

Cultural curiosity: The younger generation in China is more open to exploring global trends and seeking for new sonic landscapes. Ambient music can offer new experiences with its unique approach on musical expression.

The increasing popularity of sync-licensing: Many artists are looking for new ways of making money with their music and are offering their tracks to be synced to movies, advertisement, short-videos in social media, video games etc. Due to its abstract nature, ambient music can compliment many types of visual media. Therefore it makes sense that many visual creators in need of great music look for the perfect soundscape for their videos from the diverse realm of ambient music. The more ambient music is exposed to different audiences via movies, videos and advertisements the more demand it will get; people will search for the song they heard on the video, other visual creators take inspiration from works with ambient music and so on. Musicinfo also offers sync licensing for distributed music. Learn more from our blog about the topic.

The possible outcomes of the rise of ambient music in China

Musical diversity: As more and more artists get recognition and the number of platforms for performing grows in China, the increasing popularity of ambient music paves the way for the exploration of alternative music genres. The rising prevalence of all the “non-traditional” styles can challenge the dominance of the mainstream music styles in the future.

Cultural fusion: Ambient music provides a medium for cross-cultural exchange of ideas. Chinese ambient music artists can collaborate with other artists globally, drawing inspiration for their compositions and creating unique new sounds to the Chinese ambient music scene.

Mental health awareness: Ambient music can increase the awareness about the importance of well-being and relaxation. Focusing on introspection, the genre can highlight the significance of taking time to oneself in today’s busy world.

What can ambient music give to you

If you haven’t yet familiarized yourself with ambient music, do it! You might find a new way for relaxing or focusing on work or studying. Personal note: I listen to it quite often while working and it usually helps me get to a good workflow. While writing this blog I listened to many Chinese ambient music artists, but actually some of them were “too interesting” - I had to focus on the music instead of actually writing… You have to find different ambient music for different situations (this applies to all music styles). 

If you make more “traditional” music yourself you might find good inspiration from the different emotion provoking ambient soundscapes. Regardless of the genre you operate in, I bet there is a lot to draw from ambient music.

If you make music in the ballpark of “ambient” genres, it is a good idea to distribute your songs to China. The recently woken, ambient-hungry audience might give your music the attention it deserves. 

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Sources:

Radiichina - Ambient Music China

Ambient music - Wikipedia

Brian Eno - Wikipedia

Ambient 1: Music for Airports - Wikipedia

Erik Satie - Wikipedia

China’s recorded music revenues grew by 28.4% in 2022 with music streaming accounting for more than 89% of those revenues. With this significant rise, China advanced into the top five global markets for the first time in only one year jumping from the 7^th place in 2021 ad 6th place in 2022. China’s music market has now overtaken France and is leading Asia just behind Japan.

Over 700 million paying users for streaming video services shows that the population in China is willing to pay for content and a massive 1.4 billion population with a relatively low subscription rate, the Chinese music market has an abundance of room for growth. 

Paid music streaming revenues rose 10.3% to $12.7 billion with 589 million paid accounts by the end of 2022. Important to note is the return of live performances are on the rise with  performance rights revenues increasing 8.6% bringing us back to pre-pandemic levels. The growth came from multiple revenue sources: streaming, physical, performance rights and synchronization, with a decline in downloads and other non-streaming digital sources.

Fun Facts About The Chinese Music Scene

Innovative ways to use AI for you pleasure: Using AI to tailor customer designed gin. Not sure if you'd consider this music market information but many artists would beg to differ.

Viral frog suits hit the street: A way to create happiness for others and to unburden oneself with the “shackles of life.” Everyone need to escape from the realities of life sometime.

Cucumbers in Music Festivals. Best way to keep hydrated where bottled water costs an arm and a leg. Maybe Western festival goers will have a go at a cucumber too?

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Sources

https://musically.com/2023/04/04/chinas-music-industry-expects-strong-subscriptions-growth/ 

https://www.ifpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Global_Music_Report_2023_State_of_the_Industry.pdf 

https://www.billboard.com/pro/global-music-revenue-growth-slows-takeaways-ifpi-report/ 

https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/media/streaming-boosts-recorded-music-revenue-china-market-growing/98900679

https://www.musicweek.com/labels/read/ifpi-global-music-report-recorded-music-market-grows-9-in-2022-amid-complex-challenges/087637

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/streaming-boosts-recorded-music-revenue-china-market-growing-2023-03-21/

https://radii.co/article/cucumbers-music-festival

A quick review of the numbers shows just how much potential the streaming services in China hold for independent artists. A much smaller artist to listener ratio can give artists an upper hand in the sea of music compared. Though it is known that Chinese streaming services don’t pay per stream like the established streaming services outside of China, the value is in the fanbase that can be gained.

Spotify has over 11 million artists and creators on their roster all contributing content. On average 1.8 million new tracks get uploaded to Spotify every month with now over 100 million tracks and quickly growing. It was recorded in 2022 that nearly 38 million tracks had never been played. 

According to the ISRC records there are 158 million tracks available on streaming platforms. 67.1 million of all the tracks have been played less than 10 times. 

With Spotify being saturated with content and creators, the funnel of chance for new artists to break the scene, known as “the cold start problem.” The way the algorithm works or any algorithm is that it needs data. If you are a new artist you have no history and no data for the algorithm to curate your music. So what are you going to do? You need to find ways to create a data history of your artist and music presence. And this means human influence. If you can’t do it yourself you need to find someone who can.

Private playlists owners of influential playlists can place your unknown track on their playlists giving you a foot in to start collecting data. You can also go in on it on your own and build a presence by yourself but this takes time, energy, content, knowhow and in the case with China: Access.

Take a look at the numbers and make an educated decision. Today is digital and if it is on the web it can be found. Make it easy for your listeners to find you!

Spotify

100 million songs

11 million artists and creators 

515 registered listeners

210 million are premium subscribers

1,800,000 songs are uploaded on Spotify every month on average.

Netease

60 million songs

611,000 indie artists

800 million registered listeners

38 million premium subscribers

Tencent

60 million songs

390,000 indie musicians

Registered 40,000 indie artists in the fourth quarter of 2022 alone

567 million registered listeners

94 million premium subscribers

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Sources

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/companies/netease-cloud-music/

https://www.demandsage.com/spotify-stats/

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/tencent-music-ended-2022-with-390000-registered-indie-artists-adding-40000-in-q4-alone/

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tencent-music-entertainment-group-announces-third-quarter-2022-unaudited-financial-results-301677824.html

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/netease-cloud-music-now-counts-over-611000-registered-independent-artists/

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/netease-cloud-music-now-counts-over-611000-registered-independent-artists/

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/tencent-music-entertainment-had-88-5m-paying-users-at-the-end-of-2022-up-16-1-yoy/ 

https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/tencent-music-statistics-and-facts/

https://musically.com/2023/02/24/netease-cloud-music-ended-2022-with-38-3m-paying-music-users/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetEase_Cloud_Music

https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2023/04/the-cold-start-problem-and-what-spotify-algorithms-mean-for-musicians.html

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/38-million-tracks-on-music-streaming-service-were-played-zero-times-in-2022-elon-musks-book

The genre of afrobeat music has subtly made waves in China’s music market. While Asian music lovers and afrobeat don’t seem like they go together, the genre’s rhythms and melodies have been inspiring for Chinese audiences and followers.

Its versatility has led to a rising popularity in afrobeat music across the world. The Nigerian Label and CEO of SouthNice records Agbaja Emeka Augustine even suggested that afrobeats would spread to Asia.

The sound reflects a wide range of styles and musical influences. Here’s a look at how afrobeat music got its beginnings and its popularity with Chinese audiences.

Where and How Did Afrobeat Music Start?

The music genre began around the 1970s with a blend of Yoruba music, jazz, West African music, and funk. The credit to the creation of afrobeat music is attributed to Nigerian artist Fela Kuti, who opened a nightclub called the afro-Spot.He took his band Africa 70 and developed big music that he dubbed the afrobeat name.

Kuti’s influential genre made a big impact in the Nigerian music scene, and has reached people from all over the globe. The music has Black American influences and creates a compelling mix of both culture and sound. 

Kuti was inspired by the Black Panther Movement, words with political critique and Nigerian-style proverbs. He used the music to mock the dictatorship within Nigeria at the time. He is now considered one of the most influential musicians in the world. 

The music movement known as Afrobeats grew, and Nigerian artists who work to develop and put their own unique spin on afrobeat music are becoming more prominent. It shares a similar momentum to house music, but features a 3–2 or 2–3 rhythm called a clave. One such artist, Burna Boy, is selling out in massive venues like Madison Square Garden.

Afrobeat Music in China

Afrobeat began making its way into China subtlety. It’s still infiltrating in smaller steps rather than giant ones, the professional dancer and choreographer Yoofi Greene  started introducing the afrobeat music genre in his dance lessons and classes to his Chinese students.

International radio stations have also worked to promote the afrobeats sound. The beat is a mixture of multiple elements that are similar to Electronic Dance Music (EDM), but samples original beats also. The house music sticks to the 4/4 time signature and doesn’t have the clave of the Afrobeat style.

Afrobeat influenced China as early as 2010 with artists like Mariatu Kargbo performing at an afrobeat festival right in Beijing . DJs, musicians and other bands like Afro Koko Roots were also featured at the festival, making an impact on its Chinese audiences.

Mainstream Chinese music artist Wu Bai used afrobeat in his album Ding Zi Hua in 2016, he was the first mainstream Mandarin market musician who brought more attention to the genre for audiences in China. 

He made his fame as one of the biggest rock stars in the Mandarin music territory which encompasses areas including Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia along with China. The album also achieved success with its mix of genres; it won the Golden Melody Award for Best Taiwanese Album at the 28th Golden Melody Awards.

An Influential Genre For Chinese Artists

There are plenty of Chinese fans for afrobeat and afrobeats music; creators with channels are featuring it and obtaining music licenses for YouTube, also finding ways to customize and create their own afrobeat-influenced tracks.

In 2019 a band in Hong Kong erupted called The Afroseas due to their love of the genre. They worked with the famous rapper in the area JB on a single “To The Boat,” which received over 270k viewers on YouTube. Later they got an invite to perform it at Hong Kong’s hip-hop awards.

Vinida Weng is another well-known rapper in China who took a break from mainstream sounds and focused entirely on afrobeats in the album One Life Only. She started listening to the music and liked it so much that she combined the genre and sounds with her native Fuzhou dialect. The album was successful, and later won the Singer-Songwriter Award in 2022 from IFeng News.

Future of Afrobeat Music with Chinese Audiences

The future of Afrobeat music in China isn’t necessarily huge, but it definitely is making an impact on audiences, like the Reggae movement. The popularity has caused many Chinese musicians to take note and incorporate it within their original music. The annual ISY music festival in Sanya featured a stage dedicated to Afrobeat. 

Asian audiences have shown much interest, and use Afrobeat intermingled within songs and full albums for future releases, so there is a big opportunity with the music to reach more within the Chinese music market. Fela Kuti started a movement that has been influential across other countries and making an impact on audiences from varying backgrounds, promoting unity and understanding.

About the Author

Donna Maurer

As a marketing professional with the passion for audio production, Donna has always had a deep love and passion for all kinds of music. From a young age, she was drawn to the power of the written words and the way it could be used to capture the essence of the world around. She spent years honing their craft, immersing herself in the works of their favorite music writers, music production, and learning everything there was to know about the industry.

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Sources

https://guardian.ng/arts-2/i-wont-stop-hunting-for-talents-ugbaja-emeka-augustine/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fela_Kuti

https://www.onaspaceship.com/LoveDamini

https://www.instagram.com/yoofigreene/

https://www.instagram.com/mariatu7268/

http://wubai.com/biography/english/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/28th_Golden_Melody_Awards

https://www.trackclub.com/resources/how-to-license-music-for-youtube/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA5u86PWxng

https://www.youtube.com/@VINIDA

https://musicinfo.io/blog/reggae-in-china

Reggae has its roots deeply embedded in China or rather China has its roots deeply embedded in Reggae. The first immigrants from China came to Jamaica just before the turn of 1900. Most of these Chinese settlers came from the Hakka region in China commonly known nowadays as Shenzhen. They came after the abolition of slavery when there was lots of work to be found, settled into the new climate and culture and built their families.

Many of the session musicians came from families that had found their place in Jamaica as small business owners. Byron Lee is a name that is written into the history books of Reggae as the one who introduced the electric bass to reggae. From a Chinese-Jamaican mother and a Chinese father, Byron worked throughout his life producing music and performing in his band the Dragonaires.

Byron had produced the song Always Together for Shanghai singer, Stephen Cheng. Fitting in for Stephen was not Cheng’s typical ambition of his fellow countrymen and women in China and in his pursuit of the spotlight he gained the audience of Byron and was able to realize this track. Although it was thought that the Always Together was sung by a local in Jamaica it was a true musical collaboration from across oceans. As unusual as it was for a track to have such an obvious ‘Chinese’ element, it became a rocksteady gem.

We start to the first tastes of Reggae in China from the underground rock scene around 1982 with the Taiwanese legend Lo Ta-Yu 羅大佑 and his song Pedantry from his album of the same title. This was followed in Beijing by Cui Jian a.k.a. Beijing’s godfather of rock with hid debut album “從頭再來” in 1989.

Well known ska and reggae producers Byron Lee and Leslie Kong and other music industry professionals such as Neville Lee, Vincent and Patricia Chin founded some of Reggae’s biggest names into international fame like: Jimmy Cliff, The Maytals, and Bob Marley.

The nephew of Leslie Kong, I Kong and his son Shaquille “Skunga” Kong, carry on the family legacy. Connecting the circle, Skunga has worked with Leslie’s buddies Robbie Shakespeare and Sly Dunbar.

Long Shen Dao, known as China’s first real reggae band, has opened for The Wailers, as well as headlined some of the biggest festivals worldwide including the Strawberry Music Festival, Abi Reggae, and the Glastonbury Festival. They can be found on Netease and Weibo with 10’s of thousands of followers.

Today in China, reggae beats can be heard in rap, hip hop and pop music all over the country. It may take a little digging but it can be seen from the underground that it is growing. Local artists have tried some reggae songs or beats here and there for many decades.

Chinese Jamaican reggae artists and producers were visiting China more than ever before the pandemic, to reconnect with their roots, build connections between cultures, and spread reggae. 

Event promoter Heavy HK, since 2005, has been bringing reggae stars such as Tippa Irie, Johnny Osbourne, Skarra Mucci, and Anthony B to the country for performances making them one of the first reggae event promoters and organizers in China.

Reality TV shows like The Rap of China have helped with the breakout of hip hop and rap in China in the 2000s and 2010s has also boosted reggae noting many Chinese musicians creatively integrating the two styles.

Reggae and today’s artists have managed to build a following in China. Though the niche is relatively small to the most popular music in China, its presence is powerful. Many reggae artists are recognizing the connection to China and are entering China with their music. The potential in China is unlike anywhere, to build a fanbase and collaborate with musicians who share a love for Reggae.

Finding Reggae in China

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Sources

https://ko-fi.com/post/China-Reggae-The-Chinese-influence-on-Reggae-Musi-T6T14439P 

https://www.theworldofchinese.com/2022/10/reggaes-chinese-roots-run-deeper-than-you-think/

https://asianpopweekly.com/front-page-banner/unpacking-matzkas-affinity-with-reggae-the-roots-proliferation-of-reggae-music-in-the-greater-china-region/

https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2019/11/28/2003726596

https://spinditty.com/genres/Chinese-of-Jamaica-pioneers-of-reggae-music

https://radii.co/article/yunnan-province-home-to-chinese-reggae-community

The power of your reach is defined by the people you connect with and the tools in your hands. With a saturation of new music and 100,000’s of daily uploads to the most popular streaming services your best way of gaining new fans is in the power to reach unique audiences. 

Emerging music markets are shaping the global music industry. 

The role of emerging markets is vital for streaming services and major labels. Streaming giants, like Spotify and Apple Music, were late to realize the potential of emerging markets and, as such, allowed space for local players to get an early foothold, some examples being Boomplay in Africa, QQ and NetEase in China, and JioSaavn in India. (midia research, 2023)

We saw this happening within the last couple of years where Musicinfo was once one of the only distributors with access to China, which has now been followed by the biggest digital distributors such as Tunecore, Cdbaby and Distrokid, who have finally added China as one of their distribution territories. The importance of entering the music market in China has been further marked by the big three, Universal, Sony and Warner recently establishing a base in China.

Musicinfo is the new silk road for Western artists to connect to China and the rest of the world. We have forged the way for independent artists and record labels to access these emerging music markets. Leading the way into the Chinese music market our range of services are unmatched, and our global distribution will gain you access to The Americas, Oceania, Africa, The Middle East, India, Asia, Indonesia, and Europe. Never before have the audiences of the world been more accessible than now with Musicinfo.

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Sources

https://midiaresearch.com/blog/emerging-market-music-cultures-are-shaping-the-global-music-industry

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/rca-records-launches-first-asia-division-in-greater-china12/

https://www.universalmusic.com/universal-music-greater-china-announces-the-launch-of-capitol-records-china-alongside-expansion-of-international-operations/

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56479710

https://musicinfo.zohodesk.eu/portal/en/kb/articles/which-service-providers-will-my-music-be-distributed-to

During the past couple of years we have playlisted numerous songs in all possible genres to popular playlists in NetEase for at least one month at a time. Immediate effects can be seen by looking at the comment section of the playlisted song: Comments! So many comments! From new people who actually listened to my song! If people like the track the positive comments tend to pile up and if not, well, that’s their loss if they cannot appreciate your art.

But what about the effect playlisting has on the amount of streams, to the cold hard numbers, the raw data which doesn’t lie? Until realtime reporting is available from China, we have to make due with quarterly reports, but have them we do! I examined the streaming numbers from a handful of our artists who had playlisted their music to NetEase. The effects are clear: Playlisting works as long as the song is pushed to a fitting playlist. I don’t want to brag, but we at Musicinfo are quite good at arranging the perfect playlists. Unknown artists have gotten a tremendous boost to their visibility by playlisting their music. Obviously I can’t reveal the names of the songs or our artists, but here are four examples in visual form of the actual effects of playlisting. Each bar represents the amount of streams for one month. 

Example 1 - Classical genre

As we can see, playlisting seems to have some nice after effects to other streaming services even a year after the playlisting happened. When the apparent after effects have cooled down, the artist has clearly gotten some new real fans who consume the music on a regular basis.

Example 2 - Rock genre   

This example tells the same story as example 1: After the initial effects, the snowball effect begins and other streaming services start pushing the song to their listeners. After that, the new fans remain and the streaming rates are much higher than before playlisting.

Example 3 - Electronic genre 

Here we see that one month before playlisting, the artist’s streams grew substantially organically without any other promotion, so it is possible to suddenly get a boost in your streams or even go viral without doing anything. However, the effect of playlisting is obvious and more lasting than the initial bump.

Example 4 - Pop genre 

This example shows the effect of playlisting in a more simple manner. Playlisting makes the streaming amounts explode, and after a few months those who really liked the music have stuck along for the ride.

I have many more examples, but these four illustrate the typical pattern and show the effectiveness of playlisting your song regardless of genre. Remember that many listeners in China have a great taste in music, but not the energy or the time to find the hidden masterpiece from the depths of the streaming services. If you pitch your music to a playlist, you’ll make everyone’s life better: You get your music the exposure it deserves and the listeners can find their new favorite artist easier, bringing us yet another success story to our hands.

Request for a playlist placement now!

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Infringement on a Creator Level -Plagiarism-

You’re listening to Ed Sheeran’s newest release and you hear, “This is your melody and these are your lyrics, lalala hahaha, I’m gonna make millions and you’re gonna get nothin’.” Of course that would never happen, because he writes all his own songs, oh snap, hold up a minute, oh ya, he wasn’t found guilty.

How are you going to know that someone else has used your material? Maybe with AI there will be a better solution for monitoring music. For now you just have to wait for the super famous popular artists that you will most likely be exposed to at some time in a shopping center or night club, to happen upon lyrics or melodies that were originally yours.

Music plagiarism is gauged by two criteria: Access & Substantial Similarity. You need to prove that your music had been copyrighted before the plagiarized version appeared. In the United States, according to the Copyright Law of 1976, copyright is automatically created as the song is created. I’ve been told to send yourself an email, of your composition or sound file, to create a timestamp. However a law firm states that, “A formal registration of the copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office is the only way to establish an enforceable copyright; Meaning you can only file a lawsuit if you have registered your music with the USCO. You can pay for this service, about 35 UDS per song, to have your song registered at a copyright organization and get a certificate for your song. Please bear in mind this only for the United States and other countries may have other standards.

I am not a lawyer, but I have heard that it is possible to secure your copyright in the process of creating and publishing a release for distribution. In this way the sound file, artwork, ISCR & UPC codes, lyrics, and all accompanying rights holders’ metadata is bound to one release. This is also true in the process of creating an NFT (Non-Fungible Token) and according to blockchain architects is infallible. The point is: Would these media be acceptable in a court of law? This is yet another example where law and policy fall behind technology.

The questions you need to ask yourself: How important is it for me to have my music registered and obtain a certificate of copyright authenticity from a government organization, just in case someone might rip off your music? Is it very likely this would happen to me? Is it worth paying 35 bucks per track to have it registered?

The headlines of cases that involve copyright plagiarism include: Ed Sheeran, Katy Perry, Robin Thicke, Marvin Gaye, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Tom Petty, RHCP, Coldplay, Radiohead, Johnny Cash, Oasis, Drake, and more. I have made a playlist of these cases, with the original and the accused rip off. Have a listen and hear for yourself what others might have heard and taken for their own. Some of the cases were overturned and others were settled, in or out of court. You will find the link at the bottom of the page.

Proving copyright infringement is a subjective endeavor exemplified by these cases where the accused was found to have “subconsciously plagiarized” the song or where the accused and the accusing party is for and against the same artist: Fogerty vs Fogerty.

How to guard yourself against copyright infringement?

Copyright infringement comes in many shapes and sizes. Copyright is ownership, property, and music is Intellectual Property, it is intangible, until it is realized into a physical form such as a recorded sound or printed lyrics.

Other forms of intellectual property such as Industrial Design, Trademarks, Trade Secrets, typically don’t face the readily lurking fear of copyright infringement that music does. James Bond most likely won’t be interested in stealing your music, unless it’s Bill and Ted’s, The Song That United The World.

What is the value of music? How do you put a price tag on something that is essentially priceless? Music is fluid like water or air, you only use it for some moment in time and then it moves on. So, music’s real value can only be appreciated when it is being used, listened to. It must live and the value of music can be explained in its most basic definition by its popularity.

That’s where we have markets to gauge the value of property. Every musical idea has the potential to be given a life and shared to the world if not become popular, so there is the compulsion for every creator to claim ownership to their own creations. This is an intrinsic need for us to show our worth and leave our mark on the world when we are gone. This is everyone’s right.

The point that hurts the most is the feeling of something being stolen and having no way to guard yourself against this crime. This hurts everyone. Without tools and information to guard ourselves we abstain from sharing our ideas.

The other point is that someone else is making financial gains from your ideas and that pisses us off because, “Hey, that was my idea!” And you are the one who should be thriving off the livelihood of your own creations, on your own terms.

Copyright infringement is using someone else’s ideas or works and claiming them as your own. This can be done with a direct intent to profit, or a carelessness, or a complete unawareness of a crime being committed. There are different levels of copyright infringement and they affect everyone no matter what the intent is.

This is where we get into muddy waters when we talk about copyright infringement, piracy and fraud. As an individual in the music market, the point here is that music is getting used but the creators are not getting paid. It happens every day. The only way we can trust, especially when at one time or another we’ve been hurt or screwed by someone else is through transparency; by being informed and having a thorough understanding.

Understand the kind of infringements that are possible. Is it systemic or individual? Anyone who has a beef with streaming music can argue that it is a violation of music on a systemic level because streaming music pays less than peanuts: It pays in chia seeds. This however is not infringing because you must agree to the terms when you distribute your music and however little you are getting paid, there is a record of it and you are still receiving compensation for its usage.

Coming to an agreement on how your music can be used is complicated. You have so many factors to consider, Performance Rights Organizations, labels, distributors, publishers, licenses, the list goes on. Governments have tried to enforce laws that help to guide the boundaries of copyright and music usage. Yet with ever evolving markets and technology, the policies that govern our IP are forever catching up; We could be waiting forever for policy, law and enforcement to be perfected to eliminate the chance of getting screwed. The only other option is to be informed and make an educated decision: Be informed by current standards, not: Old facts, sensational news, social media posts or personal opinion. Facts.

Levels of Infringement

Royalty fraud is not copyright infringement but it does affect how systems are designed and creators get paid. It happens at the highest level and uses loopholes in the systems that govern how music usage is recorded and monetized. There is very little that we as individual artists can do about this kind of theft. We have to rely on the people who run these systems and the policies that govern them, that criminals cannot abuse these systems or when they do that they can be identified and brought to justice.

Have you heard of the two guys who siphoned off 23 million dollars from YouTube in 2021? How is this possible with all the safeguards in place? You’re probably thinking, “This can’t be the only case”, but most likely this type of scam is very rare. There will always be a -Wolf on Wall Street- waiting around the corner. A nightmare for sure, but one that would only affect a select group. It is more concerning when this type of copyright infringement is more common and happens on a much larger scale, that it could have a chance at affecting you.

Copyright policy and enforcement is slow but it is improving. To pass legislation is one step, but then to enforce it is another. Traditionally there is no international copyright and any issues with copyright are regulated by domestic law. However, there is the Bern Convention established 1886, which outlines the protection of literary and artistic works and any country that signs this convention must abide by it. China for example hadn’t signed the convention until 1992, and it was only in 2015 that the government forced unlicensed music to be removed from streaming service. Since then China has grown to be the 6th largest music market in the world surpassing South Korea.                           

Infringement on a user level, Piracy -Cassettes, CDs & Napster- Becoming Independent

The kind of copyright infringement we are most concerned about is how our music gets used by the listener, how it is recorded and how royalties are paid back to the creators. The type of technology and media dictate how we share and use IP. Moving physical media like microfilms, cassette tapes, vinyl, and CDs have been virtually eliminated with the invention of the Internet and digital distribution. Now nearly all usage of music is digital, which has brought a whole new box of toys.

The extent of digital piracy came to light with Napster. It was a necessary evil that exhibited the advancement of technology’s ability to critically affect people’s behavior and the markets, in regards to how people used and shared IP. It was a time when Spotify or Apple Music wasn’t around and it seemed legitimate to the majority of the people who used it. We know better now, not only that this type of sharing is infringement, but also of what the concept of copyright encompasses; If you use someone else’s ideas or creations you need to make sure you have the right to do so, which most often means you need to pay for it.

People still however steal IP by ripping and downloading streaming content via shady websites. These sites are watched and the amount of users are recorded to gauge the amount of piracy still prevalent today.

There is an upside to streaming and digital sharing, it has tipped the balance of the markets from the major record labels to independent artists. With the establishment of streaming platforms digital distribution was available for everyone, and with Myspace in 2003 and Facebook in 2004, so was promotion via social media. Those early adopters who knew how to use these platforms thrived.

Historically, music a song would only stay alive if someone copied and shared it. Troubadours would carry and sing the songs they had picked up and learned along their travels. This is still present in folk and blues circles. It’s when music is shared on a large scale that this seems to become a concern to people. Plagiarism and any form of copyright infringement is a very serious matter to consider when sharing your music to the masses, but worrying about it should not restrict you from distributing your music. Do you or do you not want people to hear you?

Gauge the situation and know your options. Be informed. I leave you with these two thoughts: A Confucian saying, “Any copying or imitating is a high form of flattery…” And a Finnish saying anytime someone leaves the country, “Nyt ollaan isossa mailmassa!” -Now we are in the big world!-

 Rip Offs or Are They Playlist?

First of all sorry for the title. If you are a musician who sings or plays an instrument hitting the 12 familiar notes you’ll find on the keyboard, I’m sure you’ll sound good. I bet you are talented and are in tune in relation to your bandmates. Also  when people listen to your music and hear your pitch is perfect, they can’t be wrong, they wouldn’t listen to something that is out of tune. Right?

So why am I saying you are probably out of tune? I am referring to the characteristics of our tuning system. The tuning system we use in basically all of the western music we hear around us is designed to be flexible so you can sing or play a melody in any key and it would sound more or less, in tune. But, it is not perfect. So I don’t mean it as a negative thing that you’re probably out of tune. The dominant system used in the West is called the 12-tone equal temperament (from now on I’ll refer to it as 12 TET). There are other systems which use the same 12 familiar notes, such as Pythagorean tuning, Meantone temperament, Well temperament and many more, but I’ll focus on our common 12 TET in this text.

12-tone equal temperament

In the 12 TET the octave is divided to 12 steps, which are equally far apart (on a logarithmic scale) from their adjacent steps; 100 cents. A cent is a unit of measurement used when talking about tunings and small changes in musical pitch. To give a sense of the size of the units: The smallest difference we can perceive in pitch is around 5-10 cents, which of course varies for example due to training.

Example 0. Can you hear which one of these notes is higher? There is a 10 cent difference between them.

The equal separation between the notes in the 12 TET makes changing the key of the song easy; everything sounds “similar” and recognizable no matter what key the song is played in. This is very handy, because singers and instrument players can adjust the key of the song to suit their preferences. We are all familiar with key changes in music from all the forced and cheesy ascending modulations from many song's final choruses. If you’ve watched the Eurovision contests, you might know what I’m talking about.

Example 1.  Here is the same 4 chord chord progression (i, ♭III, ♭VII, IV) played once in Db minor, Eb minor and B minor.

The downside of this tuning is that almost all the notes in this temperament are a bit out of tune as I implied earlier. So what do I mean by that?

Pure intervals, Just Intonation and comparison

So when I say something is “in tune”, I refer to pure intervals. By musical interval I mean the relationship between any two notes. Pure intervals can be expressed with a simple ratio. I’ll try to keep this text simple and not use too much numbers and math, but I’ll give a couple of numerical examples on what I mean by simple ratio. For example the relation between a “c” and a “c” one octave higher is 2:1. So if you have a string vibrating in “c” and you divide it in half and play it, the resulting note is “c”, but exactly twice as high in pitch (octave). The relationship between “c” and a “g” note above “c” is 3:2 (perfect fifth) , which means that the “g” is 1.5 times higher than “c”. The relationship between “c” and “f” is 4:3 (perfect fourth), so the “f” is 1 ⅓ higher than “c” and so on. Most of us humans find the sound of these pure intervals harmonious. They seem to please our ears. At least I like them! The tuning, where all intervals are “pure”, is called Just Intonation.

Octaves are exactly 2:1 in both Just Intonation and the 12 TET and the perfect fifths and fourths are slightly out of tune (1.96 cents), but inaudibly close to the pure ones. Below you can see a chart, which shows the 12 pure intervals and their ratios and compares the differences of the intervals between just intonation and our 12 TET in cents.

Below you can listen to examples of the intervals, which differ greatly between the tuning systems. First you’ll hear the 12 TET version of the interval and then the Just Intonation version. The notes of the interval are first played separately and then together, first in the 12 TET and then in Just Intonation. The cent decimals are rounded due to software limitations, but you’ll hear the difference.

Example 2. Major Third first in 12 TET and then in just intonation 

(5:4 in just intonation, higher note is +13.7 cents off in 12 TET)

Example 3. Major sixth first in 12 TET and then in just intonation 

(5:3 in just intonation, higher note is +15.6 cents off in 12 TET)

Example 4. Minor sixth first in 12 TET and then in just intonation

(8:5 in just intonation, higher note is -13.7 cents off in 12 TET)

Overtones and the harmonic series

If you play for example a string of your instrument, the string doesn’t just vibrate with its full length; each half of the string also vibrates as does the thirds, fourths and so on as a set of “smaller strings” within the full string. So one string actually produces “many notes” at the same time - not just one. Crazy! These harmonic frequencies above the fundamental frequency are called overtones. These overtones are much quieter than the main frequency, but you can hear some of them if you have a fresh string on your instrument. So all the notes in the just intonation mentioned earlier are basically these overtones from the harmonic series.

Picture 1. An illustration in musical notation of the harmonic series (on C) up to the 16th harmonic (tune difference to 12 TET not marked)

Example 5. Try to hear the overtones from these examples played on distorted guitar with semi worn out strings. First you’ll hear an open string, then the overtone to pay attention to, then the open string again to try to hear the overtone from it, then the next overtone and then the open string again. You can try this at home with your own fresh-stringed instrument.

As a side note it is worth mentioning that in addition to the way an instrument is played (picking/blowing/striking) the unique timbres of different instruments are largely defined by the strength of the different overtones it produces! That is why a “c” note played on a piano sounds different from the same “c” note played on a saxophone or an acoustic guitar. They each have a different character in the overtones they produce aka timbre

The problem with Just Intonation

So why don't we just tune our instruments to Just Intonation and enjoy harmonious music all day everyday? Good question. You can for example get your piano tuned to Just Intonation to only one key - let’s say C. Then all the 12 notes are derived from the series of overtones based on C and all the notes you play in that key sound great together (a matter of taste of course!). Issues come if you want to play in another key. For example the chords C# or E will be horribly out of tune, because the “pure notes” for those should be derived from their overtones, not from the overtones of C. So basically the spaces between the 12 notes are not equal in Just Intonation. That makes key changes sound really awkward. But if you are ok with playing music in just one key, then just intonation is the way to go. Below you can listen and compare the differences in the sound of chords in 12 TET and Just Intonation and hear what happens if you try to play chords in Just Intonation outside the key they were tuned to.

Example 6.  C6 12 TET

Example 7.  C6 just intonation

Example 8.  C7, B7 and E7 in just intonation for C

And of course, if you sing, play violin, trombone or other instrument, which doesn’t have a “predefined” tuning system in them, you can play almost everything using Just Intonation. You just have to use your ears to find the pure notes. But, if you play with pianists or guitarists, you need to play by their predefined notes. Pianos have keys and guitars have frets which dictate the name of the game, how each note is produced on the instrument, which is usually 12 TET.

It is interesting to notice when a choir sings without an accompaniment, a song which starts and ends with the same chord, the last chord can be noticeably different in pitch. This is not because the choir is unprofessional and out of tune, but the exact opposite! If a choir sings perfectly in tune and makes every chord resonate harmoniously with the pure intervals, the continuous movement through the different chords will most likely affect the root notes at some point. For example (music theory warning!) if the choir sings an F-major chord with the pure major third (a) as the highest note and goes to A minor while continuing the same high note without changing it, the A minor will be lower in pitch than it would be with accompaniment. From the chart you can see that the pure major third is much lower than the 12 TET major third. Once these kinds of chord changes happen during the song, they will eventually alter the pitch of the previously sung chords when they reoccur in the same song. So in music we need to choose between pure perfect tune or a constant center tune. We can’t have it both ways!

Why just 12 notes?

Some of you might now wonder that if perfect harmony is so hard to accomplish, why don’t we divide the octave differently? With more steps we could get closer to  pure intervals, maintain the possibility of in-tune modulation and at the same time get a bunch of new interesting notes to use. Sounds like a bargain!

Actually there are a lot of ways to divide the octave , for example dividing to 15, 19, 35 or 6 million(!) equal steps. Many people are composing and playing music using tunings which have more than 12 steps in octave. This kind of “microtonal” music opens up new soundscapes and ways of expression for sure. Check out Brendan Byrnes or Sevish to hear these non-ordinary tunings in pop/electronic styles or if you prefer piano music, Taylor Brook or Michael Harrison might be good options to start.

So why is 12 steps the established number of steps per octave? Well first of all it sounds “good enough”. With 12 TET we can get really close to the harmonious intervals I addressed earlier, especially the dominant perfect fifth and its mirrored sibling the perfect fourth. Indeed all intervals are not equal in importance for us; the octave, the perfect fifth and the perfect fourth are the most consonant ones and are present in almost all music cultures. It makes sense to have such a tuning system, that at least these three intervals would be as in tune as possible. So, if we would divide the octave to more steps it is true that we would get closer to the pure intervals. For example using a 19 TET many other important intervals are really close to the ideal pure ones, but then the perfect fifth and fourth are further away from their pure intervals and audibly out of tune.

Another obvious reason for 12 steps is practicality. If we add more and more steps to get closer to pure harmony, the instruments will become more and more impractical to play. We clumsy humans have physical and mental limitations and 12 steps seems to be a manageable number to operate with. Also the harmonic complexity 12 notes enables is immense. Just imagine learning to play the piano with 31 keys in an octave! My head and fingers hurt just from thinking about that.

Tunings and being in tune are relative concepts and they are also a matter of taste and feeling. Music is just soundwaves which express feelings and there is no right or wrong system to create your masterpiece. Go out there and explore different tuning systems! Give it a chance and don’t be frightened at first. Maybe you’ll find some inspiration, get crazy new ideas and learn to like these otherworldly and intriguing soundscapes. If you just can’t get into these new systems, at least you will get some ventilation for your 12 tone tuned ears and see (or hear) that there is a whole new world of unexplored sounds out there.

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Sources:

12 notes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromatic_scale

12 TET: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_temperament

The Octave: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octave

Logarithmic scale: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logarithmic_scale

Cent: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cent_(music)

Just Intonation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_intonation

Overtones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtone

Harmonic Series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonic_series_(music)

Different ways of dividing the octave: https://en.xen.wiki/w/EDO

Octave divided to 6 million equal steps: https://en.xen.wiki/w/6000000edo

Microtonal Music: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microtonal_music

Brendan Byrnes: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2X5pNtEOcvIh9wPqq2EJpf

Sevish: https://sevish.bandcamp.com/album/harmony-hacker

Taylor Brooke: https://open.spotify.com/artist/15MUrc9pGU1Jzcj7tjiLCR

Michael Harrison: https://open.spotify.com/artist/09b9oXw3X9LhhKA8GJsMDT

19 TET: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19_equal_temperament

Metaverse, Musicians & China

Please step this way folks! Have you heard about Metaverse? What you are about to see here folks, you won’t believe your eyes and ears. Colors, sights, sounds that are there, but are not really there. Interact with real live people from thousands of kilometers away like they are in your own studio. This is the new way that you fine artists can connect directly with your fans. Virtual musical worlds have already been crafted where fans and artists are not confined to just watching from behind a screen or in front of a camera, but can interact with each other in a virtual world, much like you would in a live concert or studio. Unlimited possibilities arise how music and interactions can be shared. So, what is Metaverse?

Once just a hypothetical concept coined in 1992 by Neil Stephenson, the author of Snow Crash, Metaverse is now becoming a reality. “The metaverse is an all-encompassing digital world that exists parallel to the real world.” (Stephenson, 1992)

Like many developments in computer technology, Metaverse was first implemented in the gaming sector. The virtual world platform, Second Life (an online game just what its name implies) is considered to be the first Metaverse. There are a host of virtual worlds, each having its own theme and purpose: buying virtual real estate, hosting live performance, social interaction and games, the applications are limitless. However, the Metaverse is not limited to only gaming worlds.

Metaverse in its most simple description; Is the merging of real and virtual worlds. I like to think of it as an immersive digital universe limited only by our imagination and our ability to realize and construct the necessary tools. In Metaverse you can be digitally present within the world of your choice via your avatar and peripheral devices: VR(virtual reality & AR(augmented reality) smart goggles and haptic gloves to name a just a few; To have life-like interactions with Metaverse. 

Metaverse is the next generation of digital connection after Internet. The applications for Metaverse are limitless, however applications for Metaverse have only begun to be realized. Roblox, is a game making game where users can monetize from other users playing their games. Second Life, is a game where you can connect with other people and have a “second life.” Decentraland is a virtual ecosystem run on Ethereum blockchain technology so the users can buy and sell real estate with MANA currency, socialize, play games, exchange collectables, interact and explore. Worlds in Metaverse are persistent, meaning that there are no pauses, game-overs, or resets in the virtual worlds. Unlike in most online games and traditional online gaming, participants will be able to interact with anyone from around the world logged into the same virtual world. When services are decentralized and run by crypto networks, not a single entity, but the whole community is in control of what can and can’t be done within the world.

Where’s the Music?

One application of Metaverse we’ve seen in music is in virtual performances. In these virtual performances artists are opening up a direct connection to their fans, connecting with fans in ways not possible in real life, as well, making connection to the artist more accessible for their audiences. One way is to have fans contribute to the creative process; Deadmau5 crowdsourced an audience to use in a new video. Virtual performances will allow fans, who are not so keen on attending live events for one reason or another, the freedom to attend; I find amplified live concerts unnecessarily loud, if only I could turn down the volume my experience would be much more enjoyable. You could shop for exclusive virtual or real merchandise, sound tracks or video, have private conversations with other attendees in listening parties, or make eye contact and dance with the performer.

Theoretically you could make your home studio Metaverse. Create a virtual world where you can make and produce your creations or instruct others on how to make and produce music or how to play an instrument. Obviously a digital representation of an acoustic instrument would never be able to compare with the real thing, but there could be possibilities that would enhance the experience not available in real life, such as i.e.; instant playback.

Currently, sharing music in Metaverse worlds is uncertain. There are so many factors to consider especially with copyright, ownership, and collecting and paying royalties, to say the least. NFT’s (Non Fungible Tokens) have taken a spotlight as one solution for music to be bought and shared directly from artists to fans, bypassing traditional distribution and copyright middlemen like labels and streaming services. This is one implementation of how music can be made available in Metaverse environments. 

Streaming music will not be going away. Could you imagine being in a world without music? Rather dull I'd say. Same goes for virtual worlds. There needs to be music and the ability for users to choose the music they hear within the worlds. It may be that sync licensing will cover the usage of music in Metaverse allowing musicians to license their music to specific platforms for example. We have yet to see how this will playout. It is imperative that music creators stay on top of these developments to know how and when their music wil be used. This is very important for Musicinfo, as the development of AI and Metaverse are seeping into how music is being consumed, so that our artists can ensure that they are getting continual top value for their shared music especially from China. 

Top music Metaverse platforms to look out for are: Decentraland, Wave, Fortnite, Roblox, Blankos Block Party, The Sandbox & Star Atlas.

Metaverse Music & China

China, the country with the greatest amount of smartphone users (900 million) sees virtual reality being made accessible through smartphones a business priority. In 2021 Baidu launched the first Metaverse app Land of Hope and Tencent Music has announced the launching of TMELAND, claiming to be China’s first interactive virtual festival. Also, Modern Sky the promoter of the Strawberry festival, has boasted making it virtual festival and making it Metaverse. XRSpace has created PartyOn, a music performance Metaverse, a kind of karaoke in Metaverse. Already this spring 2022 surpassing WeChat for the amount of downloads, is the app called Jelly (zhě lí). One other mention is the app Soul, stating its mission is to, “… to build a ‘soul’cial metaverse,” connecting people through common passions and hobbies.

There is a lot of hype surrounding Metaverse, and businesses are not holding back. Already 16,000 Metaverse related trademarks have been filed. Tech giant Tencent has announced a collaboration with Roblox to eventually bring Roblox to China. The Shanghai government has added in its 5 year plan, to developing Metaverse in its electronic information industry labeling it one of, “four frontiers of exploration.”

The final act? 

There are little or no regulatory requirements yet, concerning Metaverse in China, or outside of China for that matter. As Metaverse develops it will force our traditional ways of regulating intellectual information copyright to change. So much needs to be developed, from hardware to applications, copyrights and legal policies which will raise many questions. How are people going to be affected? How will people use or abuse Metaverse worlds? Can we even imagine the implications? Like everything, we will learn as we do and make many mistakes along the way. The hope is that we can move forward and minimize the negative impacts of Metaverse, from our experience in the development of Internet and Social Media. There are infinite unforeseen factors that will only reveal themselves once Metaverse evolves and mingles into our daily lives.

Soon wherever you look Metaverse will be in the air. It is only just beginning and the impact it will have on our lives are far from imagined or understood. One thing is for sure: It will have a reality altering effect on us all. Could it be that it will be the answer to all our problems? That it will feed our insatiable hunger to consume and travel. Will we be content to consume virtual representations allowing our natural resources and environmental systems to stabilize and become sustainable? Or, will it be that these virtual worlds replicating our once vibrant earth will be our channel to the world we once had after global warming has extinguished most organisms off the face of the earth? I know that humans are intelligent enough to have the foresight to be constructive in a sustainable humane manner, but I also know that too many of us are too immature to take responsibility for our past, present and future actions. This may be our last frontier. What will come after? Though we have wisdom, our inclination is to jump down into the rabbit hole and see where it takes us with little concern for our consequences. I wonder where we will end up?

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Sources

https://soulwonderland.com/en/about

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/31/shanghai-releases-five-year-plans-for-metaverse-development.html

https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/29/eyeing-an-entry-into-china-roblox-enters-strategic-partnership-with-tencent/

https://medium.com/the-challenge/welcome-to-the-music-Metaverse-14c8b7f92ca6

https://www.polygon.com/22326123/what-is-roblox-explainer-public-offering

https://metamandrill.com/metaverse-devices

Stephenson, N. (1992). Snow crash

https://www.leewayhertz.com/Metaverse-the-new-reality/

https://daoinsights.com/works/chinas-viral-Metaverse-social-app-zheli-on-a-roller-coaster/

https://www.vice.com/en/article/93bmyv/what-is-the-Metaverse-internet-technology-vr

https://www.xliveglobal.com/fan-experience/3-ways-Metaverse-disrupting-music-industry

https://scenenoise.com/Features/Music-in-the-Metaverse-How-NFTs-Are-Changing-the-Industry

https://themusicuniverse.com/ways-Metaverse-impacting-music-industry/

https://www.makeuseof.com/will-the-Metaverse-be-free-to-use/

https://www.projectpractical.com/Metaverse-in-music-industry/

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/Metaverse-its-impact-music-industry-or-manor/

https://www.xrtoday.com/virtual-reality/the-music-industry-in-the-Metaverse-re-energised-revenue-streams/

https://pitchfork.com/features/article/the-music-Metaverse-is-almost-ready-to-conquer-the-world

https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1009540/chinese-label-debuts-its-first-virtual-musician-amid-Metaverse-hype

https://musically.com/2022/01/24/xrspace-karaoke-music-Metaverse-china/

https://www.china-briefing.com/news/Metaverse-in-china-trends/

https://thediplomat.com/2022/03/what-will-chinas-Metaverse-look-like/

Growth Unlike Anywhere Else On Earth

China has now surpassed Korea as the 6^th biggest global music market. This is largely due to an increase in subscription numbers and how social media is used in China. For example: In comparison to Coachella live streaming in YouTube with a record breaking 82.9 million views in 2019 over two days or even that of the performances of Childish Gambino, BLACKPINK, Billie Eilish, all combined which still can’t match a single concert of Chinese boy-band TFBOYS anniversary concert with 118 million live views across Tencent ecosystem in one day!

China is a country with the largest internet population in the world. There are nearly 730 million internet users in China as of December 2021. This huge audience remains inaccessible to most global players, and although there are channels to access this massive market there is reluctancy to do so. This could be that the average artist doesn’t understand the value in entering the market.

Artists are worried that they will not get paid what they are getting paid on the Western streaming services. This is understandable when most Western streaming services are already paying so little for the usage of music. And, the fact that most services pay the top 1%, 80% of the royalties.

What are your options in this world? China is an emerging country. How can artists expect to get paid what they would from the Western services? Well they can’t. Why? Because it is different in China. Take a closer look.

Social Media Behavior

WeChat is the super app that you can do nearly anything on from messaging and streaming entertainment to paying bills and doing your groceries - all without leaving the app.

There is a social core built into many of the apps in China. Netease is China’s alternative to TME -Tencent Music Entertainment- streaming sites (QQ, Kuwo & Kugou). In the Netease Cloud Music ecosystem there is so much more to do than just listening to music. Although users ultimately join for the streaming music and the Netease music catalogue.

The social community there is unlike anything you see on the Western services. You can be a part of it too and actually interact with your listeners where your music is at. You need to get a WeChat account and then you can get a Netease account.

Getting Paid Now And For Your Future

It is true that recorded music revenue in China is lower than in developed markets like the UK and the US. It is however forecasted that China will catchup to the US by 2027. That’s only 5 years that they will be pulling in 8.7 billion. China has nearly banished all piracy in only 7 years. 96% of the music consumed in China is legal, much higher than in any other country.

One way in particular that can get you paid much more from individual fans than what they might contribute from only listening to your streaming music, is by giving you virtual gifts. Even though gifts are typically small amounts this is yet another way for your fans to directly interact with you! 

Establish Your Paying Fanbase Now

China is a different market and has different listeners. With so many new kinds of music from abroad being only now being consumed in China, the listeners there are only beginning to identify with these new sounds and genres. These are the listeners you want to establish as your audience and fanbase now for the future, when in 5 years from now the market has caught up to the rest of the global market and has a paying fanbase of equal stature. It is truly unlike any other place, regardless of what reservations you may have about sending your music to China, the point is obvious: If you want to be successful you need to invest in the market now.

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Sources

http://www.china.org.cn/arts/2022-03/23/content_78126185.htm

https://www.ifpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/IFPI_Global_Music_Report_2022-State_of_the_Industry.pdf

https://www.statista.com/statistics/711384/china-online-music-platform-user-number/

https://soundcharts.com/blog/chinese-recording-market-streaming

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TFBoys

https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/youtube-2019-cocachella-record-views-1203193219/

We all know the good feelings music can give us - it can cheer us up when we are feeling down, calm us when we feel tense, give us chills, thrills, tears, joy, bring us closer to other people and much more. It can also give us strong negative experiences as we saw in our earlier blog.

In addition to the emotions it evokes and the social experiences it gives us, music has the power to build us up, heal us, and supercharge our brain - quite literally! So let’s focus on the good things music has to offer in this blog.

Musicians - Brainiacs with super intelligence?

Brain scans have shown that musicians have more gray or white matter in their brains compared to non-musicians due to practicing. Playing an instrument widely activates brains, requiring precise auditory processing, motor coordination, concentration and cognitive agility. Changes in many sections of the brain can be seen as soon as after 15 months of training. Musical prowess and training can also be seen in many skills not related to music: memory, attentiveness, socio-emotional skills, better understanding of emotions and the processing of musical and linguistic sounds. Many of these skills and attributes seem to be maintained until old age for those who have practiced music since they were young. So if you are a musician, you might be nothing short of genius ;)

Starting musical training as an adult -  The highway to happiness?

Starting musical activity in adult life also has many wellbeing benefits. One study showed that music-learning in older adulthood can enhance wellbeing by giving subjective experiences of pleasure and self-satisfaction through musical progress when individuals can develop their abilities to make music and fulfill musical ambitions. Musical activity can also enhance social interactions. Other studies have shown that music-making in old age can also offer powerful benefits to health and wellbeing such as contributing to recovery from depression and maintaining personal wellbeing throughout the latter stages of adult life. Also just listening to music can be a source of positive emotions, relaxation and mood regulation for older adults.

Music - The ultimate rehabilitator?

Music has also been used for therapeutic purposes for millennia. There are thousands of years old frescoes depicting harp-playing priests and ancient Assyrian cuneiform writings showing that music was used to ward off evil spirits. The Greek philosopher Plato believed that music could slowly build up the psyche and his student Aristoteles credited  music for its cathartic properties. In the Middle Ages, the musical prescription to cure gout was alternating sounds of flute and harp. Go figure. The magical nature of music in healing started to diminish as more research was done. For example in the beginning of the 20th century the beneficial effects of music were noted in the context of surgery; anxiety of patients was reduced and they tolerated anesthetic better when a phonograph was playing in the operating room.

Modern studies have shown that when used along with conventional rehabilitation methods, music enhances the treatment of patients with Parkinson’s disease or stroke and decreases the behavioral disorders of dementia patients. Listening to music daily can notably improve motor functions and cognitive actions and the effects can last for months - listening to music can actually be seen as changes in the structure of the brain. The rehabilitative effects seem not to be dependent on one’s previous acquaintance with music. Since music activates many areas of our brain, it is a great tool for alleviating many emotional, cognitive and communicative symptoms of different conditions. 

Life with music is better

The ability to perceive and produce music is part of human nature and it has been present in all known cultures since the dawn of time. It is likely that our brains have evolved to process music in a specific way and therefore it is no wonder that we respond to it so strongly on so many levels. 

So if you do not have a musical hobby, don’t hesitate to take one up! Go to singing lessons - I bet you have a great voice, once you get it out with confidence. Or start playing the instrument you have always wanted and form a band. Maybe saxophone, guitar, bagpipes or kantele would be the right channel for your expression? If these don’t seem like your mug of moonshine, maybe you could dive into the world of electronic music? Get free software with some juicy sounds and start making some cool beats or ambient textures. You can also start listening to more music as part of your everyday mundane tasks; while cleaning the house, washing the dishes, walking to the store, exercising… The list goes on. Get some listening inspiration here. 

If you already have a musical hobby or do it as a profession, great! Keep it up! If you have music that you've released, playlist them so other people can also enjoy your music. 

Let’s respect music, let’s marvel at its spectrum of effects on individuals, communities and cultures and nourish our brains with it. It is not just sound, it is so much more.

Sources:

https://www.duodecimlehti.fi/xmedia/duo/duo16281.pdf

https://www.terveysportti.fi/xmedia/duo/duo11845.pdf

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)62251-9/fulltext?rss%3Dyes=

https://ihmu.fi/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Musiikin-harrastaminen-aivot-ja-oppiminen.pdf

Creech, A., Hallam, S., Mcqueen, H., & Varvarigou, M. (2013). The power of music in the lives of older adults

Laukka, P. (2007). Uses of music and psychological well-being among the elderly

Perkins, R., & Williamon, A. (2014). Learning to make music in older adulthood: A

mixed-methods exploration of impacts on wellbeing.

Saarikallio, S. (2011). Music as emotional self-regulation throughout adulthood

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What is Short Video?

It is the video content that is made and shared on TikTok and similar video platforms like Instagram reels and YouTube Shorts. In China they have Douyin (TikTok’s big sister), Kuaishou, Watermelon and Bilibili.

How To Get Your Music On Short Videos

1. Go to the App, make the video, add your music and upload yourself.

1. This is important because by posting your own videos and music, your audience will get to know you and find your music. What if you don’t have any audience? If you build it they will come.

2. It can be a paid post so other audiences can see your videos and hear your music.

2. Get your music to the short video platforms’ library with a distribution service so others can use your music on their videos.

1. This is important because your music is available for others to use. The usage of your music is tracked and royalties get paid back to you. Word of video (word of mouth): More people use your music in their videos, not only do these videos get played over and over again, but they get shared more, which means that more people will listen and use your music in their own videos. Viral baby!

Go Viral

We have now seen this happen with Musicinfo artists. It can be 10’s thousands of streams a day or 10’s of millions streams a day. What do you consider viral? Both of these scenarios tell me that a heck of a lot of people are using your music.

What music is getting picked up? Well, right now our top artist is a breakbeat artist getting around 12 million hits a day. This has been going on for a few weeks now. Generally there tends to be more instrumental music: classical, ambient, cinematic music getting used, but our 2nd viral artist right now is a hip hop artist, so go figure.

Royalties

The question I often hear from some artists is, “Can you show me a report of the level of royalties paid out.” The short answer is no I can’t, I can’t tell you how much specific artists are getting paid. The ironic thing about this scenario is that most often I see this question come from artists who have a very small following on other music platforms like Spotify.

I am interested in all our artists, and it is not unnatural that my attention would be piqued by artists whose success is more obvious than others. And then when I say, “Sorry I can’t share the reports with you, I can’t tell you how much you will get paid,” they don’t sign up, they don’t distribute their music. 

The amount of payout is growing. Services in China have now been more or less established by way of offering free subscriptions; there are 100s of millions of MAUs. Now these free users are becoming paying users, upping the amount of pay per stream to the creators. Listeners are paying more for your music.

Get To The Point

The point of getting your music on short video is that your music can get visibility and plays like never before, like it never would have if you had left it on the shelf. But then those who bravely have signed up have the potential to get 12 million streams every day! 

Now, do you care how much you are getting paid now? Yes of course you do. But, what is even more important is the visibility and followers that you have now gained, millions of new listeners who now know who you are, who now have heard your music. You have a massive new fanbase that you can build on. 

You need to hop on the bandwagon and ride the wave of your viral music on the short video platforms. Boost your streaming music. Short videos that use viral songs do better. Make videos with your music and share links to your streaming music. 

Top Short Video Platforms 

TikTok: 

Does it need an explanation? Well, I guess for any of the other 6.7 billion people in the world not using it. Please take a look at our previous blog: What Artists Need To Know About TikTok And Douyin.

Douyin: 

Tiktok’s big sister in China. Visually almost identical, Douyin came out first and is a much more robust platform allowing users more options and services that its little sister doesn’t provide. Both keep to their own rooms and are not allowed to play with each other’s friends.

Douyin vs Tiktok

Douyin’s top posts are based on comedy or pets, while TikTok’s top posts are more arts-based, featuring lip-syncs and trending dances. With posts that have context, a quick caption usually does the trick in TikTok. Douyin videos are more content-driven than TikTok. 

Instagram Reels:

Now instagram draws you in even harder into a mélange of, “look at what I can do!”

YouTube Shorts:

Has come up a little short compared to the rest but has more long term potential for professional  users.

Triller:

Been around the block longer than TikTok and likes to hang with music groupies.

Short Video Comparison Chart

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Sources

https://www.eggsist.com/en/insights/tiktok-vs-douyin-which-are-the-main-differences

https://influencermarketinghub.com/what-is-triller

​​https://gab-china.com/what-are-the-main-differences-between-douyin-vs-tiktok

https://www.makeuseof.com/tiktok-vs-instagram-reels-vs-youtube-shorts

https://vidooly.com/blog/instagram-reels-vs-youtube-shorts/

https://wallaroomedia.com/blog/social-media/tiktok-statistics/

https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2021/12/07/converting-douyin-engagement-and-why-it-s-not-the-same-tiktok

https://www.statista.com/statistics/325587/instagram-global-age-group/

https://earthweb.com/instagram-reels-statistics/

https://filmora.wondershare.com/tiktok/triller-vs-tiktok.html

https://targetmarket.com/2021/04/instagram-reels-vs-tiktok

https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-reels/

Musicinfo’s digital distribution now offers a more robust sync licensing service by complimenting their basic sync licensing service with a world leading music copyright management company HIFIVE. The collaboration with Musicinfo and HIFIVE has been established this December, just after HIFIVE’s launch last July 2020. Musicinfo can now provide music license content to HIFIVE’s open platform Qudoudou (qdd.hifive.ai) which covers 157 countries and regions, 223 genres and 350 thematic scenes.

Musicinfo’s distribution is far beyond the competition, distributing to over 50 music media and streaming services in mainland China in addition to their sync licensing service. Musicinfo works with nearly 4000 artists from 75 countries highlighting all genres, especially classical, instrumental, epic, electronic and popular music, led by artists such as Cécile Corbel, Therion, Alan Gogoll, and many more. Unlike the competition it is also possible with Musicinfo to promote and boost your music in mainland China on Chinese social media and video platforms as well as have your music placed on prominent private playlists. 

HIFIVE’s system is used to standardize copyright trades utilizing global resources of music copyright, AI audio technology, big data and cloud computing. HIFIVE provides music copyright trade and value-added service for suppliers and users from all around the world, providing transparent and direct copyright trades.

HIFIVE cooperates with Sony/ATV, EMI publishing, Universal Production Music, hundreds of music companies and thousands of musicians establishing a huge music library having nearly ten million music works. HIFIVE Music Platform and Qudoudou provide copyright solutions in China to businesses such as Alibaba Group, Tencent Group, HUAWEI, CMCC, China Telecom and many more. HIFIVE has already gained the recognition and support of over 100,000 customers from around the world.

Since July 2020, HIFIVE music platform has accumulated over 7 million + genuine music copyrights, and provides music copyright SaaS services for live broadcast, chat rooms, short videos, karaoke, online tools, intelligent hardware, audio playback and other online platform scenes. Since its launch its audience has grown to cover more than 10 million people.

Musicinfo is an exceptional digital distribution company working closely with their artists and partners to gain the most valuable service available for music in China.

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“I start feeling nervous, I’m biting my teeth and feel restless, I have this urge to hit somebody in the face.”

“I feel a little nauseated, have this bad feeling in my stomach, my body becomes tense and tries to find ways of escaping the situation.”

Sounds familiar? Maybe you've had similar feelings while stuck in traffic, being sick or after a sleepless night. Actually these quotes are not from any of these situations, but from participants of a recent study about the effects of listening to aversive music. This topic has not been researched much in the past so senior lecturer Henna-Riikka Peltola from the University of Jyväskylä and associate professor Jonna Katariina Vuoskoski from the University of Oslo contributed to filling an interesting gap in the field.

Participants of the study gave free descriptions of the musical features of music they considered aversive - “unpleasant, disliked, or appalling”, physical sensations, mental imagery and thoughts it evoked, and described the contexts it was usually experienced in.

In addition to evoking strong pleasure, music can also elicit strong negative emotions and reactions. Aversive music evoked strong bodily sensations, it was experienced as personal attacks towards the listeners’ agency, musical identity and social or moral attitudes and values. 

Insulting lyrics, aggressive sounds, superficiality, and an excessively experimental approach were some of the musical features brought up in the descriptions. When it comes to feelings and bodily sensations anger, tenseness, nausea, unpleasant chills, sweating, and shallow breathing were mentioned. Music could also give the feeling of being left out due to the social groupings different tastes can create and give rise to the feeling of not being in control and can bring on the urge to escape from the situation the music was played in.

How can such a seemingly harmless stimulus as music provoke all of these strong responses?

There are a lot of theories regarding the different responses. It is possible that negative effects from aversive music can create “fight or flight” tendencies and when they are involuntarily listened to, it can be seen as a form of affective mind invasion; as a weapon for violating personal and physical space. It is also studied that moral aversion and disgust might be linked on a deep level within our psyche and that we have a “built-in” association between negative affect and the anger/aggression response. Read the article to get the full picture about the interesting theories.

All in all, the power of music to produce both good and bad experiences is amazing. So go ahead and listen to some music you don’t like and observe how you react. Try to figure out what it is that you don't like in the music and why. Maybe you can learn to like it or at least tolerate it. If not, you might at least learn something new about your music taste and perceptions of music. Also keep in mind that exposing yourself to “bad” music can make the music you like sound even better!

To get some inspiration you can start by going through the list of music on Wikipedia considered to be the worst. 

To find new good music, you might want to check out our Spotify playlists featuring our Musicinfo artists handpicked by our marketing team.

Links: 

Original article ““I hate this part right here”: Embodied, subjective experiences of listening to aversive music”: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0305735620988596

List of music considered the worst: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_music_considered_the_worst

Musicinfo artists on spotify: https://musicinfo.io/spotify-playlists

Musicinfo home page: https://musicinfo.io/

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Know Where Your Music Is

Streaming music is becoming more complex as the amount of services grows. Distributors and labels are constantly updating their distribution services to better serve their artists. For the vast majority of listeners streaming has taken over leaving physical recordings as a memento of collectables with their unique audiophiliac characteristics.

The door is always open for new tech to continually expand ways to share your music. It isn't limited to new services and new platforms but also new mediums and media. Music NFT's are growing more and more popular allowing creators to control their music and its copyright directly from their hands to the hands of their users, like a musical trading card.

Distributors and labels may or may not automatically add the new services to your distribution. It has come across our attention that many artists don't know if their music has been or is in China or not,or the reports they receive from their music usage doesn't reflect any usage in China.

Is Your Music In China?

Nowadays the majority of the typical digital music distributors have distribution to Tencent Music Entertainment aka, TME which includes QQ Music, Kuwo Music and Kugou Music, and they may also have distribution to Netease Cloud Music.

This is a list of known distributors who distribute only to TME and/or Netease Cloud Music:

·  Cdbaby

·  Tunecore

·  Ditto

·  Distrokid

·  Symphonic

·  Landr

·  Spinnup

·  Imusician

·  Soundrop

·  Horus

·  Novacore 

If you have distributed your music with one of these distributors most likely your music is on TME or Netease already, but you would need to check with your distributor if they in fact do so. This list also does not include all the independent labels that may also have distribution to China. 

There is an easier way to find out, you can use the China Search Tool developed for our artists to easily see if their music is online. All you need to do is add your artist name, track name or album name and the search will return results from these two biggest streaming services, QQ music and Netease music. 

But you ask, “Why only these two services?” Well, these services are still accessible from their native websites and don’t yet require you to download a desktop or mobile app to access their service, which makes the search possible. And while they no longer hold exclusive rights to the music they would still have the music in their catalogues.

Once you know if your music is in China, so what?

The Organisations That Enforce Copyright Globally And In China 

Have you ever heard of the World Intellectual Property Organization aka, WIPO? They are the specialized agency of the United Nations created to promote and protect intellectual property, your copyright. In China the compliment organization is The National Copyright Administration of China aka, NCAC. 

Streaming Giants Give Up Exclusive Rights

The NCAC just this January gave the order that digital music platforms are not allowed to sign exclusive copyright agreements except in special circumstances. This was enforced to crack down on monopolistic behavior in the private sector. Tencent aka TME ended all its exclusive rights agreements, whose library held over 80% exclusive music. This has also affected the other big providers like Netease, Xiaomi and China mobile, amongst others.

This means that the market has been thrown open because these monopolistic providers are no longer able to use exclusive copyright to leverage their positions. The catalogues of music in China are now much more accessible to the vast amount of independent music providers. The question for you is how are you going to get your music to all these providers. 

Allowing You Access To A Multitude Of Smaller Services

Amongst the many numerous music and media services in China most of them are simply not accessible outside of China or if they are they don’t actually have a search option. For example, have you ever tried to search for your music on Tunein? Nah, it doesn’t work does it? So how do you know for sure that your distributor has actually distributed your music there? From your streaming statistics reports.

It is too common that musicians don’t have a clue about their music in China. I have heard from our artists that the reports they receive from their global distributors from music distributed to China, is scarce, if at all.

Do your reports from China look like this?

All the numbers in this chart are simulated for example only

Your Next Move

You can see exactly which stores your music has been streamed, the amount of revenue accumulated and the date. Musicinfo can get your music to 50+ music media providers and give you detailed reports of its usage just like this one. FYI when you distribute with Musicinfo it is available to the Douyin (Chinese TikTok) library, short video is the new radio to have your music discovered. 

And if your music is already on TME or Netease or both you Musicinfo can still boost and promote your music. You can post images and links to your streaming music and videos to Weibo and WeChat. If you have music videos Musicinfo can post it to Bili Bili, QQ Video, Youku, Xigua Video and more. The most popular is our Playlist Placement to have your music pitched to prominent private playlists, to ensure that your music gets the streams you are looking for. 

Why leave your music to compete against the top 100 artists on the biggest streaming platforms when you can give yourself the edge and have your music available to a much wider audience? When you distribute with Musicinfo it also includes sync licensing to make your music available for movies, tv series, vloggers and more. And if you already have your music in China and would like to supplement it with sync licensing we can do that too. Please come search to see if your music is in China and choose your music’s next destination, with Musicinfo.

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Chinese cinematic productions get global acclaim

Cinema productions from China keep gaining acclaim in the Global Market and China remains the world’s largest film market. Globally the second highest grossing movie for 2021 was Chinese produced Battle At Lake Changjin, following just behind Spiderman’s: No Way Home.

Movie names like, Eat Man Drink Woman or Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon unravel stories that are deep and filled with culture and human experience, often in worlds where imagination colors the story making a truly memorable experience.

Have you ever listened to a movie with no music? How does music color our visual experiences with sound? Well musicians and composers either make music for the movie or visual productions select music from a library of music.

Sync your music to new libraries

Sync licensing allows music to be available for usage in visual media. For music often left on the shelf or on streaming platforms, sync licensing can pay depending on the form of media, tens to tens of thousands per license, often much more than a track will get in its lifetime.

China often leads the way in technology, and with Metaverse breaking through to our daily news, it goes to show how social interaction is influenced by our media and technology. Metaverse is a whole new world for music to color our visual experiences with sound.

Trends in Chinese social media show that screen time is occupied by high profile virtual female influencers. Virtual influencers are just one new element that attracts new audiences.

Short video phenomenon

China’s TikTok aka. Douyin is still the most downloaded app in China with already over 600 million daily active users, the one billion mark is soon to come.

Streaming music is the go-to home music library for music listeners of today. Video platforms are the radio channels of today, where listeners get their first taste of new songs, impressing a lasting audio visual memory.

It may be time to consider the options and that the virtual audio visual landscape is changing rapidly and the way in which listeners are exposed to music are more mobile and fleeting. Stand your ground and make your move.

China is in the spotlight and history is being made. Copyright is safe, there are more strong female roles in Cinema and TV, and medal contenders in the Beijing winter Olympics impressing critics and audiences all over the world.

Make your mark in China and have your music distributed and sync-licensed to China. Be the future.

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Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_copyright_infringement_in_China

https://hype.my/2022/258787/chinese-new-year-2022-movies/

https://radiichina.com/entertainment-trends-china-2022/

https://www.shine.cn/feature/entertainment/2201140769/

https://deadline.com/2022/01/international-box-office-outlook-2022-marvel-china-look-ahead-1234907207/

https://www.wired.com/story/what-is-the-metaverse/

https://www.eggsist.com/en/insights/tiktok-vs-douyin-which-are-the-main-differences/

https://musicinfo.io/blog/tiktok-douyin

https://olympics.com/en/news/ten-team-china-medal-hopefuls-to-watch-at-beijing-2022

https://deadline.com/2022/01/international-box-office-outlook-2022-marvel-china-look-ahead-1234907207/

https://www.statista.com/topics/5776/film-industry-in-china/

It might already feel like the video sharing social media platform TikTok has been around forever, but it actually only became available worldwide in 2018. Tiktok has its roots in China, established by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, it launched as Douyin (literally “shaking sound”) in Mainland China in 2016. 

In 2017, ByteDance decided to expand beyond China with TikTok, a platform marketed under the same brand with area-specific content and similar but not identical features. Although Douyin and TikTok can be seen as two distinct platforms, something that unites them is that they’re both invaluable tools for artists and musicians to get exposure and reach the right people, whether it be potential fans or industry professionals who can offer recording or publishing deals. Nowadays, short video platforms are a key source of new music for listeners to discover. If their first impressions of your music from these 15-second previews are good, listeners are often then motivated to search for this music on their streaming platform of choice.

In 2021, TikTok attracted 1 billion active monthly users from 150 different countries, a growth of 45% on the previous year. The average age range of users may be one of the youngest (most popular with 16-25 year olds) among the top social media platforms, but these users are also some of the most enthusiastic and committed; the average user spent 21.5 hours per month on TikTok in 2020 compared with 17.7 hours on Facebook and 7.5 on Instagram.

The age range of the average user of Douyin, 35% of the total number of users, is a little higher (21-30 years old). In October 2020, the South China Morning Post reported that the average Douyin user spent 72.9 minutes per day on the app, that’s around 36 hours monthly.

Once described as a  “lip-syncing app for teens,” TikTok’s interactive short-video content and cunning algorithms have caught the attention of a wider audience, in particular music fans that can reuse any audio clips that have been posted on the platform in their own videos. Your videos can gain traction when they appear in users’ personalised “For You” (#FYP page) feeds, this is how many artists like Lil Nas X, Ava Max and Joji have gone viral and hit the big time. Douyin also features a similar “recommended for you” feed to guide users to tailored content based on their viewing history. Using trending hashtags, participating in hashtag challenges and posting engaging content at times when your audience is most active are just a few of the many steps you can take to get your videos featured on For You feeds and grow your artist profile on TikTok.

Once you have your TikTok account up and running, why not get your content in front of China’s 600 million daily active users? Through Douyin, you can tap into a slice of China’s booming music streaming industry while resting assured that your music is safe there due to nationwide tightening of copyright laws. During the month of January, you can get one of your short videos distributed to Douyin’s music library for free when you buy any distribution product from Musicinfo, in addition to automatic distribution to China’s second largest short- video app Kuaishou. With our distribution, your song will be made available to Douyin users to select when creating their own videos on the platform. What better way to start your year than getting your music featured in user-generated content on one of the most popular social media platforms in China?

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Sources

https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/year-on-tiktok-music-report-2021

https://supchina.com/2019/09/25/the-difference-between-tiktok-and-douyin/

https://lawyerdrummer.com/2021/01/tiktok-for-musicians-what-you-need-to-know/

https://ew.com/music/tiktok-artists-music-curators/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/03/chairman-tiktok-owner-bytedance-steps-down-zhang-yiming-beijing-tightens-grip

https://chinasocialmedia.net/tiktok-and-douyin-are-not-the-same/

https://www.uptech.team/blog/create-app-like-tiktok

https://www.uptech.team/blog/create-app-like-tiktok

https://www.caixinglobal.com/2021-02-18/tiktok-sister-app-douyin-now-has-more-than-half-a-billion-monthly-active-users-of-its-video-search-function-101664329.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/15/bytedance-douyin-has-600-million-daily-active-users.html

https://www.campaignasia.com/article/douyin-more-than-the-chinese-version-of-tiktok/473430

https://www.techinasia.com/companies/quanmintv-tv

https://musicinfo.io/blog/kuaishou

Musicinfo’s eventful year of 2021 is on the home stretch. Let’s take a look at some of the things we’ve done this year.

New distribution areas: South-Korea and Africa

We started distributing to South-Korea’s unique streaming servicesMelOn, Bugs!, Genie, Naver VIBE and FLO. When thinking about South-Korea and its music industry, many of you might think of K-pop first. It is true that K-pop is extremely popular in South-Korea and it has been the main driver for the rapid growth of the music industry, but obviously the music scene in this modern, 52 million people country is much more than just K-pop. There is plenty of room and demand for all kinds of music there. The internet infrastructure  in South-Korea is also one of the best ones in the world, so the possibilities for the continuous growth of music streaming is excellent. You can read more about our distribution to South-Korea in  our blogs here and here

We also started to distribute to BoomPlay, which operates in every African country except South Africa. Africa is certain to become  a big player in the music streaming business in coming years and it is good to distribute music there as an early adapter. Distribution to BoomPlay is done only by request.

Expanding to South-Korea and Africa is great for our existing and new customers, since it does not cost anything extra on top of the widest distribution to China on the market. If you want your music to be distributed to Africa, please contact support@musicinfo.io

Music synchronization service

With our non-exclusive synchronization licensing service, our customers can now make  their music available to  video bloggers, game companies, advertisement producers, TV programs and movies. Synchronization is becoming more popular as musicians and composers search for more ways of making their music heard and monetizing it. Pitching  your  music for synchronization does not cost anything, but Musicinfo will take 20% from  any  synchronization deal you land. The payout can be anywhere from tens to thousands of dollars depending on the usage. If you wish to sync your music with Musicinfo, you need to use our distribution services. If you wish to synchronize the album only partially or only sync it without distribution to DSPs, you can reach out to support@musicinfo.io

Composer interviews displayed at Film Festivals

To celebrate the possibilities our synchronization services enable, we interviewed three of our sync artists, Petri Alanko (game music for Alan Wake, Quantum Break and Control), Cécile Corbel (music for film The Secret World of Arrietty) and Torsti Spoof (trailer-music for Star Wars, Rogue One - A Star Wars Story, Fear The Walking Dead, Jumanji and other Hollywood trailers) for a film that  was screened  at the Shanghai Film Festival, EU Film Festival In China. It will also be shown at the upcoming Guangzhou Documentary Film Festival. Read more about it here.

Informing artists about the Chinese music market

Sharing up-to-date information about the Chinese music market is also important tofor us.

We have updated  some information about the music copyrights in China on Wikipedia. Today, music copyright is enforced in China and piracy is no longer an issue (the Wiki article stated the opposite citing  long outdated  sources). Read more about music copyrights in China in our blog.

We did our own study about the listening habits of 38 Chinese students. Although the group was small, and represented only a limited demographic, it was still an interesting and insightful  endeavor for us. Check out what we found out in our blog.

This year we also researched  the Chinese DSPs a bit more. It makes sense to have a grasp of the services we distribute to, right? Did you for example know that to take care of their users, NetEase has invited experts and volunteers to provide online services for those in need of psychological comfort? Read more about it here.

These might be small bits of information, but they are all important steps towards a better understanding of the Chinese music market for us and help ensure we continue providing you with the best and most up-to-date advice and services.

What’s coming in 2022?

We will continue our work on making our services benefit our artists as much as possible and collecting and sharing information about the music markets we distribute to. Covid-19 has been a constant shadow in our daily lives, but as the vaccination coverage grows and smart safety measures are followed, we can get  through the pandemic together. And whatever the situation might be in the future, one thing is for sure: Music keeps on playing and bringing us joy and comfort. This has been proved  by the growing streaming numbers during the pandemic. For artists this means that it makes sense to distribute music to as many DSPs as possible. Focusing on China with Musicinfo gives you the best possibilities and support in this vast and fast growing music market.

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Sources:

https://mb.com.ph/2021/03/24/report-south-korea-becomes-fastest-growing-music-market-in-2020-due-to-k-pop/ 

https://musicinfo.io/blog/africa-south-korea-sync-china

https://musicinfo.io/blog/south-korea

https://musicinfo.io/blog/synctochina

https://musicinfo.io/blog/listening-habits-of-chinese-music-fans

https://musicinfo.io/blog/sync-shanghai-film-festival-2021

https://musicinfo.io/blog/music-copyright-in-china-then-and-now

 Global growth  

Before diving into the growth of music streaming in China, let’s take a look at the growth of the global music market to get an idea of the numbers we are talking about. 

The revenues of the global record music market grew 7.4% in 2020, which has been the sixth consecutive year of growth. Globally, streaming revenues grew by 19.9% and has continued to grow each year since 2004 and is now approaching 50% of the total revenues. Unlike other sources such as downloads, physical sales, performance rights and synchronization, which have declined.

In Asia in 2020, the digital revenues of the music market surpassed a 50% share of the region’s total revenues and its recorded music revenues grew by 9.5%. Without Japan’s decline, Asia would have been the fastest growing market (29.9%) instead of Latin America (15.9%).

Growth in China

China is still the 7th biggest music market in the world, behind South Korea and before Canada. China’s roots in its rise in music streaming has come from a major cultural shift in its protection and value of copyrights during this decade. Our previous blog highlights this shift. 

In China, the revenue of streaming music has grown from 59 million USD (2011) to 1.94 billion USD (2019) and continues to rise. This growth is due to a huge increase in paid subscriptions and is likely to have been influenced by Covid: Paid listeners grew from 25% in 2019 to 61% in 2021. Ifpi noted in a listener survey in this summer (2021) that 92% used music for emotional wellbeing, likely influencing the rise in consumption from 17.7 hours in 2019 to 22.9 hours.China also has one of the highest amounts of streaming mobile app users in the world with 66% (2020).

Compare the amounts of Monthly Active Users (MAU) between the best Chinese and Western music streaming services. The MAUs in China's top streaming services outweighs that of the top streaming services in the West. Tencent Music Entertainment collectively has 689 mil. MAUs with Kugou at 298 mil., QQ at 259 mil., and Kuwo at 132 mil. In comparison to the services not available in China, with Spotify at 381 mil., Pandora at 55 mil., and Deezer at 15 mil. MAUs.

In addition to the mainstream streaming services China has many different services such as short video services, online karaoke and online radios, which pay royalties.

Musicinfo in the middle of the rise

The growth in China can be seen in Musicinfo’s streaming numbers. In 2019 we had nearly 225 million streams and grew to over 570 million in 2020 and while the streaming numbers doubled, the amount of royalties paid out increased nearly sixfold. This is due to the increased amount of paid subscribers to the Chinese streaming services.

We at Musicinfo are ecstatic about the growth of streaming in China, this means more streams for our artists and more possibilities for you to make an audible mark on the Chinese music market, to get paid more. 

What this means for you

The rise in streaming is a good thing. When physical sales are declining (except for vinyls, which is super cool) and live performances can still be difficult, music streaming is a lifeline for many artists.

There are a vast number of different music platforms available in China where listeners can find cool music: Your music. Many distributors might include China in their global distribution, but they usually only have a few of the major services. In this time of growth it is only logical to take this advantage and make your music available to as many places as possible, to get paid. 

It is obvious there is a huge potential in China as the growth of the industry implies, though the music market is still fairly unknown to most Western artists and the number of people subscribing to premium streaming services in China is growing, elevating the payment rates in this copyright safe environment. 

There are no sensible arguments for artists not to distribute their music to as many services as possible especially in China and make their mark on the local digital music milieu. To learn more about distributing to the Chinese market visit Musicinfo.

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Sources

1. https://www.statista.com/statistics/711295/china-leading-mobile-music-platforms-by-active-user-number/

2. https://www.statista.com/statistics/711427/china-mobile-music-platform-use-penetration-rate/

3. https://cornellilj.org/2018/05/17/the-2-0-era-of-online-music-in-china/#_ednref8

4. https://www.ifpi.org/ifpi-issues-annual-global-music-report-2021/

5. https://www.ifpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/IFPI-Engaging-with-Music-report.pdf

6. https://newsroom.spotify.com/company-info/ 

7. https://www.statista.com/statistics/190989/active-users-of-music-streaming-service-pandora-since-2009/ 

8. https://www.deezer.com/us/company/press 

9. https://www.statista.com/statistics/711307/china-online-music-streaming-industry-revenue/

10.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinyl_revival

Opening

At the time of writing this blog (October 2021), copyright protection for online music in China is one of the highest in the world today, despite outdated information about this topic on Wikipedia from 2008 stating the opposite. If you’ve based your knowledge of music copyright in China on the first thing your Google search came up with without checking more sources, it may be you have perhaps felt suspicious about distributing your music to China. We have now started the process of updating the information on wikipedia. In the meantime, let us give you an overview of the current situation regarding music copyright in China.

History of music copyright in China  

The market reform or the “opening of China” in the late 1970s led the country from state ownership and central planning towards a market economy. This led to a boom in the consumption of cassette recordings, including pirated underground recordings from around the world. With Renminbi symbols in their eyes, the cassette manufacturers hired local musicians to do covers of hit songs from abroad. These recordings became extremely popular, but usually the original copyright holders and creators didn’t benefit from this at all. 

In 1992, China joined the Berne Convention, which is an international copyright agreement requiring the recognition of the copyrights of citizens of all other parties of the convention. The convention now has 179 contracting parties (=almost all the countries in the world), including the US, Canada and all the European countries except the Vatican City. In the same year, the Music Copyright Society of China was also founded. The piracy situation didn’t change much though. Later, in 2001 China passed a law about digital copyrights, but the record labels didn’t regard digital music copyrights as a priority in the country’s underdeveloped internet industry. Up to 99% of the music downloads in China were illegal in 2011. 

The state of digital music remained unsafe and somewhat chaotic until 2015, when the National Copyright Administration banned unlicensed music streaming and ordered streaming platforms to remove it from their services. 2.2 million songs were removed from services such as Baidu, QQ and Xiami. Soon after this, a mandate among major Chinese streaming platforms and label companies with international major labels was signed to enforce music copyright. Prior to this, music consumers in China had had easy access to free pirated music.

The state of digital music copyright in China after 2015

The Chinese digital music consumers got into the habit of accessing music legally quite fast after banning unlicensed music on streaming services and it could be seen in concrete numbers: the licensed digital music revenues of the recording industry in China increased from $90m (2014) to $195m (2017) and most of this was from music streaming. The revenue from music streaming was 18.5% of the total revenue of the Chinese music industry in 2017 (see picture 1). In 2018, 96% of consumers were listening to licensed music.

The streaming services in China were competing with each other partly by trying to offer content, which the other services couldn’t and this way aiming to push copyright further to diminish piracy even more. After the Chinese National Copyright Administration expressed their intention to get rid of these exclusive rights the streaming companies were hogging, Tencent and NetEase agreed to share 99% of the music they had exclusive rights to for sub-licensing in 2018. Today, The State Administration for Market Regulation aims to maintain a healthy competition environment between streaming services in China by relinquishing excessive exclusive rights. 

From the streaming companies’ perspective, this copyright-safe non-exclusive digital environment enables companies to focus on creating their own content and enhancing their customer experiences rather than spending a lot of money on exclusive licensing fees. Read more about the unique aspects of Chinese streaming platforms here. 

Especially for indie artists and record labels, this non-exclusive licensing will bring more possibilities for success in the long run because they can make their music available on multiple platforms. As a side note, I’ll mention here that Musicinfo takes advantage of this non-exclusive digital music environment and maximizes the benefit for the user by distributing music to over 50 streaming services of varying sizes (not only to the major ones) giving the artists and labels an unmatched amount of possibilities in the Chinese music market.

How does Musicinfo protect your copyrights in China?

Ok, so now we know that in general, music copyright is enforced in China. But how do we at Musicinfo ensure that your music will stay safe in China once you distribute it there via us? 

First of all, we have reliable partners and a lot of experience in the Chinese music market. Since 2016, we have been working with major players in the Chinese music industry to guarantee legal and copyright-protected access for independent musicians and record labels to license and distribute their music. So far, Musicinfo services have been used by musicians and record labels from over 75 countries. 

Secondly, the Musicinfo Trademark is registered with the National Intellectual Property Administration, PRC, in China. This solidifies Musicinfo’s status in the Chinese music market as a credible agent and thereby helps to prevent any infringements of our company and the music we distribute.

Thirdly, if an artist or a label notices that illegal or unauthorized copies of their music are available on Chinese streaming services, Musicinfo can clear the market of these by redistributing them legally to 50+ music and media services. This will help artists to monitor their copyrights and royalties in this music market. If you are an artist or a record label, you can check your music’s availability on the major services in China with the help of our free finder tool here.

Fourthly, it is worth mentioning that when a customer distributes their release(s) to China via us, they need to provide the Universal Product Code (UPC) for their content and the International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) for the identification of the sound recordings and their utilization. If the customer does not have these codes, our Musicinfo Platform will generate them.

Also we at Musicinfo handle the monetary side of business for our artists. We give out 100% of the streaming revenues - in 2021 we have paid over 100.000 USD of royalties to our artists.

If you are interested in getting your music safely to China and giving it the maximum possibilities via promotion actions, synchronization and the widest digital music distribution on the market, please take a look at our services here.

Sources:

https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1005290/chinas-music-industry-should-change-its-tune-on-copyright-protections-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_economic_reform

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention

https://cornellilj.org/2018/05/17/the-2-0-era-of-online-music-in-china/

https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/6656695/china-takes-down-millions-of-songs-in-push-towards-digital-music/

https://soundcharts.com/blog/chinese-recording-market-streaming

https://www.mondaq.com/china/copyright/1111380/china-ip-updates-september-2021-issue-1--14-sep-2021

China’s Feel Good Streaming Social Community

Listening to streaming music in China gives you a social community with other listeners, artists and the service, sorely lacking in Western streaming services. By leaving comments on the songs that you are listening to builds attention to you and the music. Other users or even the artists themselves can reply to your comments creating a community unlike any other social media platform.

When NetEase Cloud Music was established, Ding Lei the chairman and CEO of the company's board of directors positioned it as a platform to listen and share music with others at any time, making this the biggest differences between other music platforms.

“It’s not like sharing on any other social media platform. People are using songs like ‘treeholes.’ Some of them are going through seriously tough times and sharing it with complete strangers helps them feel better,” says Zhang Jingnian, a cultural analyst.

“We encourage everyone to express themselves honestly, but we also object to those seeking to catch eyeballs through fabrication, plagiarism, and verbal abuse, as this causes misunderstanding and harms people who actually have depression,” NetEase Cloud Music wrote.

NetEase Cloud Music aka Cloud Village outperforms Tencent’s 5Sing and Alibaba’s Xiami Music, referring to the Chinese research group FastData. NetEase does not yet have the user base of Tencent, however, they share their personal thoughts and feelings, inspired by the music they listen to, in the comment section.

Netease has stepped up their care by turning a potentially life threatening outcry by some users to a positive situation. Taking the initiative to a growing number of users leaving dark and even suicidal comments with their favorite songs and albums. Having tens of millions of users in China, Netease has invited experts and volunteers to provide 24-hour online service for users in need of psychological comfort.

A college student and Netease user, Lin has expressed her gratitude to everyone who has read her comments and given her encouragement over the years to overcome the obstacles,  “I’ve been through some traumatic experiences that I couldn’t talk about with my friends or family, so I preferred writing them down while listening to music. That’s why we love music. It helps us share our emotions,” described in a Chinese publication Sixth Tone.

There is a concern that users have abused the community by leaving false comments just to gain attention. Netease promised to closely monitor the comments not only to help anyone leaving sad comments but to ensure that anyone making up stories just to gain popularity will face consequences. Taking another step forward they have invited content moderators to write positive comments to try and alleviate emotional distress. Users can now send virtual hugs to each other. 

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 Sources

https://pdf.dfcfw.com/pdf/H3_AP202011231431942901_1.pdf?1606124020000.pdf 

https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1006019/netease-to-provide-counseling-services-for-depressed-music-fans

https://music.163.com/m/at/5f27d418cd5e79c1b248eb7e?userid=75366531

https://technode.com/2020/09/02/how-netease-cloud-music-became-a-therapy-platform/ 

https://equalocean.com/analysis/2020081214486

https://inf.news/en/economy/1ac71a1da3cc3567345b7bc28a5ea235.html

https://radiichina.com/netease-depression-mental-health/

Sync licensing is becoming an increasingly popular route for musicians and composers wanting to get the widest exposure possible and earn money. Sync your music to films, tv shows, games and advertisements when you distribute with Musicinfo.

If you want to sync your music with Musicinfo, you need to purchase our distribution services. Once you have submitted and published your albums via Musicinfo Distribution Platform, you can choose if you want to sync the album. If you want to sync only certain tracks from the album, and/or if you only want to sync the album without distributing to DSPs, you will need to email us at support@musicinfo.io

The charge for the sync service is only 20% of the sync license, Musicinfo does not charge any extra to have your music synced.

Sync license extent: When syncing your music in China with Musicinfo, your music has even more opportunity to reach new audiences and make you money. Your music will be made available to video bloggers, game companies, advertisement producers, TV programs and movies. Sync payout varies from service to service, the smaller services such as sync to vloggers start around 30€ and go up from there to TV series and movies that can pay more than 1000€ per usage. 

For more information please see the Sync Terms of Use: https://musicinfo.io/synctermsofuse

Please come and visit us for more information. 

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This year, Musicinfo expanded its music distribution and promotion services to include sync licensing which means pitching music to be used in films, tv shows, games and advertisements. Sync licensing is becoming an increasingly popular route for musicians and composers wanting to get the widest exposure possible and earn money.

Home entertainment has become an ever more significant part of people’s lives around the globe, with the pandemic only increasing the amount of films, tv and games consumed as social activities and human contact were reduced. To celebrate the opportunities sync licensing offers artists, we talked to three prominent artists on our roster for this summer’s Shanghai International Film Festival about their composition process and what inspires them. We compiled these interviews into a short film that was screened at the festival(s) to showcase their skills for new sync opportunities in Asia.

Petri Alanko

Petri Alanko is a BAFTA-award winning composer, sound designer and producer who has composed music for games such as Alan Wake, Quantum Break and Control. He describes his job as “staring into the fire” to conjure up sounds for images onscreen - a reference to the storytelling tradition that has been part of human life for millennia. His favourite projects are composing “modular” soundtracks for games and likes to enter the production phase at an early stage so that he can observe character development and the finer details of storylines and environments to help inform his artistic direction. He starts every project by creating a special library for it - he spends the first few months creating and selecting patches for synthesisers, samples and raw materials for virtual instruments. He fondly recounts one game project where he built the whole soundtrack around the melody created by the rusty creaking of a gate he sampled. In his opinion, the most effective soundtracks involve music that you don’t even realise is playing while you are watching the film or playing the game.

Cécile Corbel

Cécile Corbel is a French harpist and composer best known for writing and performing Arriety’s Theme in the 2010 Studio Ghibli film The Secret World of Arrietty. She believes that music is “the strongest instrument for escape and dreams.” In her youth, she had never imagined becoming a composer - she comes from an archeology and history of art background. But after she began performing live as a hobby, music started to become more serious for her; she started recording albums and eventually fell into film and game composition. When she begins a project, she likes to create a musical “theme” for every character, emotion or element of the project. This could be a specific instrument, sample or melody. She then combines these themes to create what she calls her “colour palette” which she draws from to build her pieces. She is a big fan of theme songs and for her, music should be at the forefront of any film. Movie and game music needs to have a strong melody and should make an impression on its listeners - she states that ideally, the audience should keep humming the tunes they’ve heard after they have left the screen, and importantly, want to listen to it again later.

Torsti Spoof

Torsti Spoof is a trailer-music maker for Star Wars, Rogue One - A Star Wars Story, Fear The Walking Dead, Jumanji and other Hollywood trailers. According to Spoof, music can be 50% of the film/ trailer. It can therefore very much either ruin or make a film. He claims not to have a specific composition method but rather makes a rough plan and experiments in his studio with virtual instruments and samples until he finds the right sound(s). Although he has incorporated several genres into his compositions over the years, his forte is orchestral music which is fitting for the fantasy and epic movies and games he works with. Composition for Spoof is a lifelong passion which started when he was six when his mother made him go to piano lessons. He began intently listening to film scores at 9, citing John Williams (Superman, Star Wars) as one of his major influences.

If you are interested in getting the chance to have your music synced in China, email han.zhang(at)musicinfo.io for more information about current opportunities.

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As an artist or musician you may be curious about the listening habits of music consumers in China. Here at Musicinfo, we asked 38 Chinese students who worked on one of our recent research and development projects about the services they use, the kind of music they like, when they listen to music and more.

Popular services

As you may already know, there is a wealth of music streaming services exclusive to China with many interactive and listener-centric features. Our survey showed that two services in particular stood out as the most used among our participants; Netease Cloud Music claimed nearly 58% of listeners while QQ Music (owned by Tencent Corporation) came in a close second with 55%. Another Tencent owned service Kugou music was the third most popular service named by our respondents.

Preferred genres and styles

Rather than being die-hard fans of one particular musical style or genre, a range of music is used by listeners to compliment their range of moods, emotions and activities. Pop and Rock were the most frequently mentioned genres but instrumental, hip-hop, R&B, electronic, downtempo, folk, jazz and classical were also popular among listeners. Listeners were also found to value Western music highly as 61% of the respondents said they preferred to listen to Western music or Chinese and Western music equally.

A soundtrack to your life

Listeners use music to self-soothe before bedtime or brighten up inescapable everyday tasks; there is music suitable for almost every situation in these users’ waking lives. Our Chinese students stream music during the workday, while studying, at the gym, on walks, on public transport, while doing household chores, while cooking, while reading and even while reading. It is clear that music is a central part of modern life for many young Chinese people, you could almost say it’s a lifestyle. It is worth bearing this in mind when deciding what kind of music you want to release in China and envision how it will enrich different areas of your listeners’ lives. Whether they were feeling sad, angry, relaxed, lonely, unfocused, unmotivated, bored or in a good mood; users reported that they had music prepared to accompany any occasion or state of mind.

Tips for Western artists

The majority of our students told us they find new music through playlists, streaming service algorithms, social media (China’s TikTok and Baidu) and popular media such as tv series, adverts, reality shows and films. Internet radio, charts, friends and review websites were other sources for discovering new music but they weren’t as heavily emphasised. This says a lot about the world we live in and how independent artists can take advantage of these trends; finding a way to interact with fans in China could be the push you need to succeed. Artists can create social media profiles free of charge, some of the major platforms include Douyin (TikTok), Baidu, Weibo and WeChat.

Adding video content to your online portfolio is also a good way to reach new fans, Bilibili is a popular site where you can host livestreams and post music videos, find out more about it here. To get exposure in the Chinese market is key - pitching your music to playlists is a great way to get your music heard by lifelong fans you may not reach otherwise. Sync licensing - that is getting your music featured in films, tv series, games, adverts and more has been growing in popularity in recent years and could really give you a leg up when it comes to breaking China as an artist.

Sources

https://www.chinainternetwatch.com/31780/tencent-music-quarterly/

https://www.slideshare.net/UnitedMediaSolution/qq-report-how-brands-can-engage-with-chinas-young-people

https://www.questmobile.com.cn/blog/en/blog_111.html

https://www. statista.com.ezproxy.jyu.fi/statistics/828413/china-leading-music-apps-used-by-age-group/

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We share our latest insights on what’s working now through in depth blog posts, tutorials, and industry interviews. We buy and test drive the latest music marketing tools/services & tell you which ones you should be using and which to avoid. We aspire to help independent musicians better navigate the music industry with our premium content on the music industry.

Interview With Musicinfo

An Interview with Juri Kobayashi of Musicinfo discussing what the markets are like in China and how artists can promote and distribute their music in these markets.

Interview Timestamps:

1:12 – Introducing what Musicinfo is 

1:46 – Why artists should consider China 

2:23 – What areas outside of distribution to China does Musicinfo focus on 

3:28 – Competition among distributors within China 

4:56 – How Musicinfo can help artists 

6:17 – Commission fees associated with using Musicinfo 

8:00 – Benefits to using Musicinfo in coordination with another distribution service 

9:21 – How streaming platforms work and operate in comparison to platforms like Spotify & Apple Music 

12:38 – Common myth about the market in China 

15:51 – No magic pill, artist still need to work hard to push their music like anything else 

17:33 – Are payouts more in favour of the artists when it comes to streaming platforms in markets like China 

20:00 – Future opportunities with emerging markets 

22:05 – Closing thoughts on Musicinfo & Sync Opportunities

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Article originally posted in Sept. 23, 2019 at https://www.royalheirent.com/east-meets-west-china-tour-success/

Early this summer we announced our first tour in Mainland China, dubbed “East Meets West” with Bearwater Promotions and we opened to artists for submission and inclusion. Headlined by international recording artist, Layla Khepri and featuring TaeCino (“Tay Chino”) we flew from the US to Shenzhen, China and were met by our partners. We stayed in Shenzhen for 2 weeks which included sightseeing and cultural excursions to Hong Kong/Kowloon as well as band practice, rehearsals, venue scouting, live shows, DJ lessons, and much more!

We recently distributed Layla Khepri’s debut Self-Titled EP into Chinese outlets (via MusicInfo) and she quickly gained new fans.

One of the most amazing experiences was Layla Khepri giving a presentation on Hip-Hop to members of the Chinese Government (to representatives of the Ministries of Culture, Special Events, and Arts). Recently, China in/famously banned Hip-Hop from mainstream culture. After Layla’s presentation on hip-hop and how she uses it to express herself they honored us all a performance request.

China was an incredible experience we didn’t want to end but are excited to announce we are planning our next East Meets West tour in the next few months and plan to continue this international series with more events, excursions, and opportunities.

Thank you to our partners Nesby Blanchard and Chuck as well as all participating venues, clubs, government officials, translators, DJs, fans, and more. Be on the look out for official music videos, performance footage, and more from the trip.

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Playlisting is one way to visibility in the West

Aside from the furious social media posting and promotion, playlisting your music on Spotify and other Western streaming services is something that most indie artists have tried or at least thought of, maybe you have too. It is an effective way to increase your streams, build a following and pour your music into the ears of new listeners and there are many companies which offer these services. First you pay, then the company checks out your song and gets in touch with the playlist curator who has suitable playlists for your music, then the song is playlisted. Simple!

The same way works in China

Promotion activity with playlists might be familiar to you in the Western music market, but how about the lesser known, fast-growing gigantic music market of China? Musicinfo distributes music digitally to mainland China and can do various promotion actions in Chinese social media and streaming services, including playlisting. Musicinfo provides playlisting to popular playlists (100,000 to millions of accumulated streams and growing) in NetEase, which is one of China’s biggest music streaming providers with over 800 million registered users. Your playlisted songs are in the playlist for at least a month and we aim to get them placed as high as possible in the top 10. After playlisting a lot of songs from different artists we can say with confidence that playlisting songs in NetEase increases the visibility of the artists music just like in western streaming services. 

Unlike in most Western streaming services, in NetEase the users can comment on individual songs. A good way to see the increased visibility almost immediately after playlisting your music is to direct your eyes to the comment section of the playlisted song. Musicinfo artists have gotten on average around 150 comments per playlisted song. It is good to know that most songs in NetEase start with a completely silent comment section. 0 comments is quite a sad sight to behold. After all we are talking about the concrete products of someone's imagination and feelings! They deserve listens, feedback and attention in my opinion. 

To see if my own music would get visibility this way in China, I purchased Musicinfo’s playlisting service and playlisted a prog rock song Into the Light by my band Bailout. It got placed to the top 10 on a popular playlist with mixed genres and 1.9 million accumulated streams and it was on the list for 1 month. During that one month it got over 100 comments from brand new listeners and some even seemed to like it :) I was really happy to get my music heard and witness Musicinfo’s playlisting services in action. I will playlist more of my own music for sure. 

Musicinfo has plenty of other artists with various genres who have gained visibility by playlisting. For example singer-songwriter guitarist Gráinne Duffy and her song Blue Skies (120+ new comments), Hip-Hop artist Leo Ganza and his song Perkin & Purgin’ (170+ new comments) and DJ Thera with his track It’s a Fine Day (120+ new comments). The list goes on.

Bailout Playlist Link on Netease

Promotion is essential

Getting the comment numbers jumping with playlisting highlighted a phenomenon when distributing music to streaming services: the music is not guaranteed to get much listens if it just exists in the services. When an artist uploads new music to Spotify, it won’t get listened to without some kind of promotion unless the artist has already a steady fan-base which visits the artists Spotify page frequently. The music needs to be promoted, no matter the song, streaming service or destination country.

Many reasons to get excited about the Chinese music market

The music market in China is possibly unknown for many and might seem unreliable or even scary. There is no reason to mistrust this booming music market, since piracy is no longer an issue, the mechanisms of the market are similar (royalties from listens, shares, likes etc.) to what we are used to and most importantly the users of the services are real people like you and I. When they hear a good song, they might leave a nice comment, follow the artist and link the song to a friend.

Let’s get your awesome songs heard

So long story short, by playlisting your music in China you can increase the visibility of your music and Musicinfo can do it for you with solid results. The Chinese music market is big, exciting and growing fast so it is a good idea to distribute your music there and have it heard by the massive audiences. Why not get started? Maybe your music will get a breakthrough in China!

If you want to playlist your music on NetEase, please reach out to Musicinfo by sending your artist name, the name of your song and the genre of the song to han.zhang@musicinfo.io. They’ll find your song in NetEase, check it out and send you an offer about the perfect playlist for you! If you do not have your song yet in NetEase, don’t worry they will give you free distribution for your song on top of the playlist.

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Links and Sources:

NetEase user amount: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/chinas-netease-cloud-music-with-over-800m-users-gains-rights-to-use-1-3m-warner-chappell-music-songs/

Piracy no longer an issue: https://money.cnn.com/2018/01/24/technology/china-streaming-music-video/index.html

Bailout streaming: https://fanlink.to/Bailout

Bailout - Into the Light (NetEase): https://music.163.com/#/song?id=1432341807

Gráinne Duffy Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6Uz1iG3enjltFOqqwAhQ2Y

Gráinne Duffy - Blue Skies (NetEase): https://music.163.com/#/song?id=1422256180

Leo Ganza Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5qO2baRd4LQJIHm7LMxfPo

Leo Ganza - Perkin & Purgin’ (NetEase): https://music.163.com/#/song?id=1501805014

Dj Thera Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3wnWv1CbRJ0JuDgOcsBPfd

Dj Thera - It’s a Fine Day (NetEase): https://music.163.com/#/song?id=26781674

South Korea is a vibrant country with close to 52 million people and nearly half live in the capital city of Seoul. Famous for its branded style of popular music, K-pop, obviously influenced by the pop culture from abroad, welcomes all styles and genres of music. 

Kakao Music

Hosted by the Kakao Internet company, Kakao Music is a music streaming and sharing platform that is available to users of Korea’s biggest messaging app KakaoTalk boasting 47 million active monthly users.

Users can create their own music rooms to express themselves by adding photos and stories to the songs they have selected. Users can be their friends’ own personal Dj, or can visit other music rooms based on their interests and music preferences, then share and invite friends to music rooms that have been visited.

MelOn

The Kakao internet group also hosts Korea’s biggest streaming music service MelOn, now with 28 million registered users. Users can stream or download songs and music videos, as well as create custom ringtones. MelOn got its fame from its notorious MelOn Charts. It displays trending music in your preferred genre in it’s Hot Track, and curates playlists and song suggestions reflecting your preferences. 

Like most Korean streaming services MelOn is only available in Korea.

Genie

Genie is the second most used music streaming service in South Korea with 2.5 million subscribers as of June 2018. Catering to 20% of the country’s total streaming audience, it is the 2nd most used music streaming platform in South Korea and uses an artificial intelligence song curation service that suggests content based on the lifestyle of listeners.

As well as having a real-time song chart it has editor recommendations which recommends selected songs within themes such as: refreshing city pop, evening breeze, quiet voices whispering in your ear, heavy metal moments and more.

FLO

Created by SK Telecom with partners such as Big Hit Entertainment, JYP Entertainment and SM entertainment, FLO is a fairly new streaming services only available in South Korea. FLO refers to the service’s flow chart that reflects the streaming patterns on a 24 hour basis to provide more accurate records than its competitors who generally update their popularity charts on an hourly basis. As of November 2019, it has been South Korea’s 3^rd largest streaming service, following MelOn and Genie.

Soribada

Soribada was created as and remains the most widely used P2P system in Korea and is comparable to iMesh in the United States. The Soribada app is only accessible in South Korea and requires users to have a Korean phone number in order to create an account.

Customers who pay the monthly fee of 7,000 won (~7 bucks) are able to download MP3 files without Digital Rights Management (DRM). Like iTunes and other popular online music stores, Soribada utilises audio fingerprint technology to identify the purchaser. Soribada claims that it covers around 90% tracks that have been released in Korea. 

Naver Vibe

VIBE is a paid music streaming service launched by the NAVER Corp. The app uses artificial intelligence to recommend songs, collect music suggestions based on a user’s personal taste, and create customized playlists. When you feel like singing along just follow the lyrics and Vibe will back you up.

Bugs!

Bugs! is one of the major South Korean subscription-based streaming services. Unlike most Korean streaming platforms, this service can be used by international fans as well. It prides itself on hosting lossless streaming.

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Sources

https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/6836589/melon-south-korea-biggest-music-subscription-service-acquired-kakao

https://www.techinasia.com/kakao-korea-melon-music-streaming-acquisition

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20180417000665

https://www.statista.com/statistics/942788/south-korea-music-distribution-companies-on-digital-music-charts/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_Music

https://www.ajudaily.com/view/20200317140209533

https://web.archive.org/web/20061027223657/http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/results?title=Soribada

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soribada

https://www.bandwagon.asia/articles/winners-of-the-2020-soribada-best-k-music-awards-bts-twice-nct-dream-red-velvet-txt

https://allforarmy.com/stream/korean/naver-vibe/

https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2018/06/25/korean-music-streaming-royalties/

https://spinditty.com/industry/How-Musicians-Earn-From-Music-Royalty

https://www.reddit.com/r/kpop/comments/dh6ts5/a_guide_to_bugs_korean_music_streaming_service/

https://linguasia.com/culture/korean-music-apps/

https://allforarmy.com/stream/korean/flo/

https://musically.com/2020/03/24/south-korean-dsp-changes-chart-to-battle-distorted-streams/

https://www.music-flo.com/

1. HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF NEW LISTENERS AND COUNTING!

In China, Western social media and music streaming services are blocked. This means no Spotify, Apple Music, Facebook, Instagram or Youtube. However, digital music streaming in China is still a multi-million-dollar market. China has its own dedicated music platforms, and the musical appetite of Chinese audiences is huge.

In China, Tencent Music Entertainment Group (founded in 2016) owns the top three music streaming apps: QQ Music, Kugou and Kuwo which collectively draw a total of 660 million active monthly users as of December 2020. To put this in perspective, Spotify, the leading music streaming platform in the West, currently attracts only 345 million subscribers. Statistics show that China’s music market is continuing to grow rapidly; In 2020, the digital music industry in China was estimated to generate an annual revenue of approximately 13.8 billion Yuan (2.1 billion USD), posting a 30.4 percent growth compared to the previous year.

2. CHINESE PLATFORMS ARE BUILT AROUND ARTIST/ FAN INTERACTION

Instagram and Twitter have gone some way in dissolving the barrier between music, artists and fans. China has taken this a step further through boosting interaction opportunities among music communities through integrating these functions into their music streaming services and social media.

Chinese streaming services rely heavily on user interaction and user-generated content like audience-curated playlists, very active forums, comments sections and virtual “party rooms.” Recommendation algorithms on Chinese platforms are designed to prioritise user preference data including lyrical content, genre, beats and even user comments over popularity. This means the recommendation system can make suggestions when the song or artist has little or no play history which can be of great benefit to new or lesser known artists.

3. NEW OPPORTUNITIES

As well as distributing to streaming services and promoting your tracks on social media, sync licensing is a great way to get your music noticed in China. Getting your music featured in films, games and adverts is now easier than ever. At Musicinfo, we work in cooperation with Chinese sync licensing services like Musiness (and Taihe Music) to pitch music from our distribution roster. To request more information about sync licensing opportunities with us get in touch at: han.zhang@musicinfo.io

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SOURCES

https://www.statista.com/statistics/711295/china-leading-mobile-music-platforms-by-active-user-number/

https://medium.com/syncedreview/chinas-netease-music-uses-ai-to-win-hearts-518880aee6a3

https://towardsdatascience.com/analyzing-netease-music-part-i-playlist-968f43fc7fc5

We have updated (2023) our services, South Korea and Africa are offered in our Global distribution services. Please see Full Distribution List. 

Distribution to South Korea and Africa

We have now added new distribution territories South Korea and Africa (excluding South Africa). In South Korea, we distribute music to the major streaming services there Melon, Bugs, Zenie, Soribada, Naver Music and Kakao Music. In Africa we will be distributing to BoomPlay which distributes to all the countries in Africa except South Africa.

We will not charge extra fee for the new territories based on your current subscription, and we will pay you 85% of the royalties from the new territories. Please check the updated Terms of Use: https://musicinfo.io/terms_of_use_distribution/

If you would like us to distribute your music to the new territories, please give us your consent by email to han.zhang@musicinfo.io, we will then process your albums for distribution. Please specify in your reply if you prefer your music to be distributed to one, both, or none of the new territories or if you only want to distribute only certain albums you have submitted to us already. Please list the album name and UPC.

Sync to China

We have now added a non-exclusive synchronization license service to China to our Musicinfo service portfolio. This means you will have the chance to sync your music to movies, games, TV series, and independently produced videos, etc.The service is free for current distribution customers and Musicinfo will take only a 20% commission.The synchronization license payment from China ranges from €40 to €300 per license for small budget projects, and higher payments from major projects.

Please check our synchronization license terms of use from here: https://musicinfo.io/synctermsofuse. If you would like us to add your music to the synchronization license service, please give us your consent by email to han.zhang@musicinfo.io. We will then process your albums for sync. If you only want to sync certain albums/tracks you have submitted to us already, please list the albums/tracks name and UPC/ISRC codes.Thank you and looking forward to your reply.

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Blog Update 23.11.23

If you have distributed your music and don't know if your music is online in China you can check from there links:

QianQian https://music.91q.com/ (Web site)

TME (Tencent Music Entertainment) streaming services

QQ https://y.qq.com/ (requires you download app) requires login

Netease Cloud Music https://music.163.com/ (Web site) requires login

Please note your music will only be visible 4-6 weeks after the publish date.

But it is all in Chinese, I can’t read Chinese and why would I bother?

There is a possibility that your distributor or label might have at sometime distributed your music in the past to China and it is now floating around somewhere out there. This search will find if your music is there, it may be just a catalogue list with no sound file or it may be that it wasn’t properly removed when you changed labels or distributors and was left with no one to claim its license. If you do find your music in the search to your surprise, then you may contact your current or previous label or distributor to claim the licence or you may inquire a distributor like Musicinfo who specializes in digital music distribution to China to help claim your music.

Or you know that you have distributed your music there but have never seen where it is or it has been just too much of a pain to try and look. This should help.

Navigating new websites can be a headache especially when they are in a different language. It takes time to understand get to know how the website functions, like if I push this button what will it do and where will it take me. This is especially difficult if the website was built using a different language.

One solution that I have used when searching for music on Chinese streaming sites is by using Safari Translate or Google Chrome Translate. It doesn’t do a perfect job as most often the translations are literal and coming from such a distant language as Chinese to English there will definately be some surprises and you will have to be creative to figure out just what the heck the translator is trying to tell you. But for the most part you can now figure out where to go and this is of course useful in any language if English is not your language of choice.

Another difficulty is the format of the page. For the most part the page will be in the same format but at the translator tries to fit the new word into a space where there is no room there will be word overlap especially in the search box which can then make using the search box a challenge. But you can always switch back to the original language, do your search and then re-translate the page.

The Search for Your Music

The search parameters are, singer (artist), album, song. You need to try and search for any or all of these. Remember these websites were built for Chinese and so the search is also built for Chinese so the search can be finicky. Once you have found a search criteria that relates you the artist, album or song. You can click on the either one of those links to find what you are looking for. It seems that also the categorization of these criteria can get mixed up with other similar artists, albums or songs.

For our search we will be visiting the biggest streaming services; Tencent Music Entertainment hosing: QQ Music, Kuwo Music and Kugou Music; Netease Cloud Music, aka. Music163 or just Netease Music; and Taihe hosted QianQian. If your music is not on one of these then your music is most likely not in China. I would have also included Alibaba’s Xiami but sadly it will be discontinued in February.

With most of these streaming service they work best in China and also they have been optimised to be used on the client app. All of the sites are workable outside of China on the browser website with the exception of Kugou which requires the use of the client app to do the search. And unfortunately there is no language option and because you are no longer using a browser, can’t translate.

First we check out QQ for it is the biggest and if your music is not on here then most likely it will not be on Kugou or Kuwo either. Then we will check, Netease as it is the second biggest streaming service. Then we will look at QianQian, because depending on your distributor your music may or may not be on Taihe’s QianQian, but nowadays most all distributors who have China in their distribution will send your music to both, either, or Tencent Music Entertainment streaming sites and Netease.

Here are the links to your music in China:

Tencent QQ Music

Tencent Kuwo

Tencent Kugou

Netease Cloud Music

QianQian

Musicinfo

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For Musicinfo Distributing Artists your music will be streamed and available on Xiami up until the closure of the Xiami Music App. All royalties will be collected from your streamed music from Xiami Music App.

You do not need to do anything more. Your music will be automatically removed from Xiami Music App and will remain available on all of Musicinfo’s 50+ services. 

Change in the constantly evolving music market in China is typical in the development of an emerging market. Musicinfo provides music artists the best access to share and monetize their music by constantly improving the quality and scope of our services. In only the last quarter we acquired distribution to 6 new services: Hongfans, Huaijiao, Tianlai KGe, Wen Zhonh Zhi Neng, Aispeech, and Meipan, and already this January we acquired 3 new services, SouthEast Motor, Geely and Meizu Music.

If you have any concerns regarding your music please contact us at support@musicinfo.io

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Xiami translated as “Small Shrimp” is a hipster music streaming app was bought by Alibaba in 2013. Xiami’s recommendation algorithm was particularly admired by China’s indie community by recommending less popular music instead of pushing whatever was on the top charts.

Unlike its competitors Xiami is known to be more focused on music and attracted more diverse listeners wanting to discover new sounds. It’s magic to attract listeners is its engaging social interactive design to draw users into the music and platform. 

Currently Xiami only has 2 percent of China's music streaming market, behind KuGou Music, QQ Music, KuWo, and NetEase Cloud Music, according to Beijing-headquartered data intelligence company TalkingData. Alibaba invested millions of yuan, unfortunately Xiami couldn’t compete in the Chinese music market dominated by Tencent.

"Due to operational adjustments, we will stop the service of Xiami Music," the online music arm of the Chinese e-commerce giant said on Tuesday on its Weibo account, adding that the closure will occur on February 5.

However, it does not mark the end to Alibaba’s participation in the online streaming market. In September 2019, Alibaba invested US$700 million in one of Xiami's competitors, NetEase Cloud Music.

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Sources

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/china-alibaba-xiami-music-streaming-app-13896392

https://variety.com/2021/music/news/alibaba-xiami-music-closure-tencent-netease-1234878679/

https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/04/alibaba-discontinues-xiami/

https://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/alibaba-xiami-music-app-shut-down-china-antitrust-investigation-netease-cloud-china-jack-ma-2348011

Kuaishou is China’s second biggest short-video app after TikTok. Kuaishou, founded in 2011, was originally created to make GIF pictures but quickly transformed into a short video community. Reporting over 200 million daily users in 2019, Kuaishou now boasts 700 million users. Attention for this platform is quickly growing outside of China; it is known as Kwai or SnackVideo in India.

Although criticized as rip off of TikTok it has attracted a different audience finding its attraction in smaller cities and rural parts of China. It has been dubbed as the video app that is turning Chinese country folk into Hollywood directors.

Upon opening the app, it seems a lot like Douyin (aka. TikTok) but with one obvious difference - the majority of the content is from Chinese users in China. And it not just the typical, “look what I can do,” feel that Tiktok displays but depicts short clips of how people do things in China inside the city and out in the countryside.

You might see Grandma cooking a fish stew in a transparent plastic bag over an open fire in HD - which is actually quite beautiful and amazing. Or you might see feats of strength, skill or creativity amongst the pretty over edited “look at me,” selfies. 

Not yet monetizing its massive user base, Kuaishou makes most of its money through advertising.

The best thing is you can sign up for free and start posting videos yourself. You may not get very many followers until you start making content that your audience wants to make a point of watching. But on Kuaishou there is an edge that will get your videos views regardless of your followers.

Unlike TikTok, which also uses AI to keep users watching where flashy moves or big names can quickly collect views, Kuaishou’s algorithm redirects users away from videos once they reach a certain number of hits. This gives regular users the chance to get views and gain more visibility and ranking. 

The content is quite attractive and the layout is much more simple to navigate. This platform gives you the opportunity to take a peek at China’s everyday life, and is also a place where you're more likely to gain attention and followers for your own videos and music.

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Sources

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/China-tech/Video-app-Kuaishou-offers-window-into-China-s-rural-life

https://pandaily.com/kuaishou-struggles-to-go-global-in-a-world-obsessed-with-tiktok/

Tours and in-person live music events stopped by coronavirus this year have caused a lot of bigger artists such as Alicia Keys and Lady Gaga to cancel album release plans. This means that the power is now in the hands of smaller or independent artists who rely mostly on a digital fanbase of dedicated music streamers to gain a foothold now so that life post-coronavirus will be all the sweeter.

Streaming numbers are on the rise in China

Although there was a dip in streaming numbers in March in the United States, music streaming has been steadily on the rise in China with revenue going up by 17% since last year. With the live music sector shutting down for the foreseeable future in most areas of the world, working on your digital presence could put you in a good position to monetise your music during these exceptional circumstances and beyond. Research has shown that China-based music consumers have a voracious appetite for Western music especially pop, soundtracks and folk music according to Ifpi's 2019 Music Listening report.

New consumer habits are boosting music streaming stats

In pre-corona times, many people streamed music the most during the work commute or visits to the gym. But even though many people have now shifted to working from home, this does not mean that people are streaming less. On the contrary - being stuck inside more often has increased people’s appetite for new music and the sale of smart speaker devices to use around the home, keeping people willing to pay for music streaming subscriptions. The growth in home exercising has also had an impact; fitness bikes such as Peloton are growing in popularity and increasing the demand for access to music - instrumental music in particular. Given that these new habits have pushed the popularity of music streaming rather than reduced it, making your music available on as many platforms as possible could be a worthwhile investment.

Using sync licensing to reach new audiences

Besides making sure your music is available on streaming platforms, sync licensing is another smart way to gain recognition and monetise your art. Your music could be the soundtrack to the latest video games, films, adverts and more. There are many platforms and services to help you land sync licensing deals such as Syncr and Artlist. In China, syncing opportunities can arise from having your music available on a wide range of different music services, where it might be selected to feature in different projects according to demand. Many of the streaming and sync licensing services in China are integrated so rather than submitting music for syncing opportunities, you can be “scouted” when a suitable opportunity becomes available. At musicinfo, we screen all music that is distributed through us and regularly pitch new submissions to sync licensing services.

Why distribute to China?

Distributing to China currently has many advantages - for one, China has an impressive population of over 1.3 billion with a rapidly growing middle class who are heavy consumers of digital music. This demographic shift has had a direct and visible impact on the Chinese music industry; China went from being the 14th largest music market in 2015 to the 7th in 2018. This means digital music consumption is now increasing at a rate 7 times faster than it was 6 years ago. Generating income from streaming and sync licensing opportunities are currently some of the best ways to help you get ahead in preparation for a post-pandemic world. Building your fanbase and digital reach cannot only earn you royalties now but it can sow the seeds for future touring opportunities in new locations for when the live sector reopens.

Now that the listening power of mainland China is overtaking the European market, you only have things to gain from getting your music out there. Musicinfo can offer you quality distribution packages to more than 50 streaming platforms and digital radio stations in Mainland China no matter what your budget. To get started, check out our distribution deals starting from as little as 29€: https://musicinfo.io/music-distribution. If you would like to find out more about sync licensing pitching possibilities with us, please drop us an email at support@musicinfo.io.

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Sources

https://musically.com/2020/09/21/the-future-of-streaming-and-music-marketing-post-covid-19/

https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/news/streaming-music-down-coronavirus-971059/

https://www.statista.com/outlook/209/117/music-streaming/china

https://www.synchtank.com/blog/emerging-sync-looking-into-sync-opportunities-within-chinas-entertainment-industry/

https://www.ifpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Music-Listening-2019-1.pdf

Sharing your music is about building and growing your fanbase. So, your music is already available in the rest of the world and not so many are following or listening to your music, or not as many as you would like. And China has been added to your current distribution service and you think this is enough.

The truth is most distributors distribute to only a few of the mainstream services in China, putting your music under the competition of the top chart artists. You are owed every opportunity to grow your fanbase and get paid for it.

What does China pay per stream, how much will I get from 1 million streams? The big picture: compare China and Spotify, representing the total global digital market. Like Spotify now with 92 world markets and 286 million listeners, China has 100’s of music services yet has over a billion listeners.

When your music is played on Spotify the pay per stream varies greatly from country to country. Your one million Spotify streams will pay you over $8000 from Iceland or it will pay you $800 from Argentina. This is the same in China, the pay per stream varies greatly from service to service and from user to user. Your million streams can get you 10 times or more from one service to another.

Distributing your music is about establishing your fanbase, especially in China. If you don’t have fans you won’t have returning paying listeners.

So, do you want to get paid 10 times per stream or do you want 10 times the listeners? Which scenario gets you more fans and more opportunity for your music to get heard and listened to? You deserve the edge in this growing new market where our artists are gaining traction and finding success with us where they couldn't elsewhere.

Get your music to over 50 music services in China with Musicinfo to give you the advantage over the typical distribution services. Secure your music copyright and collect 100% of your royalties with one of our distribution packages. Musicinfo’s one-stop-shop gives you access to our distribution and promotion services enabling you to engage your audience though Chinese social media channels, video platforms and playlists.

It is often possible for you to distribute to China with Musicinfo and still keep your music distributed to the rest of the world with your current distributor. Giving you the best opportunity to attract more fans. Join Musicinfo’s growing community of artists, get your music to China, establish your fanbase and get paid.

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Xiami Music (also known as “Mi Music”) is China’s fifth biggest music streaming platform owned by one of the top 3 Chinese entertainment corporations, Alibaba. Although not as big as NetEase Cloud Music or Tencent’s QQ Music, the service still boasts a hefty 14.4 million monthly active users and has a range of attractive features on offer from high-resolution audio to virtual party rooms.

Championing high-quality audio

Xiami music caters to true music fans, that is, the kind of people who put a lot of time into curating their music libraries and are always on the lookout for new music. They know their customers spend a lot of time on the app which is why they are the first Chinese music streaming service to offer improved quality MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) audio which - a priority for audiophiles - listeners and musicians alike. Song files that have MQA audio are above CD-level quality while also being small enough to ensure a high-speed streaming experience. Additionally China is said to be the fourth-biggest market for sales of MQA-capable devices which means that a significant proportion of music fans can afford to consider this feature when selecting their streaming service of choice.

Accessing track information at the click of a button

As well as an appreciation for high-fidelity audio, music fans may also be interested in digging a little deeper and finding out exactly what those song lyrics they’re hearing are or just want to know a bit more about the artist/ band and their work. Luckily for Xiami Music subscribers, there’s no need to navigate away from the app to access complete lyrics and background information about the artist, album or song. The app even features a Shazam-like music recognition system powered by Alibaba Cloud so you can identify and add appealing new tracks to your music library as and when you hear them while you’re out and about.

Bridging the gap between independent artists and fans

From the get-go, the service has celebrated DIY artists and music fans, attracting over 50,000 indie artists and hosting over 500 million user-created playlists. Like with many Chinese streaming services, the social aspect of the app is emphasised, giving users the possibility to interact with musicians by commenting on individual tracks and albums as well as with each other. To make monetising your music even easier, Xiami Music implemented a “donate” button on artist pages so listeners can directly support the music-makers they love, a feature which various Western streaming services have failed to address in any form until relatively recently. Social engagement on the app You can easily access the commenting history, listening activity and reviews made by other users (according to their privacy settings) and reach out to like-minded fans by connecting to their profiles on the platform - much like adding friends on other more well-known social media. You can also give other users cues about your personality and music taste by customising your own “lyric poster” i.e. pairing your favourite song-line with an image of your choosing which you can display on your profile as well as share on your other social media profiles. Another way to meet new friends is to join one of the many “digital party rooms” on the app where you can listen to live DJ sets mixed by other users, leave them reviews and vote for song selections as they happen. You can strike up a conversation with other “party-goers” by leaving them comments, explore related hashtags or even perform your own DJ set!

Modern fun with a vintage feel 

Nowadays, sophisticated music recommendation algorithms are a given when it comes to streaming apps but there’s little in the way of channelling the delight of music-listening experiences in days gone by. On Xiami Music, you can set your screen to “retro mode” where you make your device look like a cassette-tape player or record a message for a friend and dedicate a song to them, just like in the days of FM radio.

Grow your own virtual pet

Perhaps one of the most clever features of the app to encourage people to use it more is the possibility to grow your own virtual pet. Xiami means “prawn” in Mandarin - you can feed your prawn by tapping on bubbles that appear around it earned through your activity on the app including the time you spend listening to songs, liking posts and leaving comments. You earn a heart when you grow your prawn and a donation gets sent to a charity of your choice when you accumulate enough hearts as a community.

Find out more about how to get your music to Xiami Music and 50+ other streaming services in Mainland China by checking out our distribution deals here: https://musicinfo.io/music-distribution

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Sources

https://www.xiami.com/ https://uxdesign.cc/a-look-at-chinas-5-music-app-xiami-music-7a99624cf6b4

https://www.mqa.co.uk/news/post/xiami-music-and-mqa https://fm-xiami-main.en.aptoide.com/app

https://musically.com/2019/07/16/chinese-xiami-music-mqa-audio/

https://www.whathifi.com/advice/mqa-audio-what-it-how-can-you-get-it

We have been living the “corona-life” for quite some time now and it seems that things are not going to go back to normal any time soon. In some European countries, live events have been possible with a limited audience and extensive precautions. U.S.-based artists are in a particularly difficult situation where they can’t perform in the U.S. and are not allowed to travel to most European countries [1].

Live events held online are now booming, for example Tomorrowland - Europe’s biggest dance music festival - sold over one million tickets with their online virtual festival featuring Katy Perry, Martin Garrix and David Guetta, among others [2]. Still, for most artists, online is not as good as real life with a real live audience.

Millions of dollars from Chinese streaming services

In China, music streaming services are more popular than ever. Just as an example, Tencent Music's paying subscribers surged by 50.4% in 2020 to 42.7 million and online subscription revenues have seen a staggering 70% in growth to 1.21 billion yuan [3]. Taylor Swift’s new album Folklore made $1.2 Million in just three days from Chinese streaming giant Netease Music [4].

The future of the music business

The good news is that a vaccine is being developed and we are all hoping that next year the live gig sector will be fully operational again and musicians around the world can get back to performing in front of a live audience. Now it’s a great time to focus on building digital reach and your fan base so you are in a better position when the world opens back up again.

Distribute your music to Chinese music services and protect your copyrights by using Musicinfo distribution. Promote and build your fanbase with our promotion services. We will support you in these difficult times by offering a 50% discount with the code SCHOOL50. The offer is valid until 13th of September 2020.

Sources

|1] https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/07/16/arts/europe-is-reopening-american-musicians-are-missing-out/

[2] https://www.dw.com/en/how-music-festivals-are-surviving-coronavirus-cancellations/a-54374343

[3] https://www.afr.com/wealth/personal-finance/tencent-music-strikes-right-note-for-investors-20200708-p55a3m

[4] https://musically.com/2020/07/27/taylor-swift-folklore-made-1-2m-in-three-days-from-one-chinese-dsp/

In 2013, China’s largest news and entertainment company Netease Inc. spawned Netease Music - a free music streaming platform app with on-demand subscription services and opportunities for artists to have their music purchased by fans.

Netease Music is one China’s major contenders when it comes to music streaming platforms and its user base is only continuing to grow. In 2016, it had already claimed 16% of the entire domestic Chinese music streaming market and by the end of 2019, Netease Music managed to attract over 800 million users to their site (swelling from 400 million in 2017), making it one of the top 3 most popular streaming services along with Tencent's QQ Music and Alibaba's Xiami Music. 

Main Features

Netease Music was one of the first streaming platforms to pioneer an algorithm-based recommendation system called “Personal FM” which suggests user-curated playlists featuring your favourite songs. Although music consumers today expect a smart music suggestion feature to be integrated into their streaming platform of choice, this wasn’t the case less than a decade ago so has therefore been crucial in helping Netease Music to achieve considerable success. 

Another feature that makes the app stand out is its detail-oriented design - it boasts a “sleek” user friendly interface, an extensive artist catalogue (including unsigned and lesser-known artists) and the possibility to comment on individual tracks. Users of the app have given feedback saying that reading user-generated comments while listening to tracks has boosted their listening experience. Netease even decided to capitalise on this unique selling point by renting advertising space on subway train windows to paste some of the most amusing comments from the site.

Netease Music and Independent Artists

As an artist, you can create your own certified profile where you can include song lyrics and respond to any comments listeners leave on your tracks. Although Netease Music is an undeniably mainstream platform, it doesn’t only serve mainstream artists - in 2019, the music of more than 100,000 independent artists was played more than 270 billion times. They are also known for championing a wide selection of international artists - over 50% of all music on Netease music is non-Chinese; this sets them apart from many other Chinese streaming platforms and helps international artists establish a connection with their fans. With a little help from our promotion specialists at Musicinfo, you can get your music playlisted, circulating in mainland China and reaching keen new audiences. Take the first steps towards getting your music out there and check out our distribution deals here: https://musicinfo.io/music-distribution

Sources

https://music.163.com/#/song?id=1438269187

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/chinas-netease-cloud-music-with-over-800m-users-gains-rights-to-use-1-3m-warner-chappell-music-songs/

https://www.emubands.com/faqs/netease-music/

https://www.blog.thatsmandarin.com/chinese-spotify-netease-music-guide/

https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/netease-cloud-music#section-overview

https://www.hanyang.news/blog/netease-cloud-music-an-unorthodox-way-to-success

https://www.blog.thatsmandarin.com/chinese-spotify-netease-music-guide/

http://groovedynasty.cn/netease-cloud-music-social-meets-streaming/

Consumers Drive Your Music’s Engagement

China surpasses the West in streaming services. In the West music streaming is a dead end game, once you’ve got your music on the streaming services it is up to you to do your promotion by yourself or you pay someone to do it for you. Your followers follow you and your music gets streamed. Pretty straight forward.

In China the motto is lead don’t follow. The approach is one of lean-in rather than lean-back. This is not about you the artist this is about making the consumers the leaders and how engagement is built into the services themselves.

China is at the Forefront of Consumerism

Lets take a look at the general modern shopping culture of China for a moment to get a better picture of how this music consumption in China works. China is a laboratory of innovation and if you haven’t accepted it yet because of outdated stereotypical hang-ups, better get with the program because this is the future my friends.

Ecommerce is moving at twice the speed of the USA, 500 million Monthly Active Users (MAUs) are buying on mobile phones, this is equal to the USA, Germany and the UK combined, and they are typically online three times longer.

The markets there thrive by providing the consumers with an integrated consuming ecosystem, focused on ultra-convenience and spontaneity. You can do your grocery shopping on your mobile and get a basket of food to your door with live fish in 30 minutes.

Trends are followed closely to fill the demands of the consumer by having micro studios that can tailor small orders of what is hot on the market at the moment at the demands of the consumer. In comparison to traditional retailers who provide seasonal collections with hopes the consumers will follow, like and buy.

These virtual integrated shopping ecosystems are like an amusement park; bright, lots of colors, chaotic, fun and addictive, but most of all: social. You can do your shopping from the chat room, and then after purchases get product tips from celebrities and more shopping links.

Streaming Music is a Social Experience

In the West you get your music to the streaming services, do your promotion, and wait for followers, cool. In China the consumers are the ones driving the promotion car by having the tools to that create these social interactive environments. 

In the West if you like a song you are listening to you can “like” it and then, you can share it on some other SOME. Maybe your friend has a list of songs that you can check out or follow. Umm… what else, oh make a playlist. And that song you like would be so nice to sing if only you could find the lyrics, oh ya, have to look for them somewhere else.

Lyrics are an integral part of the music experience. Until you listen to a song enough times you're probably not going to be able to sing it lyric for lyric without the lyrics, get my lyric? So, the Chinese music streaming services make the listening experience more engaging by providing lyrics for their songs. Imagine shower karaoke with your waterproof mobile, hmm…

The streaming services in China are much like their virtual shopping environments, interactive, social and consumer driven, and often you don’t even need to open another app. You can listen to music and leave comments there for other users to view, and often this can create hundreds and thousands of comments, this is only the beginning.

Banking on Fandom not Consumerism

Western streaming services monetize on consumption, whereas in China they monetize on Fandom. By focusing on fandom a user environment is created that is much more than just listening to music and sharing links. The streaming services host the music, the story, and the fan, include video and social engagement all without having to leave the app.

Think of the streaming services in China as if Spotify and Facebook had babies. The streaming services are extremely social and full of features. Comments galore dominate the followings of songs and artists. This way you the artist and you the listener can have direct contact, imagine that!

In this case a song’s popularity is based on the amount of comments rather than the amount of plays, with songs that can have hundreds of thousands of comments songs with less that 1000 comments is considered not popular.

Like children who come from the same tree don’t grow up to be the same but share the same characteristics so are the streaming services. Each one has its own strengths, features and user preferences but there is a very high social aspect across the platforms.

You can create visuals and share a poster of that song that hits you right in the heart that words cannot express. On top of this there is the possibility to customize your user profile to make it uniquely you. 

Ahh, this song is so awesome the only thing that would make it better is if you could dedicate it. Much like when you call up a radio station and dedicate a song to a special someone, but this way your dedicated song and message would be sent out with a notification to your friend so it would not be missed. 

One possibility is to start or join a Party centered around an artist, band, genre or mood, like an interactive radio station. You, or an other host would be the DJ of a virtual room where fellow partiers would vote, leave comments and review song selections before they get plays or a fellow partiers can even have a chance a being DJ.

Grow your own pet, kinda like the Tamagotchi pet, by listening to songs and participating in all features. Accumulate rewards to get a charity donation. Or if you are particularly fond of an artist you can contribute directly to your favorite artists.

And of course this can all be linked back to your SOME accounts on Weibo and WeChat.

The Future of Music is in your Hands 

China is leading the world in mobile consumerism, this is the future folks. The rest of the world is only starting to realize where we are heading. There will be more lock downs, Covid is not going to be the last one. There will be more virtual events, live streaming performances, listening sessions, and more.

We are nearly 7.8 billion on this little planet. Build an infrastructure for your music by getting your music across platforms globally. For your future don’t wait for it to come to you, get a head start and get your music to China now.

Sources

http://groovedynasty.cn/netease-cloud-music-social-meetsstreaming/

https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/

https://www.midiaresearch.com/blog/the-music-industrys-next-five-growth-drivers

https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_wang_how_china_is_changing_the_future_of_shopping#t-724772 

https://uxdesign.cc/a-look-at-chinas-5-music-app-xiami-music-7a99624cf6b4 

Your 2 Ultimate Guides to Distribute and Promote in China

Introducing Meitu 

Meitu aka Meitu Xiu Xiu or Meitu Pic is an image editing software mostly used in China however it is available on Google Play and App store to western countries. Released in 2013 by the mobile phone and selfie app company Meitu inc, hosts more than 456 million users who post more than 6 billion photos every month. This was back in 2016 so it can be seen that these numbers have grown even more today as it is now the leading photo and video selfie editing app in China.

There is no other selfie app that compares and will be foreseeably the go-to selfie editing app worldwide. Relying on AI to analyze and implement desired edits based on filter themes such as Sparkling water, Oil Painting, Gourmet, Film Movie, Campus and more. It is free for so revenue is generated by in-app purchases, for extra functionalities.

It has a host of other features that will make your dream image come true which can be as lifelike or as fairytale as you like. Including but not limited to: slimming, trending make-up, theme stickers, animated effects are some but nothing like the Hand drawn feature that has created the weird anime style images of Donald trump, Mark Zuckerberg, and Beyoncé.

Adding Music to Video and Sharing

What is most interesting to us at Musicinfo is the video editing features. Not only can you adjust your “beauty” settings in real time, add text, stickers, and themed filters; You can add music! Music is listed in themed categories that users can choose from and add to their video.

With most Chinese music and video streaming and online applications there is the social aspect, an easily accessible community for you to share content and follow people built into the service. You can comment and share content much like any social media without leaving the app. Or in some cases there is a complementing app that will allow you to do so.

Meipai, also from the same creators as Meitu XiuXiu, is a video app where you can create short plays. Meipai has many features that allow you to use and share your video that you created in Meitu. Unfortunately for Western users it is not available outside China but good for Musicinfo artists’ music as this would create copyright conflict if it were. Meipai hosts and tracks the music it utilizes it pays back surprising amounts and has become one of Musicinfo’s top providing services.

Get Your Foot in The Door

It is these opportunities that Musicinfo provides that find the niches for your music to be found and heard. And it is these social communities integrated in the apps and services themselves, not heard of in Western services, that differs from the way content is shared and found. There is a high social aspect that requires artists to be present on SOME and across platforms.

This strategy of covering all your bases across platforms, video, streaming, and SOME are the building blocks of successful artists. This is why Musicinfo is upping its game all the time by providing the latest, video platforms, streaming services, and SOME to help build your own community. The hardest part is getting your foot in the door, Musicinfo makes it happen!

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updated 22.4.2025

China’s most popular audio-sharing platform

When Chinese entrepreneur Yu Xianjun was dreaming up his podcast startup back in 2012, he looked to globally successful e-commerce giants such as Alibaba and Amazon for inspiration when searching for a name. Aiming high, he settled on Ximalaya - Chinese for the great Himalayan mountain range in Asia - which not only reflected the huge impact he wanted to make but also the nature of his enterprise which he envisioned as an “online audio ecosystem.”

What does Ximalaya FM have to offer?

Now indisputably one of China’s biggest audio sharing platform, Ximalaya FM has amassed around 600 million subscribers since its official launch in 2013. It has 73% of the audio market in China, consisting of podcasts, audiobooks, livestreaming, online radio and personal radio stations. The platform encourages aspirational as well as established podcasters and media providers to upload their content and create radio station-style channels that users can follow.

There are in excess of 5 million content creators contributing to the platform and as a user of the site, you have access to content covering an impressive range of musical genres and topics including children’s song, independent music, comedy, hypnosis, movie soundtracks, anime games and so much more. Users also have the possibility of tailoring their listening experience by selecting tags that match their setting or mood such as “before bed,” “afternoon,” “learning,” and “driving.” 

Catering for today’s content consumers

The shift from engaging with content on home computers to portable devices brought with it a growing appetite for podcasts and a more curated listening experience to accompany mundane daily activities like cooking, exercising or the work commute.

The site’s motto “anytime anywhere, listening to anything I like” appropriately highlights the evolution of modern-day listening habits where having commercial radio on in the background is no longer the only option. 

Why should your music be on Ximalaya FM?

The number of active listeners on the site surged from 348 million to 425 million between 2017-2018 and is continuing to grow. As one of the major players in music streaming in China today, Ximalaya FM serve as the ideal catalyst for reaching new audiences whatever genre or style of music you make.

Channels and podcasts aren’t ranked by prestige on the platform so there is more of a chance for lesser-known creators and contributors to build a decent following.

Research has also shown that there is a considerably low user overlap rate with other major Chinese social media platforms such as Tencent Video, Douyin and YouKu meaning that you could tap into a unique audience unreachable on other platforms through Ximalaya FM. 

Ximalaya FM is among one of the many special streaming services in China that Musicinfo can distribute your music to. For more information on our affordable distribution deals, follow this link: https://musicinfo.io/music-distribution

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Sources

https://canvasbusinessmodel.com/blogs/brief-history/ximalaya-fm-brief-history

https://english.ckgsb.edu.cn/story/li-haibo-the-audiophile-who-created-chinas-leading-podcast-platform-ximalaya-fm/

https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/ximalaya#section-overview

https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/3024942/chinas-podcast-king-yu-jianjun-rides-smartphone-wave-build-ximalaya

https://www.ximalaya.com/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-14/chinese-podcast-startup-ximalaya-said-to-seek-3-5-billion-value

https://alarice.com.hk/ximalaya-guide/

 https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202004/09/WS5e8e7d99a310e232631a4e89.html

https://vizologi.com/business-strategy-canvas/ximalaya-fm-business-model-canvas/

Tencent Holding Ltd. is a multinational conglomerate that hosts the world’s largest video game company: Tencent. It also hosts Tencent Music Entertainment (TME), China’s largest music streaming service provider, including: QQ Music, Kuwo, and Kugou, with nearly 700 million users in China.

Tencent’s latest report shows steady growth in TME with a substantial body of users converting into paying users. Paying subscribers are now at 42.7 million and overall revenue growth is up 70% compared to the same time last year.

Consumer changes during lockdown has returned a noticeable increase in the number of people listening to music on TV, smart devices and other media devices. It is continuing to grow in the second quarter and is expected to increase even with people returning to work and having less free time.

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Sources

https://www.teletrader.com/tencent-musics-paying-users-soar-by-50-in-q1/news/details/52123825?ts=1590133954903

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tencent-announces-2020-first-quarter-results-301058417.html

https://cdc-tencent-com-1258344706.image.myqcloud.com/uploads/2020/05/18/13009f73ecab16501df9062e43e47e67.pdf

What is Bilibili?

Bilibili was founded in 2009 by Chinese college student and anime enthusiast Xi Yu in an effort to create an improved, community-centred version of a site he was already using called ACFun (short for Anime, Comic and Fun). Although the site originated as an Anime, Manga and video-game fandom platform, it grew rapidly over the years to include other entertainment categories such as music, movie and lifestyle-related content.

Keep reading for a rundown of its main features and what kind of audience and engagement you can expect as an artist from having your videos on the platform.

Features

Changing its name from mikufans.cn to Bilibili in 2010 and now popularly known as “B site” by its users, the platform has a grassroots feel with user communities taking advantage of the comment-posting functionality which creates a chatroom environment.

What sets the B site apart from Western video hosting sites such as Youtube is that users can post comments directly onto a video in real time for all to see. These comments, which are overlaid on the video playback screen are referred to as “danmaku” - a Japanese word literally meaning “bullet-curtain” which goes some way in describing the simultaneous subtitle commentary. Thankfully, a concise 200-character limit for posted comments is enforced on the site and viewers can disable comments at any time during playback.

When the site first launched, registered users were required to pass a challenging Anime and videogame knowledge exam in order to gain comment-posting privileges. Since Bilibili is no longer just an anime fan-site, such an exam isn’t necessary but there are still some measures in place for moderation of comments and securing against spam-posting and bots. Every registered user must link their account to a verified cell-phone number and be subjected to a user test before they can post any comments to the site.

The site also has a unique membership model - non-members can view some content anonymously but you must be a member to post comments, upload videos or view members-only content. Although membership is free, only users can share invite codes to sign up new members. The codes are generated in accordance with the capability of the site’s admin power to moderate comments and uploaded content.

Reach the younger generation

Bilibili is highly popular among younger people; out of 128 million active users, 78% of these are aged 18-35 so if you think your music has the pazazz that will catch the attention of China’s youth then it can only be a good thing that your music is on there, eh? If your music videos still aren’t available in China, find out how you can get them out there with promotion deals that can expose you to up to 800 million users: https://musicinfo.io/music-promotion

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Sources

https://www.bilibili.com/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-27/china-s-bilibili-serves-teens-anime-with-a-side-of-communism

https://variety.com/2020/biz/asia/sony-buys-stake-in-china-bilibili-1234575663/

https://www.quora.com/Do-you-know-a-Chinese-website-called-Bilibili

Please also see our updated featured service blogs 

A Digital World

Masses of people tapped into their devices like no other country, almost everything is done via smart device. Maybe that is how China has been able to stabilize the spread of covid-19 as the rest of the world struggles to stop the spread.

Nearly everyone in China regardless of the situation is already used to daily life revolving around the stash of services accessed by their devices. These services are what sets the market in China apart from the West.

New consumer behaviours 

Our tools mold our behavior and when you have a tool that consumes a large part of your waking day in work and in play this is where your audience gathers. Already hearing your music coloring their time as they browse stores, edit video, chat with friends or any other activity.

Your listeners don’t need to search for your music. Your music could be creating the ambience in each virtual world. This is how you play your music to the Chinese Market. 

Get Found off the Mainstream 

The music market is now made up largely of what we know as the traditional streaming services that we have become familiar with. We each have our own go to, to get that song that will please our body, mind and soul, at a moment’s feeling.

We each have access to the world’s catalogue of music at the touch of a finger. But we still have to look for it and the music still needs to be found. Like the Lord of the Rings, Precious wants to be found.

Your precious can be found when pushed to as many services as possible and I don’t mean just streaming services: to the general market not just the music market. Any service that colors their virtual or physical world with music and sound.

China is just the place that this works, because of the mass population, mass availability of devices per person, mass usage in daily life per person, and the infrastructure that supports this behavior.

AI and New Products Shaping our Digital Soundscape

Realize there is another factor at play, AI. What does it take for you to get your music found or added to a playlist: Your time. AI allows the possibility of your music to be found and used without the subjectivity of human error or daily schedule constraints. AI lists music to relevant radio channels in Ximalaya FM giving you back time you could be using to make more music,

Devices themselves are a world and opportunity for your music to be heard. Huawei and Xiaomi devices have their own music apps and China’s answer to Alexa is DuerOS with its own avenue to your music. Video and camera platforms like Meitu and B612 allow users to add your music to their videos.

The Future is Now and The Tools to Share

Everyone has seen movies of the future. I thought that we’d all be riding on hoverboards and driving cars in skyways and control the weather by now. Utopian civilizations living in harmony or in utter social sterility, or in anarchy and chaos or the return to nature are all possible outcomes. Covid-19 has brought us all to our knees in ways we have only just begun to notice. And what I have seen is the humility and humanity that people have shared with our virtual neighbors. We have the tools to share.

The future is not what the movies make it out to be. Though China may be rooted in tradition and ancient practices, it is the new generations who are molding the future. In many ways, China is leading the world into the future by developing many of the world’s first: forest city, robot doctor, floating solar power plant, passenger drone, monkey clones, quantum satellite, smart train, virtual railway, and much more.

The services available in China are unlike any you are familiar with. Wechat is like Facebook, or WhatsApp but it is much more than that. Weibo is like Twitter but it is much more than that. Anyone heard of Tiktok now rocking the nation? Guess what? That comes from China too.

Look out for Ximalaya FM, DuerOS, Meitu, B612, Toutiao, Mafengwo, Lizhi FM, Backaudio, Xiaomi and more. We will keep you updated with in-depth profiles of all these services. All of which pay you for your music. Please read about our first feature service, Huawei.

Get your music played in China by sharing your music to the most services possible through Musicinfo. Your gateway to China!

Featured Service Blogs

Huawei

Bilibili

Ximalaya FM

Meitu

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What is Huawei Music?

In 2018, Huawei launched its very own streaming platform Huawei Music; a self-proclaimed “one-stop shop musical experience.” The Huawei music app comes with all Huawei and Honor devices and can also be installed on android devices by other manufacturers.

What can it do?

As well as the functionality to create playlists, listen to radio stations and download music for offline playback like many of its competitors, Huawei music also has some of its own quirks. You can for example, enable “Party Mode” which allows up to 8 phones or devices to sync to each other (via a QR code) and play the same music simultaneously to create a “surround-sound experience.” “Running Music” is another nifty feature that can help users find music that matches their running pace when they begin running. Although the service is not free, it comes with a generous 3-month free trial after which users are required to pay a fair €9.99/ $9.99/ £9.99 for a monthly subscription (which matches Spotify’s standard premium subscription and Apple Music subscription rates).

Is getting music distributed to Huawei Music worthwhile?

Huawei holds the biggest share of the Chinese smartphone market, recorded at 42% by the end of 2019 (with Apple trailing behind in 5th place at around 5% of the market share). Huawei also commendably managed to boost smartphone sales in mainland china by 66% in 2019 and is continuing to grow. Boasting a catalogue of 50 million tracks, the Huawei Music app is currently attracting up to 160 million active monthly users (growing from 100 million in 2018). This should be reason enough to get your music on the platform for the chance for it to be heard by millions of listeners. As of March 2020, Musicinfo now distributes to Huawei Music and over 50 other streaming services available in Mainland China. Check out our distribution deals here: https://musicinfo.io/music-distribution

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Sources

https://consumer.huawei.com/en/mobileservices/music/

https://consumer.huawei.com/uk/support/content/en-gb00754824/

https://huawei-music.en.uptodown.com/android

https://www.engadget.com/2019-10-30-huawei-china-smartphone-sales-growth.html

https://www.canalys.com/newsroom/ChinaSmartphoneQ3Huawei

https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/huawei-internet-services/huawei-music/

https://www.gizchina.com/2020/03/15/huawei-music-streaming-service-arrives-europe/

https://www.imobie.com/support/best-music-downloader-for-huawei.htm

https://musically.com/2020/04/01/huawei-music-claims-160m-monthly-users-as-it-launches-in-europe/

Update 01.04.2020

Midia Research has reported a recent bump in streaming music after a long downward trend. With the unforseen bounce back to normalcy in daily life it can be forcasted that this trend will continue to grow. 

Updated 23.3.2020. The coronavirus has finally slowed down in China but in Europe and the US, viral infections have been on the rise. Countries are closing down their borders, flights are being cancelled, large areas have been quarantined and the global economy is suffering.

China has taken drastic measures for tackling the virus. Road checkpoints with coverall-suited personnel measuring body temperature have been implemented, Adipay has even developed an app to classify infected people as low- or high-risk and large scale quarantines of whole cities have been enforced. Many people in China are still staying at home and working remotely to slow down the spreading of the virus.

 But what does this all mean for the music industry?

While the live sector is going down, streaming is actually going up

Many major live events like Coachella have already been cancelled or rescheduled. South by Southwest announced it will not be arranged this year, artists like The National and Chinese superstars Andy Lau and Jolin Tsai are cancelling their tours. 

This has led to people innovating the delivery of "live experiences" and compensating for their loss. Shanghai Symphony Orchestra cancelled their February and March tours, but the musicians have posted master classes on their WeChat page with informal videos about home practicing as well as playlists to “fight boredom at home”. The videos have got a great response with hundreds and thousands of views. Club goers are participating in raves from the comfort of their own homes by joining streams of DJ-shows organized by Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

The standard quarantine time for anyone infected or with a suspected infection is 2 weeks, and many more are staying at home due to areal quarantines. This means that people are consuming more entertainment at home, including streaming music and music videos. It’s hard to say how long this situation is set to last, even for experts.

Though generally the economy is on a fast downturn, it has been forecasted that entertainment companies offering streaming and gaming services will benefit. Tech stock experts Nasdaq have been encouraging people to invest in stocks of Chinese media company Netease (the owner of Netease music) and are forecasting a steady rise in their value. Chinese media giant Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) published it's Q4 of 2019 paying subscribers number of 39.9 million which is 4.5 million more than in Q3.

50% discount for Artists

We are confident that countries can overcome this epidemic by working together and that artists will be performing in China and globally again in no time. In the meantime, help people in China fight boredom and enrich their lives by distributing your music to over 50 Chinese streaming services and your videos to the top Chinese video platforms with Musicinfo! We want to support artists in this difficult situation by offering you 50% off all services with the discount code SUPPORT50

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Sources:

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/3-dividend-paying-tech-stocks-to-buy-now-to-combat-renewed-coronavirus-fears-2020-02-21

https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2020/03/05/tomorrowland-winter-cancels-coronavirus/

https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2020/03/06/sxsw-2020-canceled-coronavirus/

https://www.newsweek.com/national-bts-green-day-stormzy-coronavirus-covid-19-concert-tour-cancelled-1490103

https://www.hs.fi/ulkomaat/art-2000006432819.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/arts/music/arts-coronavirus.html

There is only a finite amount of melodies in the world

Given that there are only 8 notes that pop melodies are typically created from there are a limited amount of melodies that can exist. This amount can be further expanded when taking into account classical, and Jazz music where there are 12 notes that melodies are built from. But it is still limited.

Rhythms are not taken into account as they are not considered copyrightable. So, we are left with a combination of tones that go up and down and the courts can decide if you are infringing on a melody that you may or may not have heard before.

It is extremely difficult to prove that someone has never heard a melody before. But that doesn’t matter. In the past, courts have ruled against the defendant saying they have subconsciously infringed even though they may have never heard the melody before.

Maybe we have heard everything that could ever be made. Or maybe any melody that is interesting to listen to has already be written. Most pop songs typically use only 3 notes and are 5 notes long, which leaves us with only 243 melodies.

So when you listen to that new hit song you have most likely heard some version of its melody before. From the time that humans have been creating, performing and recording music maybe we have already exhausted all the melodies that could exist.

Musicians fear being sued for subconsciously infringing on copyright

So, today we are left with an era of music makers that fear the possibility that their own creations might accidentally be infringing upon another. What a heavy burden to carry in the face of creation and expression.

This has pushed music makers to be more creative but there are still a limited amount of melodies that can exist. A single octave of 8 notes with a maximum length of 12 notes returns nearly 69 billion variations, or melodies.

Damien Riel and Noah Rubin have copyrighted every possible melody by creating a program that has recorded every possible variation of tones and recorded it to hard disk.

Since they have copyrighted every possible melody, this would mean anyone from this point forward would be infringing on their music copyright. Yet what they have done is amazing, shared it all to the public.

Imagine a world where every melody that could be written has been copyrighted and is in the public domain. The purpose is to get the courts to update and redefine music copyright.

What Damien and Noah have done is brilliant, take out the whole melody variable. Now music makers are free to use any melody and make it their own. Because, it is not just the melody that makes a great song.

We have yet to wait and see what the courts decide. Be free and make music.

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There are now 12 distribution services that offer your music to the growing market of China. Almost all the established distribution institutions you are familiar with and then some. Lets see what they actually offer and why just now.

China is a mix of ancient history and cutting edge technology. The modern culture of the young generations are embracing the trends of the mainstream. But China is built on old tradition so finding their voices independent from the establishment they are identifying with outside influences like never before.

The audiences in China are hungry for outside cultural influence and have the resources to consume. This is the reason that Tunecore, CDbaby, Soundcloud, and the rest have now added China to their roaster of distribution territories. Viable opportunity. But not all opportunity is equal. This is how you find your audience in China.

China's Digital Distribution Music Mainstream - Tencent and Netease Cloud 

If you haven’t heard of Tencent you probably have no idea about the music market in China. Tencent is the Warner, Sony and Universal all in one. And if you are signed to one of these your music is pushed hard mainstream by their promotion engines and is probably getting millions of streams a day already.

Tencent also brings you WeChat, the Facebook of China.

Tencent brings your music to the Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) streaming channels: QQ, Kuwo and Kugou. They are your Spotify, Deezer and Pandora.

Then there is Netease Cloud, which is like your Tidal or what have you.

And now gaining more tracktion is Alibaba’s Xiami, which is like your Amazon Music.

This is your mainstream, and all your favorite distributors like CDbaby and Tunecore and the rest offer you TME, a few less offer you Netease and even fewer offer you Xiami.

But there are many other music and media services that no one talks about or has even heard before. When choosing your distributor look carefully at the amount of services in China they can provide for you.

How does music streaming work in China?

It works the same as it does in the rest of the world. Your music is tracked and its usage is recorded via ISRC and UPC codes. Your music accumulates royalties per play or download and varies greatly depending on the type of the listener and the service provider. Free listeners generate royalties by way of advertisement and premium listeners generate royalties based on subscription fees.

Getting your music to TME, Netease and Alibaba is all fine and good. Any conscientious recording musician will have their music on Spotify, some video on YouTube, a webpage and artist profile on social media just so they can be easily found. This will get your more streams than just sitting twiddling your thumbs.

The same thing goes when establishing your musical presence in China. Get your music on the mainstream channels and get some video and social media presence so people can find you.

Here’s The Rub

You do this like every diligent musician and you're bound to compete with every other musician in the mainstream. Unless you have endless resources to push your self-driven promotion engine you’re going to get left in the dust.

Let’s take a look at the breakdown of your chances to get streams outside China. This was the real life scenario of a day in the life of your song last for year.

Your song would have competed with a Spotify’s 50+ million songs and with Soundcloud’s 200 million songs as well as the other streaming song catalogues.

According to Buzzangle 2019 Year End Report:

Audio on-demand streams set a new record high of 1.1 trillion

The top 1,000 streamed songs took 183 billion streams

Only 897 songs streamed more than 100 million times

Only 31 songs streamed more than 500 million times

So roughly, if your song is not in the top 1000 you are fighting with the other 249.9 million songs to share the remaining 817 billion streams. And if shared evenly would leave your song with just over 3268 streams for the whole year, but we all know that isn’t how it works.

How to Get Over a Million Streams a Day in China

Get your music the most extensive reach to all the audiences of China.

Establish your presence in China with video and social media.

Perform in China

Promotion is a career in itself. The amount of time, resources and financial backing you have to spend in promotion will influence the usage of your music.

Your physical presence in China performing live for your audience will leave a lasting impression on your listeners. But for most musicians these options are not viable. This is what you can do now!

Every channel has its place

You are an established career musician backed by a label connected to one of the majors. Your music is in China via mainstream channels and getting plays from the promotion engines afforded to all the mainstream artists. Great!

Most indies do not have this luxury and must be more vigilant and creative to find their place. And a bit of insider knowledge doesn’t hurt.

What China can offer you as a single country are the massive numbers. The amount of services available to you is not limited to the typically known services. There are tens if not hundreds of music services that your music could be made available to, and this is just one country.

Utilizing AI driven services

As one of the world leaders in AI there are now many music services in China that implement AI. This levels the playing field. An AI system is non-discriminate and can browse the catalogue on search criteria not specifically by name. This brings more value to the music by stripping away the shiny cover allowing unknown artists’ music more opportunity to be streamed.

One of the most lucrative music services for independent artists unknown to most is Ximalaya FM. The biggest audio platform with over 450 million users, uses an AI system that allows listeners to create their own radio stations.

DuerOS, China’s answer to Amazon’s Alexa makes music available to its users. Now on over 400 million devices.

Expand your reach to more than music streaming services

With the rise of short video and vlogging, video editing software is in high demand. New apps keep popping up in the headlines, as well as news apps that promote these headlines. Keep your eyes open for podcast, news, and video apps that can integrate your music in the user experience. Here are just a few to look out for.

Meitu is a video and editing app mostly used in China, now available in Google Play and the Appstore. It is the number one beauty app worldwide.

B612 is another beauty and camera app that brings the selfie to a whole nother level.

Jinri Toutiao aka Toutiao is the leading news app in China created by ByteDance who also created Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. Toutiao uses machine learning to analyze content and user interaction with content. Translated Toutiao means “Headline,” and just last year brought one track “Zoo,” over 16 million streams in just one day!

Mafengwo is a travel app #33 travel app in the world that makes it possible for users to share their experiences.

Lizhi FM one of China’s biggest audio content apps featuring podcasts and audio books.

Backaudio provides intelligent ambient audio to public and private establishments.

Huawei and Xiaomi telephone and smart device producers.

These only a few of the possibilities mentioned here that will help you collect streams. There are many more. So don’t stick to the mainstream and get buried in the millions of other songs.

If there are still 20% of all Spotify songs that have never gotten even one stream that means there are 10 million songs that have never been heard. You can hear them on Forgotify. Don't get forgotten.

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Do forecasts tell the future?

The Zodiac and horoscopes are not science and yet people still live their lives according to a well told story, especially if it is positive. People need myth and story, to share information, to help answer life questions, but mostly to spark imagination, creativity and curiosity.

You don’t need to believe in anything that doesn’t resonate with your own, but it good to have some insight to what our fellow earthlings believe in. Even during presidency Ronald and Nancy Reagan admitted to consulting the horoscope in times of making hard decisions. WTF?

All facts start with the question what if? And remain a theory or hypothesis until proved true and repeatable by many.

What if the forecast can predict the future? Maybe not but we can see from history that there are certain times of the year that can be utilized to our benefit.

It was confirmed that the viral driver for Kiko Blob’s song “Zoo,” getting 16 million plays in one day China, was in fact Children’s day. So if you are children’s music artist get your music to China before June 1^st, and your music just might make the next viral wave.

It could also be that due to it being the year of the pig, a favoured year to be born in believed to bring wealth and success, that lullaby music was one of the most consumed music of last year and still is.

If you like to follow horoscopes here are some forecasts for this is a year of the metal Rat, as you will see the predictions become more and more general.

The Rat under the element metal creates water. This means productivity and activity for the industries in metal including cars, machinery, IT, high tech industry, cosmetics, and health.

Generally people will be determined in achieving their goals, ambitions in work and in pastime. This is a year for establishing and growing.

If you plan on investing in a long-term project such as starting a business, investing money or real estates have high chances of being fulfilled. It must be done though however with careful planning. 

Well anything done with careful planning has a high chance of being successful, but not always and that is the X factor in life that makes it interesting albeit, frustrating when you are struggling to pay bills. 

Let’s take a look at the animal of the hour (year), our friend the rat.

What is a Rat?

What does it mean to be a rat? Historically rats have gotten a bad rap. Typically associated with snitching or informing.

The saying “rat” came about as early as 1812 meaning to “desert one’s party.” Which came from the fact that rats were often seen abandoning a sinking ship or fleeing a burning house. But in that respect any living creature with the ability to escape for their lives would.

Anyone who has kept a rat as a pet knows these animals can be tidy, are friendly, loyal, intelligent, and very endearing. Without rats the world would be in a much worse situation.

Typically known as test subjects for laboratory experiments not all helpful rats have died for humanity. In Tanzania, Mozambique, Angola and Cambodia rats can sniff out landmines without setting them off and can also sniff out tuberculosis helping to quickly diagnose and cure large groups of patients. They have even achieved their own day, April 4, known as World Rat Day.

The Rat is the first sign from the 12 animals cycle of the Chinese Astrology, and for this reason, 2020 is considered a year of new beginnings and renewals.

Welcome The New Year, The Rat and What to Expect

The Chinese New Year is a lunar calendar and is one of the most well-known calendars in the world after the Gregorian calendar our modern day calendar. 

The Julian or Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar which shows the position of the earth on its journey around the sun. It begins in January, has 365 days and 366 days every leap year and has 12, 30 to 31 day, months except February this year is a leap year so we will have 29 days instead of the typical 28 days this February.

A lunar calendar follows the motion of the moon and has 355 or 356 days in a year. Typically it has 12, 29 to 30 day, months. This year is a leap year so it will have 13 months from January 25^th to February 11, 2021.

The Chinese New Year, better known as Spring Festival in China, is the longest public holiday. Typically employees have 7-12 days off and kids get a whole month off school. Yay! 

The 2020 Chinese New Year holiday is from January 24^th  to 30^th but will continue traditionally to the Lantern Festival 2 weeks from New Year’s day from the 25^th of January until the 8^th of February.

The Spring Festival is a Time of Family, Travel, and Tradition.

It is also a time of renewal and rest. So anyone engaging with China should expect a lull in production at this time.

It is the world’s largest annual migration, known as the Spring Festival Travel Rush. The total trips made by boat, plane, train, and automobiles can be up to 3 billion. No wonder nothing gets done if everyone is on the move. 

Preparations for the new year start with a purge of the old. Up to a couple weeks before new year’s eve people will start cleaning and decorating their houses. It is believed that if you sweep on New Year’s Day you will be, “sweeping wealth and good fortune,” out the door.

Many other Asian countries observe the New Year as well such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Singapore. Recently the Chinese New Year has become one of the largest celebrated festivals around the world in Chinatowns of large metropolises like New York, London, Vancouver and Sydney.

After the fireworks the most well-known happening for the New Year is the giving and receiving of red envelopes, usually containing some amount of “lucky”money.

Surprise surprise, the red envelopes or hongbao  are now sent digitally. According to Tencent nearly 768 million are sent with WeChat. Why not, when you can do pretty much everything else on WeChat. 

The legend goes that the monster Sui would appear on New Year’s Eve to get the Children. If a child was in contact with Sui they would get a high fever and become an imbecile. So relatives would give the children red envelopes with lucky money for protection.

We are in the year 4718 according to the Chinese calendar which is based on the legend of the Yellow Emperor in 2698 B.C.E. Even our current year of 2020 C.E is rooted in myth and legend. If we were to count the years from the moment after the big bang, what would it be and what would have come before, only time will tell.

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Protect Your Music Copyrights in China

As a musician, protecting your copyrights should be high on your priorities. It was not long ago, that China was seen as a pirate’s paradise. The things have changed drastically and nowadays when it comes to music, it is so easy and affordable to use streaming services in China that piracy is no longer a major issue.

But, there is always a but… The main concern for you as a musician is that sometimes your fans might share your music to Chinese streaming services like Netease music without you knowing about it. This way it is possible that people listen to your music from Chinese services, but you won’t make a dime! So what should you do to protect your copyright and get the royalties from your music? We have good news for you: It is super easy and affordable!

Copyright protection checklist

1. Check if your music is available in Chinese streaming services from finder.musicinfo.io

2. A) If your music is available in China, you use a reliable distributor, and you get royalties reports, your copyrights should be ok! B) Your music is available in China but you don’t know who have distributed it there. Contact us and we will find out the situation! C) Your music is not available in China or it’s not in all the stores we distribute to. Move to step 3.

3. Distribute your music to all major Chinese streaming services + internet radios by getting a Musicinfo Distribution Subscription! We will distribute your music OR claim your copyrights from the already distributed music, if it has been distributed without your permission.

And that’s it! Your music copyright is now protected in China, and you will collect 100% of the royalties earned! If you want to learn more about copyrights, distribution and promotion in China, contact us through our chat or email. Read our previous blog about music copyrights. And get the latest news by subscribing to our Newsletter!

And, don't forget to check out our Promotion Services!

Sources [1] https://money.cnn.com/2018/01/24/technology/china-streaming-music-video/index.html

Year End Top Genres and Streams

Independent musicians are finding their music are collecting huge streaming numbers in China and often much more than they are getting back home. Sure they are getting their music to the main Chinese music moguls like Tencent and Netease, but thats only the first step.

Many independent musicians are collecting the numbers from independent music providers that most people have never heard of in the Western world. And only a relative few are taking advantage of these gems in the Chinese market that is really accessible to everyone.

The most mind boggling question I get is “What is Musicinfo?” I explain and they say ohh ya… followed by more questions that tell me that the ohh ya… meant, “I don’t have a clue what you just told me.”

Does this tell me that I am really shitty at explaining things or something else? Probably a bit of both. You are a musician and you have heard of CDbaby, Tunecore, Distrokid, no? Well Musicinfo is like that but we only distribute to China.

Only China? All day long?

Yes only China all day long.

But… Musicinfo does more than just distribute digital music to music media and streaming services. We also promote, via Chinese social media, video, and playlists.

For the most part by helping our customers and interested artists understand how it is done and most importantly why it is important. We also promote our artists to on our own social media channels and website.

What do you know of digital music distribution and streaming? I hope it is more than me, that makes my job easier, but more often then not it requires a lot of explanation.

Would you be surprised to know that lullaby/children’s music is huge in China? According to the mainstream reports it doesn’t make the charts, but I have seen in our Chinese audiences that is it the biggest. And I will tell you why.

Earlier this year we experienced the power of what it means to go viral in China, with one song getting over 16 million streams in just one day. More that any mainstream artist to date with Ariana Grande following with almost 15 streams for her single “7 rings.”

Kiko blob, a character making children’s music went viral last June with over 16 million for their song Zoo in just one day, did
I already say that? We have found that this was due to someone picking it up and sharing it for Children’s day on the first of June. Since then the song has accumulated over 42 million streams.

Actually our best performing artist is also a children’s music artist having now accumulating nearly 60 million streams. The album is constantly listened to with a daily streaming average of around 1 million plays.

Combined, that means that Children’s music is the champion with over 100 million streams. Pretty good for a couple of independent artists with very little plays in their own back yards. It could be that the “Year of the pig” being a favored year to be born in, there could have brought more babies, which made lullaby music so popular, but this is just a guess.  

But does that mean that children’s music is the most popular?

This is what happens in the streaming era and also media in general. We are exposed to these extremes and then mold our perception of the world according to this tiny piece of the puzzle.

What are people streaming in China? Well a little bit of everything and a lot of everything.  I have found that most of our artists are getting their music streamed on the smaller channels and not on the mainstream services, such as QQ, Kuwo, Kugou, and Netease. And often they pay much better than the big services.

Truly a service for independent musicians to get their music heard with now over 50 potential services to get your music on.

Our top genres are as follows and have been compiled as umbrella categories for often very unusual subgenres that had been “lost in translation”:

Children’s/Lullaby music: 108,9 mil

Classical: 10,41 mil

Pop: 9,57 mil

Folk/Country: 3,35 mil

Edm: 2,93 mil

Rap/Hiphop: 2,24 mil

Rock/alternative: 2,04 mil

Soul/R&B: 961,000

It must be noted that this is an unofficial report because it does not include streams from Netease or Tencent (QQ, Kuwo or Kugou). The first and 2^nd quarters had been quite slow with a huge jump in streaming numbers starting halfway through the 3^rd quarter. With the exception of children’s/lullaby music, there is quite an even number of artists that represent the numbers of the other genres.

See the Extremes

What we see in the mainstream is the extreme. Also when you get outliers such as a viral song such as Zoo skyrocketing a genre to the top only being represented by one artist, does it really show the true picture.

“It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times!” The famous Charles Dickens quote from The Simpsons, recited by Mr. Burns reading his monkey’s typo. This sentiment reflects the kind of PR that we all see in media especially social media today.

“All PR is good PR,” if painted in the right light. And, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” You see what you want to see. How often do people, “like”, share, or quote something from just seeing the headlines. All too often.

We are all bombarded with extremes, unless there is something utterly tragic or insanely happy it doesn’t make the headlines. This creates two realities of the world condition: the one molded by extreme headlines and the actual truth.

The actual truth is all the stuff that happens in the middle, the day to day stuff the mediocre, that is where the reality lays. And what most people in the world experience every day. This is the actual condition of the world: the middle ground.

What you need is to get is what you pay for, and understand exactly what you are getting and ask yourself into:

What is realistic and what is imaginary?

Do big numbers reflect the majority?

What is success to you?

Moving Forward

The reality of being and an independent is not a duality of whether you are signed or unsigned.

There are many nuances of any one artist’s situation that can allow them the freedom of creativity and rights to their music and still be financially supported by a major player.

What does it mean to you as the year closes? I get this stuck in my head, “So this is Christmas and what have you done,” the first verse in John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s, Happy Xmas (War is Over). Is it that I hear it so often on the radio, (yes I still listen to the radio) or is it the sentiment that echoes in my mind;

As I rush to complete tasks as I enter the new year, thoughs flood my mind; have all my resolutions been resolved and have I covered my to do lists with checkmarks? I have I done all I can to make this a better place for all? Have I gone too far?

China is only one of the emerging markets. I explain it this way: If you take all Facebook members of 2.5 billion as a representative of the amount of people in the world excluding China, who actively use social media and potentially stream music; and then you take WeChat, the biggest social media platform in China with 1.1 billion members, this is literally one third of the world that you are missing out on if you don’t have your music in China.

The choice is yours, don’t just follow the numbers, follow the right numbers and the right information. Don’t expect anything because you think it should be that way, be informed and don't assume anything.

FYI the next Chinese year is the Year of the Rat, see what that means for you! We will get back to you in the New Year.

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Mondo.NYC is a festival and conference integrating music and business into a place of discovery and enlightenment. Set in Brooklyn at the recently revamped Williamsburg boutique hotel centered in the hipster, chill, café and boutique laden neighborhood where you’ll find yourself face to face with captivating street art, looking over the water to the Manhattan skyline.

Wrought iron, brick, thick glass and raw timber encased the event and brought a feel of the elements needed to build and network in any music career. The inviting event held out its interested hand to greet you and create new friends to help you embolden your music career.

The day was filled with presentations and interactive gatherings. Presentations held in the Grand Ballroom covered industry topics like, streaming, copyright, equality, TikTok, top charts, and AI, with a strong representation from RollingStone and RIAA.The Library venue covered, women in music, startups, tech, and a nearly full day with the Guild of Music Supervisors, and the intimate gathering in Suite 503 hosted interactive discussions and participation in mindfulness in music and creating awareness from the inside out.

Musicinfo was brought to Mondo.NYC as part of an elite group from Finland by FTDA, which sounds like something that you could catch in some intimate situation. Well kinda but not really. It is not a virus but an organization that hosts innovative Finnish Technology, Design and Art. An intimate agenda to infect the best of Finland to the world and this year to Mondo.NYC.

FTDA displayed the sounds of Finland embodied in the voices and songs of Irene, Gea and Anni. Each performer inspired by their land and culture, brought to New York their personal journey, expressing the stark northern landscapes of Lapland, the watery birch and barley covered central heart and the bustling cosmopolitan feel of the capital of Helsinki.

Where the winters are caressed by endless bitter starlight nights and the summers are teased by the sun’s futile attempt at catching a glimpse of rest under the fell horizon, Finland has been the happiest in the world for the last 2 years which allows the freedom to explore and nurture new ideas.

These seed ideas grew into real concepts and businesses, and were presented at Mondo.NYC as the, “Hottest New Tech from Finland.”

Musicinfo:Digital music distribution to China.

Eligo.live: Social marketplace for consuming and trading digital memorabilia

Yanca & We Encourage Education: Enabling education and preventing forced marriage using the latest technology.

Spaces of Stillness by GEA:  an immersive music distribution and sound healing innovation, creating multi-sensual healing experiences through audio, video and scent.

Sonic Peace:a mobile artist-driven app similar to Calm and Headspace.

The take away from Mondo.NYC was a healthy bagful of new esteemed contacts and a good sense of the waters in which Musicinfo now lays. It seems that the Chinese music market is seen as a viable, secure place for digital music distribution but is still rather unknown.

From a professional understanding there is no longer any doubt of copyright security but there is still a question of royalties which is a common question of any music market. A general lack of awareness of the opportunity and possibility to enter the Chinese music market, only a few know anything at all about distributing digital music to China. 

Artists are typically so consumed with their music and promotion of their own careers in their own back yard that it is too much of a stretch to add an other plate to their already full tables. This can also be said of agents and managers but being that it is their job to support the careers of their artists, they are somewhat better informed and proactive to engage.

There's a lag time that is needed for people to accept new ideas and concepts. To conceive that distributing your music to China a necessary, viable, revenue-generating priority is something now only for the well-informed strong-willed entrepreneur. This can be remedied when it is understood how simple lucrative it is.

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Stand back Mariah and Ariana, here comes Kiko! Mariah Carey had been the reigning champion up until January this year, 2019, for the song with the most streams in one day, “All I want for Christmas is You,” at 10.8 million. Now taken over by Ariana Grande’s, “7 Rings,” with nearly 15 million streams and still holds this record in mainstream music as of today. But wait what’s this? Here comes along Kiko Blob with the track “Zoo,” getting over 16 million streams in one day this June with a total accumulated plays now over 42 million.

So, who the “F,” is Kiko Blob and why haven’t you heard of them before? Where are they getting all their streams? And how did they get 16 over million streams in just one day.

Well, Kiko is a lovable little yellow blob created by a Swedish children’s music artist. The story goes that Kiko escaped from an emoji factory and is, “now living a free and happy life.” Kiko decided to send their music to China and what a good move it was.

Everyone knows the population in China is massive and if you didn’t it is nearly 1.4 billion people. With nearly a billion internet users and the highest mobile usage in the world with over 800,000,000 already this year. The population of China is highly connected digitally which allows for a massive opportunity for viral exposure.

You can think of the whole of China as one audience and Kiko’s massive explosion couldn’t have happened anywhere else. Children’s day in China on the first of June was the driver for Kiko’s 16 million plus streams in just one day and more than 42 million streams since then. Phenomena like this can only possible accessible when you play outside your own sandbox.

The world without China has, Facebook at 2.45 Monthly Active Users (MAUs). China in comparison with its largest social media platform WeChat at 1.1 billion MAUs, remember this is only one country compared to the rest of the world. And the largest streaming platforms in China operated by Tencent having 800 MAUs.

If you take the monthly active users of the top social media platforms of the world -Facebook- and of China -WeChat- as an estimate of the potential listening audiences, you can easily see the division. Think of the audiences you are missing if you don’t have your music in China!

There is a catch, not all services that distribute to China are equal. The top streaming channels are hosted by Tencent and Netease and are the typical streaming services that the majority of the Western streaming services boast in their China distribution services. But these are not the channels that Kiko Blob got the 42 million plus streams. And it seems a vast majority of our artists are getting their music streamed on services not offered by anyone else. Why sell yourself short? Get your music to potentially all these channels.

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In China, the situation is a bit different. Musicinfo can pitch your new release Chinese Streaming Services for ad banners placement iwhere independent artists’ music can be featured. Every month, Musicinfo selects 5 new releases to be featured on these banners.

 Here are a couple of examples of our artists in these ad banners. Baggio's banner placement has led to a few hundred thousand streams for his new album Made In My Bedroom!

This is our artist Paul Gillings album You Don’t Even Know on Taihe Music Service banners.

Warmland is the duo spirited from Iceland and created by Arnar Guðjónsson and Hrafn Thoroddsen casting their music and story through their innovative psych-pop sound. To achieve a “Unison Love” the title of their debut album is in the hearts of us all.

The vison in their music grew from a desire to create a cinematic experience. Their music paints their story as a, “tech-inspired digital odyssey, in a visually inspired concert experience.”

The infectiousness of Unison Love has found its mark in the audiences of China, just check the comments! With over 120,000 streams for “Unison Love,” and the numbers keep growing. Their growing following and streaming in Spotify mirror their growth in China.

It all starts from the dream to create and share that music that burns in your heart and keeps you up at night. People are out there wanting to hear your music they just don’t know it yet. You have to make it easy as possible for people to find you.

Get your music on the top streaming services. But don’t limit your reach to only those, you have to get your music to as many outlets as possible. You don’t know where your audience will be found or what service will pick up your music.

Get your music on Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Spotify and Youtube and standardize all contact information and links. Make it easy for someone looking for you to see you and hear your music.

The more times someone who looking for you has to click that button, the less likely they will continue to search. This also establishes your internet presence and makes it more likely you will rank higher in internet searches.

Social media and a proper website is also a must. People will search for you on Facebook and Instagram and Google. Also it is easier for you to be found if you have a unique name.

The website should bring your internet presence to a “home base,” your very own expression of you and your music with all the links to your streaming music, videos, social media, performances and anything else. Create something attractive but most of all user friendly.

With the standardization of globalized of music copyright, new markets are opening up making the possibilities for your music to be heard that much greater. Not all services are equal. That music service that picks you up and ultimately brings you visibility and puts you on the map may not be available by your distributor of choice.

Warmland seems a paradox being an opposite of Iceland. I see it as the whole world is our Iceland and the warmland is the one we create in ourselves to share with others. Isn’t that the reason we are all here?

Cinthya Garcia

As children music was a wonderful game. It made you move, dance, sing and caressed you to sleep before dreamy time. Music is deeply personal and the charged emotions it evokes can often only be shared by ones you trust.

Everyone has their own music. Only artists have found the ability to share their songs to the audiences. The brave ones withstand the weather and find their true audience.

Cinthya Garica grew up keeping the games of classical piano close to her heart. Molding the modern sounds of adulthood into her musical creations. Her debut album, “The journey vol. 1,” is a reflection of personal evolution.

Mindfulness and contemplation is where we come back to ourselves. This happens unconsciously in our sleep, necessary to recharge. This also happens in waking in mediation, relaxing and listening to music.

Overstimulated and stressed, the days of today are not slowing down. People look for solace and music is a nearby companion for many. There are few places in the world busier than the streets of China.

With a Spotify following of 393 and over 41 thousand monthly listeners Cinthya’s debut is well received. China is no exception with over 250 thousand streams.

Like with most cases music gets its most hits in a specific period. This creates visibility and then after the following peak, continues to gain streams on a daily basis.

Instrumental ambient music seems to be a desired type of music in China and other markets. It is easily adaptable to other kinds of media. Unless you are a composing musician you would need to use other peoples’ music in your own creations, whether in dance, video, or any other visual or performing arts.

It is often a strategy for music creators to create “revenue generating” music. Many great songwriters and composers wrote soundtracks and background music to support their careers. This could be a career strategy for the capable musicians of today when they know the market they are writing for.

Your journey is unknown, it is an adventure, this makes it scary, and exciting, and Musicinfo makes it worth every moment!

Lonely in The Rain

Lonely in the Rain is one artist in a group of electronic music, lounge, chill wave, indie, pop, minimal, deep house, nu disco known as Electro Posé. Established in 2013 it is the one of the first French audiovisual music channels on Youtube.

All we know is Lonely is a 20 year old producer from France. Making music since 2013, he produces electro-chill full of expression and feeling to tell his story. Playing guitar and piano in addition to producing with DAW and singing, he writes and composes his own tracks as a part of Inside Records, the label for Electro Posé.

Inside Records shared Lonely in the Rain’s, then new, track last December. The catchy pop electronic track Dive In, is expressed as, “a love story song dealing with two soulmates living great moments together.”

Doing well on Spotify, due to the high visibility of Electro Posé’s playlists. With nearly 134,000 streams Dive In is still far behind Lonely’s top track Breathe, with over 3 million streams. This story is upside down when you look to China.

Dive In has now gotten over 850,000 streams on only one paying streaming channel in China. Breathe is starting to catch up, with only a fragment of streams compared. This is only the preliminary unofficial statement as we wait patiently for the full report to come in.

All we need to know is that Lonely in the Rain makes awesome music. The mystery that envelopes Lonely may attribute to his fame with over 233,000 monthly listeners and 990 followers on Spotify.

The Chinese music market is a new playing field. Often tracks get most their hits at the time of release. This is not always the case. Dive In, got most of its hits five months after its release in May and continues up until today. 

Listener comments on Netease, shows that the audiences in China love Lonely in The Rain. Commenting on streaming services brings attention to favorite tracks not possible otherwise.

This is all without payed promotion influenced by countless variables. Visibility is a key driver and can be made obvious with the right promotion. To get your image on streaming web banners bring focused attention to you.

Bringing this opportunity to you, Musicinfo artists can get their new releases highlighted on banners in the streaming services. At least one of our artists get banner promotion every month.

The truth is you get more traction when you are more popular, but this is not the rule. So far most of our successful artists are unseen in their own crowd. Let Musicinfo guide the audiences of China to your music!

Baggio

What is more powerful than music? Love!

What is more memorable than your first love? The drama that envelops your senses in a roller coaster that scars your heart and mind to never want to ever experience again but to forever long for. Not only the love for another person but the love of a special interest that becomes a lifestyle. Remember what had inspired you to make music your life: a song, a sound, a person, a dream?

True to his art, Baggio’s music reflects the influences of rock bands from the 70’s to the 90’s. The pop rock prince from The Netherlands is making his way to the top with style. With a lyrical humor he sings his heart out about the friction found in love and relationships. Accompanied by his Kramer Striker 300ST guitar he has traveled far from his first performance at the age of 7 extending his prowess on the guitar to many other instruments and studio production techniques. Bridging the gap of 80’s rock nostalgia with the modern feel of the young love of today with charisma.

In 2016 Baggio performed an ABBA cover of “Does Your Mother Know” in The Voice with nearly immediate approval of all the judges making him an instant fan favorite. This sparked his drive into the spotlight premiering original compositions on live national TV show Carlo’s TV Café (RTL4/ RTL Europe) gaining the attention of former singer of Van Halen, Mitch Malloy. “Baggio is just so talented and cool…he’s such a rock star!” exclaims Malloy. Their collaboration started soon after, co-writing and producing Baggio’s hit single, “It’s Gettin’ Hot In Here,” with a current Spotify streaming number of: 132 020, and a monthly listener base of 5338 with 3538 followers.

Baggio is unbound and is focusing on spreading his music worldwide. Already establishing his fame in China with Musicinfo with now nearly 480,000 streams for his first full album, “Made in My Bedroom.” It’s interesting the reception of specific songs from the same album. The best performing track “Again,” with nearly 380,000 in China has so far only collected about a small portion of streams in Spotify. This goes to show how you can be savvy in this growing global market and find an adoring new audience in an untapped market such as China.

Again I say nothing is stronger than love and dare I say “Again,” is China’s first love of Baggio. He has left a memorable impression on a new admiring audience that has set his following in motion to indeed cry for more!

Hatomusubi

People love good people. Sometimes music is enough to attract followers, that no extra promotion is needed. Just wonder how far you can go with a little support and a little push.

In its purest form folk music are the stories handed down from generation to generation in song. In essence if you look back far enough our roots grow from the same land wherever on the earth you are born. The intro comes in, the voice of our mothers and fathers and the noises that envelop our sensory soundscape. This is our story.

Folk music as a modern day genre is ambiguous in nature as is most everything nowadays a fusion of styles. But the stories we tell each other are the same, about the ups and downs, full of humour, triumph, sadness, pain, also known as: life. Give me a guitar and a voice and I’ll tell you all about it in a song.

Hatomusubi is a local Japanese Pop and Folk band which formed in the early 2017 in Ibusuki Kagoshima, members include guitarist, 徳留将樹 Masaki Tokudome and Vocalist, 高須千由希 Chiyuki Takasu. They are a playful duo singing about daily life in Japan. Would their songs have ended there without the helping hand of a brave set of ears? It sometimes takes an encouraging voice with a true heart to coax the most timid of hearts to share their individual importance to the world.

Backed by tezrock, a songwriter, arranger and manager based in Hong Kong who discovered Hatomusubi playing on the streets of Japan. His insight into the music industry saw the potential of this Japanese duo and aimed to promote Hatomusubi’s music in Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, and the world with the grand gesture of connecting Japanese and Hong Kong talented musicians together. It seems he has succeeded in just that, at least in China. Through Musicinfo, Hatomusubi has found a massive new audience with now over 1,600,000 streams. This is a far cry from only 15 monthly listeners on Spotify and a perfect example of the power artists have to get their music heard: when you work with good people and search the globe for the audience in your favor. tezrock’s motto could not be more true and something everyone could live by, ”Kind to people, Love to connect. No Hate, No Fucked Up People.”

Glove Compartment

Is it not better that you have a much bigger audience, especially if you are starting out or are unknown worldwide, just to get your music out there heard and listened to. This is an accomplishment in itself. Or is it better to covet your precious music limit your music audience to only those who pay a premium and then maybe one day someone might dig you out from the masses of new artists that are all fighting to get to the front of the line? Send your music to China and get paid!

What is the success of a musician who has their music on streaming sites in China with Musicinfo?

Is it not better that you have a much bigger audience, especially if you are starting out or are unknown worldwide, just to get your music out there heard and listened to. This is an accomplishment in itself. Or is it better to covet your precious music and limit your music audience to only those who pay a premium and then maybe one day someone might dig you out from the masses of new artists that are all fighting to get to the front of the line?

This is the a story of one artist who took the leap to share his music to a brand new untapped audience in a new market place with only the assurance that he got what he paid for: the possibility to distribute his music to China. The dream of becoming known is most often a shot in the dark for the majority of aspiring artists and the chance that presents itself is one not easily taken when shadowed by bias and doubt. This is a story of light and a new beginning for all players with the music as the star here who has found an audience that it has connected with and is bringing worlds closer together. Musicinfo can do this for you too!

The Creator in this story known as Glove Compartment in his own words, “Is the piano laden project from 'The Candle Thieves' keyboard wizard The Glock aka Anthony Shiels. Hailing from the suburbs of Cambridgeshire, Glove Compartment makes pocket symphonies centered around the intricacies of Anthony's piano playing blended with a touch of dry wit and at times brutal lyricism.” His album ‘The Art of Pretending,’ has gained the attention of the Chinese audiences with an accumulated number of streams at over 3.1 million since March this year. The amazing thing about this story is that this is purely organic. This is just a start as this is the unofficial number and expect the number to be bigger once the official report comes in. So… the question that everyone is now asking, “is he gonna get paid?” And this is the best part of all, wait for it, wait for it… Hell ya he is! And then you’re like, “ya but how much is he gonna get paid?” and the easy answer is, “does anyone ever tell you how much they are getting paid?”

The Art of Pretending, “speaks to that nagging voice we all have inside, giving soothe to those who feel like they are the only pretenders in the world.” Is it ironic that the top 3 songs that will be paying Glove Compartment the most from this album are appropriately: No Good Can Come From This, To The Moon, and Secret To Love; Or am I just reading into this situation more that I should? Well, I don’t think so, with a home following on Spotify with 276 monthly listeners and 72 followers anyone would be doubtful of the real possibility of getting paid listeners through any streaming service.

The bottom line, his music is being played and he is getting known! You can worry about securing your music on specific channels so that you will get paid for every single play it receives but who is going to play your music if no one knows who you are! Listen to the music of Glove Compartment and be inspired to share your music: Your journey starts today! This is only the beginning, we will be posting more exciting every week. Please keep tuned and follow us!

Consumers are so saturated with information

OTEC wechat blog Consumers are so saturated with information that it is nearly impossible to filter out the necessary knowledge to make competent decisions. This fact is exceptionally prevalent with musicians and artists in their endeavors to expand into the global market, which is a fundamental requirement for the survival and longevity careers in music. With Musicinfo’s user-friendly technology, experienced personal, and tested method of information delivery, Musicinfo solves the perplexity of the global music market by making an example of and educating the Western consumers, the intricacies of entering and thriving in the lucrative music market in China.

Technology is changing

The reality is that technology is changing the way people interact and connect and is becoming exponentially more complex with each new development. It will change how copyright will be regulated and controlled and needs foresight now to be able to handle the needs of the future. The majority of the world’s population lives in these new markets. As the standards of living rise so will the consumer demand from these territories rise and the business ties that are established now, and must be ready to have solutions to meet the demands of the new consumer.

The practical application of  the technology in the real world

The strengths of musicinfo have been defined in its technological development and in its business method including networking, partnerships, and marketing strategies. All Musicinfo’s processes are currently being implemented and have proven to be an effectively integrated system where by each element supports the development of the others. The practical application of  the technology in the real world allows insight from real time interaction with its target environment to establish proper development protocol in each aspect.

Musicinfo has developed innovative technology and business method to provide independent musicians and record labels digital music distribution, promotion and live performance arrangement services to mainland China. Musicinfo’s highly scalable technologies and processes allow its utilization in many new countries and services with the plan to expand and pioneer in new markets such as Africa and India.

By using Musicinfo’s in-house developed digital distribution platform, musicians can upload all copyright information and files in the most economic and efficient way, to publish their audio and video to the major Chinese streaming services. Not only can artists make their music available to this new massive audience calculated at 800 million Internet music users in 2018 and keep 100% royalty, but they can also boost their presence, and interactively influence audiences by using Musicinfo's promotion and live performance services

Han presents the design of Musicinfo to the OTEC audience in Beijing

Musicians can establish their presence in China

Musicinfo has developed a system and strategy that makes it possible for music professionals establish their musical presence in China. This is implemented by first protecting and distributing their copyrighted music through Musicinfo’s digital distribution platform. Afterwards, the musicians’ image and music is then amplified by utilizing Musicinfo's network and promoting though influential, digital media, radio, news, and social media, with: images, video and localized content.

With Musicinfo’s experience and a profound knowledge of the Chinese music market, musicians and record labels are given current information about the market and advice on music market strategy in the process of providing secure copyright services. Musicinfo aims to get musicians heard by Chinese audiences and believes everyone has the right to be 100% connected to their music and get 100% of the royalties.

The music market in China is in the top 7 music markets of the world as one of the biggest and fastest growing markets, and is new to the majority of Western independent artists. The lack of popular Western social media and streaming services in China make it a sought after market for independent musicians and music professionals to break into and pioneer.

In order to help all artists, music copyright holders and all interested parties to easily check if their music is digitally available in China, Musicinfo has developed a free tool, the Musicinfo China Search. With only an artist name and/or track name, users can check to see if their music is available on China’s biggest streaming services. Many artists can be unaware that their music is available in China due to various reasons. This can mean that potential royalties belonging to the artist are left uncollected. Once the artist knows the situation with their music, Musicinfo can assist in gathering more information about their music distribution and copyrights in China.

About CEO Kari Halttunen

Kari Halttunen, the serial entrepreneur, is CEO and Co-founder of Musicinfo. He holds a masters of science in engineering of information technology. He has more than 25 years experiences in business development and management, for example, his program is very competitive in the aspect of messaging delivery and value-added services in terms of Ubicom -solutions, mobility, ICT technology and start-up businesses, to IT systems, platforms, software, embedded devices and communications.

Please visit our up-to-date Get Started Guide Here

And our Promotion Guide Here

Though the big prizes were handed to Wandelbots, Ainostics and Qury, Musicinfo did not leave empty handed. Wandelbots, which makes it possible to program industrial robots easily without writing a single line of code, won the 130,000€ investment prize; Ainostics is specialized in AI based image processing technology which helps to diagnose dementia more easily; and Qury has developed a new AI based search engine system which allows to access all the content from apps without having to install the app to the user’s phone. 

The prize awarded to Musicinfo includes access to an accelerated company registration and work permit processing in Beijing, with a possible $15,000 to $45,000 grant, a one year free work space, media investment services, business start-up trips to different cities in China, and business coaching programs, to name a few perks. After the competition, Musicinfo negotiated funding with several investors and new music services with several local players. 

After the event, and true to our nature, we headed down to the Dusk Dawn Club, aka DDC a Beijing hutong live music venue to soakin the culture and listen to the cool progressive band called Swarrm. We also met Temple bar's owner who was eager to invite Western musicians to perform in the club!

If you want the possibility to play in Temple and thousands of other music clubs in Beijing, start your journey by distributing and promoting your music in China via Musicinfo! Join the Musicinfo Community!

Building a professional music career is a long journey that takes a lot of dedication, consistency and hard work. In the early days of their careers many musicians believe that all they need to do to become successful is to focus solely on making music. While this is important, being able to promote the songs you have created is also critical. The good news is that now there are many online tools that promise to help you make that next step. The important thing is to never stop growing both as a musician and as a brand constantly reaching new heights.

We recently came across Drooble - a social network for musicians, where artists monetize their music skills, purchase useful services and receive genuine feedback for their songs. This is our short list of four tools we consider worth checking out if you want to boost your music career:

1. Get your music boosted to thousands of new listeners on Youtube

Video is taking over the world! If you don’t have video for your songs - go make one now! It might be an acoustic version of your song in the studio or live from your last concert or a dedicated clip, but whatever you choose make sure you put it out there. Video is and will continue to be the way people consume information and music. Make sure you don’t miss this opportunity out!

Harness the power of online advertising on Youtube to drive music lovers to your songs and get more subscribers, plays, comments and likes. Advertising your video on the most popular site for on-demand music streaming will empower you to expand your fan base and reach new audiences as well as Increase your youtube channel subscribers.

2. Make a strong first impression with industry professionals

Electronic Press Kit is the best way to create a powerful impression with venu?s, labels, promoters, journalists and other industry representatives. It’s ? professional music resume containing all your content including discography, photos, videos, bio, upcoming gigs, testimonials, downloadable assets and more.

Drooble’s Professional EPK turns your artistry into a masterpiece! Get your content presented in a cutting edge design web page that is easy to create and effortless to edit. Maintaining an up to date EPK is a prerequisite for getting more opportunities for gigs, endorsements and PR publications.

3. Get honest feedback for your songs from fellow artists

No matter if you’re an established artist or a rising one, sometimes you spend so much time on a song that you stop hearing it properly. That’s when a pair of fresh ears can be really helpful, especially if they belong to a fellow musician. Constructive music feedback is one of the best ways to evaluate what you need to further improve on your finished song or work in progress.

Drooble Song Reviews service provides musicians with written general impressions and recommendations for improvement, along with various emotional and analytical responses for the track they have submitted. Artists can also get deeper insights into key areas like production, songwriting and audience analytics. All organized in a beautiful song report. Such service helps musicians get creative motivation and understand how their music is perceived.

4. Make your music heard on a global online Radio Network

One of the biggest challenges rising musicians face is getting their music heard. It’s a vicious circle in which music media want to play prominent artists, but at the same time upcoming musicians need to be played more in order to become famous and build a loyal fanbase.

The Drooble Radio Network broadcasts songs by rising independent artists to thousands of music lovers online on a group of music related blogs, media and magazines. Listeners can preselect desired genres and create playlists with their favourite songs. The Drooble radio is also live within the platform and allows community members to discover fresh songs from fellow artists.

Growing your career requires time and effort. But if you take the right steps one by one - success will follow. Go build your professional music resume, get your songs reviewed and promote them on Youtube or the Drooble radio Network.

To help you on your journey we are happy to provide you with a special 10% discount on the above services. All you need to do is type this code EQRTJ on the checkout page when you finish your order. The code can be used only once and is valid in the next 90 days, so hurry up. Visit the Drooble Store now!

We are very happy to announce that we have been awarded by FinancesOnline with two prizes for Premium Usability and the Rising Star 2019.

At Musicinfo we strive to provide premium music distribution services to all music professionals and provide opportunities to establish a fan base for their music in China. Attaining the sought after awards of Rising Star and Premium usability reflects the dedication and time that we at Musicinfo have put into our service and customer care.

With the high score of 8 out of 10, Musicinfo’s salient positive attributes are:

• Customers keep 100% of their royalties
• Potential new audience of over 800 million listeners
• One stop shop to buy distribution and promotion and upload music
• Personal customer care
• Close relationship to the Music community
• Opportunity to perform live in China

Promotion is integrated in the Distribution

Musicinfo places your music on the most popular music distributors in China to help you the most extensive audience. Distribution to QianQian Music, Kuwo Music, Kugou Music, and Netease is supported and promoted by 28 other media and radio stations.

In house promotion actions

Social media posts are translated and professionally designed to attract and engage their followers on all their social media platforms in China.

Keep Royalties

Musicinfo does not deduct any sum from the royalties earned from the music streamed.

Comprehensive Reports

Music reports, music upload, social media and video promotion services can be accessed from one platform.

Please visit FinancesOnline to post your own review of Musicinfo. Your community feedback is what makes us valuable!

Become part of the Musicinfo Community!

It is probably common knowledge by now that popular social media sites like Facebook and Instagram are blocked in China, but it may come as a surprise to know that this trend also extends to our most cherished music streaming sites such as Spotify, Youtube and Apple Music.

Luckily, China boasts a tantalising range of its very own social media sites and applications that are possibly even more sophisticated than those that are known and used in most of the rest of the world. WeChat for example, is a multi-purpose application owned by internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd, where you can send messages, write blogs and even make cash transfers. In terms of designated music streaming services, QQ Music, Kuwo Music and NetEase rule the roost, attracting altogether around 813 million users every month.

As an independent artist, the prospect of distributing your music to China is worthwhile, here are some of the top reasons why:

1. Millions of new listeners? Yes please

The number of listeners you reach through your conventional platforms, especially as an independent or unsigned artist without a wealth of PR and resources behind you, is likely to be a mere fraction of your prospective audience in China. Chinese streaming services such as NetEase take a more grassroots approach, relying heavily on user interaction and user-generated content such playlists which could provide you with much needed exposure making it easier for more people to discover your music. Although China (like Russia and Turkey) has historically been notorious for piracy and censorship of Western influences, it has stepped up in recent years to become, according to 2018’s global music report, the 10th largest music economy in the world, equal to an impressive 1,271 million US dollars in 2019.

2. Streaming is where it’s at

The seismic shift from music ownership (remember ipods anyone?) to subscriptions to music streaming services over the past decade is on par with the momentous impact of smartphones and Netflix and has changed our cultural landscape irrevocably. Globally, streaming accounts for 38% of recorded music revenues (the largest share); China is no exception, with tens of millions of users engaging with streaming services pushing its streaming revenues up by a commendable 26.5% in 2018.

3. Social media in China is next level

Social media sites such as Instagram have gone some way in dissolving the barrier between music, artists and fans. China has taken this a step further through boosting interaction opportunities among music communities by integrating these kinds of functions into their music streaming platforms such as Xiami music, where as a listener, you can enter a “virtual party room” to share your current jam(s) and start conversations with likeminded people. China’s answer to Twitter is Weibo, 392 million users flock to the site monthly to microblog and post videos and pictures, making it an ideal platform to share music related news and media.

Musicinfo artist Baggio's social media promotion in China

4. Western music is loved

The Chinese market’s appetite for new music is inexhaustible, they are digging into more genres than ever before thanks to the ubiquitous presence of social media, from Electronic Dance Music and Hip-hop to Country and beyond. According to Billy Koh, founder of Chinese-based music company Amusic Rights Management, “in China, if you have a really good song with a strong hook, fans don’t care about the genre,” so chances are that if you’re able to produce a catchy tune, you’ll likely gain a lot by tapping into the Chinese music market. 

5. Now is the time

If you’ve read this far, you can see that getting your music to China is a smart move. It is now easier and more affordable than ever for independent artists to access digital distribution and promotion deals. At Musicinfo, we can do all the legwork and get your music over to mainland China, you can land yourself a distribution and promotion deal for as little as 29€ each, and get to keep 100% of all your earned royalties. What are you waiting for?

Become part of the Musicinfo Community!

Musicinfo extends its hand to all the singer-songwriters of the world by becoming an official sponsor and partner of the International Singer-Songwriter’s Association -ISSA-. This is the place where singer-songwriters and industry professional come to acknowledge and support each other’s musical endeavors and achievements. ISSA’s prestige is represented by a global international community of caring like-minded professionals sharing their knowledgeable feedback and constant assistance. It has built a network of over 60 approved radio stations ready to share your voice and music. The hard work of all its members are highlighted in an annual awards ceremony that will be held this year on the 3rd of August.

Musicinfo advocates the vision of ISSA and supports this movement by giving all the Gold ISSA Awards winners our Gold distribution plan to establish their music in China. It is essential for musicians to look over the fence beyond their own backyard to new venues and avenues to undiscovered audiences in the globalization of the music scene. The norm will get you only so far and needs an extra hand to push your presence outside the box. Most typical Western social media and streaming services such as, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, Spotify, Deezer, are forbidden in China and therefore not getting you and your music to a potential audience of over 800 million listeners. The package includes, 20 releases, which can be an album, an EP, or a single. You will keep 100% of your royalties, get detailed streaming and sales reports, and two hours of professional consultation with industry professionals ready to help you move to the next level.

The benefits of joining ISSA as a valuable platform are: networking with other industry professionals and constant support from the ISSA community, just to name a few. It’s not just bragging rights of being an affiliate or member of a great supportive and informative organization full of industry peers, it’s also the opportunity to stay informed about inner workings and association news and information with regard to our group and the music industry as a whole.

Musicinfo is your way into the Chinese market, and is now an official and exclusive ISSA partner, providing ISSA members a way to get your music into China. We are very excited about this opportunity for you, and for ISSA in being able to give all our members the opportunities that they need and deserve in getting their music heard on a global level. Even if you don't win a gold award this year at the show, ISSA members will receive a tailored distribution plan when they join the Musicinfo community.

“I am very excited in continuing our international expansion to be partnering with Musicinfo, to offer our members opportunities to establish their presence in one of the fastest growing music market, China. With this partnership, ISSA members now have the ability to reach over 800 million new listeners and distribute their music to main digital music services in China,” said Tamanie Dove, Founder of the International Singer-Songwriters’ Association.

“We are proud to announce our partnership with ISSA, and be recognized as an essential advocate by providing access to the Chinese music market. Our visons are in line to propel our artists’ careers to a global level while establishing a strong community from which we can grow,” said Kari Hattunen, Founder and CEO of Musicinfo.

Become part of the Musicinfo Community!

Tunetrax & Musicinfo Announce Partnership in China Tunetrax is a one-stop music platform where musicians build successful careers. Tunetrax lets artists upload and share their songs, videos, photos, blogs, newsletters and upcoming shows, all shareable instantly onto all major social media networks. Tunetrax Music Discovery platform provides powerful tools to musicians to promote their music, connect with booking agents and venues, and engage directly with fans, via one simple dashboard.

Everyone is welcome to visit an sign up to Tunetrax for free and are encouraged to do so. The convenience and power Tunetrax will bring in managing your musical careers will propel your presence and opportunity to get you and your music heard. Time is the most valuable commodity and everyday gets in shorter supply, make your time more valuable by enhancing the tools you use. Tunetrax brings you this solution, and though the power is in your hands, provides a team of seasoned music professionals to provide guidance.

Tunetrax is a community where you can build your presence and EPK where your fans and interested parties. It is still surprising how difficult it is sometimes for us at Musicinfo to find information about our customers and artists and this is what we do, well part of what we do. So, you gotta think how difficult it could be for other people not so internet savvy to try and find information they are looking for. We recognize this is more common than it should be for our indie artists to be difficult to find and that this is rather a matter of time. Almost anything can be accomplished if you are given enough time. The problem is that no one has that much time any more.

This can be solved by establishing your presence in an easily found EPK. A place where all your important media, music, artwork, bio, video and literature can be found in one place. Not only that but a place that you can engage with your fans and organize your performances. All of Musicinfo customers will get one-on-one consultation with at their Pro or Premium membership with Tunetrax.

“Continuing our international expansion, we are thrilled to be partnering with Musicinfo, to offer our artists unique opportunities to enter one of the fastest growing music market, China. With this partnership, Tunetrax artists have now the ability to reach over 800 million new listeners and distribute their music to main digital music services in China,” said Rémi Jourdan, Founder and CEO of Tunetrax.

“Today, we are proud to announce our partnership with Tunetrax, one of the fastest growing digital music platform for independent artists. Teaming-up with Tunetrax will strongly benefit our artists community in China and elsewhere around the world, helping independent artists to propel their international careers forward”. I am eager to welcome and promote Tunetrax’s artists into the Chinese market,” said Kari Hattunen, Founder and CEO of Musicinfo.

1/If you are a Musicinfo client and NOT yet a Tunetrax Artist, please register to the site https://gettunetrax.com, and enter the following referral code “MUSICINFO” during your registration at Tunetrax. When completed, their team will review your artist profile and be in contact with you.

2/ If you ARE already a registered Tunetrax artist,  Please send Tunetrax an email request to contact@tunetrax.com with “China” in your email subject line and the link to your Tunetrax Artist Profile. Our team will review your request and be in contact with you.

Musicinfo has now partnered with Syncr, a company providing independent artists the possibility to get their music featured in major TV series, movies, radio shows, and more. Musicinfo’s customers will get 50% discount from first month of Syncr premium service.

A real-life case of independent artist getting synced in China

We interviewed our partner, the record label Solina Records, about their sync deals with TV, advertisement and fashion industry, and about a case concerning their artist Villa Nah. Villa Nah’s track Love Chance has recently been featured on H&M advertisement in China and 10 other countries including, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam and Canada. Tom Riski from Solina told us that Villa Nah got featured after having sent promotional mails to various companies. As persitence would have it a company from London liked the track so much they decided to start the negotiation with Solina to get the music featured on H&M commercials.

This case makes an example of the possibility for independent artists to get exposure through large scale commercial media. You just have to make great music and get it heard by people who are looking for great music. Our partner Syncr music has many good points about why independent artists can even have the edge over signed artists.

Here is what Syncr has to say about their services:

For small artists the music industry can be a scary place where everything seems to be working against you. But with Syncr that reality is flipped on its head, as small independent and unsigned artists can sometimes fare better than the big stars.

You’re new and exciting!

Brands and studios are always looking to pioneer the next big thing. Often a music supervisor will be asked, to their delight, to present new acts through the projects they’re working on, not only benefiting the artists, but also making a better TV or movies in the process. With the importance of radio singles declining, artists like Rag’n’Bone Man and Barns Courtney owe their rise in success to good sync deals.

You’ll be heard on a level playing field

By submitting to Syncr means that no matter how many Facebook likes you’ve got, how many world tours under your belt or albums you’ve sold, your music will be heard for what it is. So if it fits the brief, you’ve got it. 

You can react quicker

Often, the bigger the artist gets, the less control they have over their own work. You, as a Syncr user, have complete control to submit to briefs with quick turnarounds. With a few clicks, you can submit you music and it’s done. No 23 songwriters to talk to, no business people getting in the way, no meetings about an artist’s brand strategy, just you or your band submitting to be a part of something incredibly exciting.

You’re more likely to get picked

For films with smaller budgets that can’t afford songs that we’ve all heard too many times before, the smaller artist has more to offer. You’ll be a fresh new sound helping to get a production made while gaining fans and money in the process. Not only will you gain the royalties you deserve, but they will often pay an extra bit of cash based on our guidelines to the winning submission.

You have more to gain

Sync deals affect everybody in the industry, whether they’re reviving classics, playing what’s popular now or breaking new artists. But with the up and coming artist, they aren’t only more likely to get picked, but they’ll gain a larger audience comparatively. The world of sync is your proverbial oyster.

Check out Syncr briefs now and get started at syncrmusic.com

VOTRE MUSIQUE EST-ELLE EN CHINE? DÉCOUVREZ MAINTENANT!

Musicinfo’s China Search

[Jyväskylä, Finlande, 2 avril 2019] La recherche du droit d'auteur de votre musique en Chine est gratuite et accessible à tous sur ''China search'' sur la page d'accueil de Musicinfo. Si vous avez déjà essayé de trouver votre musique protégée par le droit d'auteur en provenance de Chine, vous avez probablement constaté que le site n'était pas accessible ou en chinois. Cette application Web recueillera des données sur les deux plus grands services de streaming de musique en Chine, avec les plus grands catalogues de musique, Tencent QQ et Netease. Avec juste un nom d’artiste ou de chanson, la recherche sur la Chine renvoie toutes les pistes et albums associés de ces deux services. Vous pouvez ensuite vérifier si cela correspond à vos propres enregistrements de distribution. Musicinfo a développé l'application China Search pour permettre à quiconque d'accéder facilement à ces catalogues de musique numérique en Chine. C’est également la contribution de Musicinfo qui consiste à lutter contre la musique consommée illégalement et à sensibiliser nos nombreux clients.

Comment ma musique est-elle arrivée en Chine?

Si votre musique se trouve sur l'un de ces services, cela signifie probablement que vous avez sciemment distribué votre musique en Chine. Cela peut également signifier que votre musique n’est pas disponible pour la consommation sur ces services, c’est-à-dire qu’elle ne contient aucun fichier audio, mais ailleurs. Musicinfo ne conserve aucune trace de votre musique ou ne sait pas pourquoi votre musique peut se trouver en Chine, à moins que vous ne l'ayez distribuée avec Musicinfo. Le détenteur du droit d'auteur a la responsabilité de distribuer et de percevoir légalement les redevances ou de poursuivre l'enlèvement de sa musique.

Si vous avez déjà distribué votre musique et n’étiez pas au courant à 100% des conditions et des services de votre fournisseur, vous avez peut-être distribué votre musique sans le savoir en Chine. Par conséquent, si vous avez déjà changé de distributeur ou n’avez pas suivi les mises à jour de votre distributeur actuel, des copies non réclamées de votre musique peuvent circuler. Vous pouvez prétendre à ces copies illégales en distribuant votre musique avec Musicinfo.

Le piratage est également une possibilité mais est rare, selon la fédération internationale de l'industrie phonographique (ifpi), 96% des consommateurs de musique en Chine écoutent la musique de manière légale, contre 62% dans le monde. C'est la preuve que la sécurité du droit d'auteur fonctionne bien en Chine.

Un outil puissant pour tous

Développé avec la vision de fournir un outil gratuit précieux disponible pour tout le monde. Les professionnels de la musique n'ont plus besoin d'essayer de traduire et de naviguer sur des sites Web basés en chinois lorsqu'ils utilisent ''China search'' Kari Halttunen, PDG de Musicinfo, a déclaré: «Chez Musicinfo, nous croyons que tout le monde a le droit d'être connecté à 100% à sa musique et de recevoir 100% des redevances. Aujourd'hui, le temps est bien le plus précieux. Laissez Musicinfo travailler pour vous afin de tirer le meilleur parti de votre musique et de votre temps. ” Musicinfo vous aidera à naviguer dans la jungle numérique vers l’énorme marché lucratif de la musique numérique en Chine.

À propos de Musicinfo: Musicinfo est une société de distribution et de promotion de la musique fondée en 2012. Les services de la société sont utilisés par des artistes et des labels de musique de plus de 40 pays. https://musicinfo.io

IS YOUR MUSIC IN CHINA? FIND OUT NOW!

Musicinfo’s China Search

[Jyväskylä, Finland, April 2, 2019] Searching for digital music copyright in China is free and accessible for everyone from the China search on the Musicinfo home page. If the user has ever tried to find their copyrighted music from China they have probably found that the site was not accessible or in Chinese. This web-based app will collect data from the two biggest music streaming services in China with the largest catalogues of digital music, Tencent QQ and Netease. With just an artist or song name the China search will return any tracks and associated albums from these two services. It can then be checked if this matches with the users’ own distribution records. Musicinfo developed the China Search app to make it possible for anybody to access these digital music catalogues in China without fuss. It is also Musicinfo’s contribution to crack down on illegally consumed music and bring awareness of huge new audiences for all their customers.

How has my music gotten to China?

If the users’ music is found on one of these services it most likely means that their music has been knowingly distributed to China. It may also mean there is a record of their music not available for consumption from these services, meaning no audio files, but somewhere else in China. Musicinfo keeps no records of the users’ music or knows why the music may be in China unless it has been distributed with Musicinfo. The copyright holder has the responsibility to either legally distribute and collect royalties or pursue the removal of their music. If music has ever been distributed and the user wasn’t 100% aware of the terms and services of their provider they might have unknowingly distributed their music to China. So if the user has ever changed their distributor or hadn’t followed the updates of their current distributor, there may be unclaimed copies of their music floating around. The user may lay claim to these illegal copies by distributing their music with Musicinfo.

Piratism is also a possibility but is rare, according to The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry ifpi, 96% of music consumers in China listen to music legally, compared globally at 62%. This is evidence that copyright security works well in China.

A powerful tool for everyone.

Developed with the vision of providing a free valuable tool available for everyone. Music professionals no longer need to struggle with trying to translate and navigate Chinese based websites when using China search. Kari Halttunen the CEO of Musicinfo feels that, “At Musicinfo we believe everyone has the right to be 100% connected to their music and get 100% of the royalties. Time is the most valuable commodity today, let Musicinfo work for you to get the best value for your music and your time.” Musicinfo will helps navigate the digital jungle towards China’s enormous lucrative digital music market.

About Musicinfo: Musicinfo is a digital music distribution and promotion company founded in 2012. The services of the company are used by artists and record labels from over 40 countries. https://musicinfo.io

Millions Follow Country Music in China Country music has grown from the time of Jimmie Rodgers in Appalachia to the Tin Pan Alley in New York to the Street of Laredo. A spin on the country music joke, “What happens when you send your music to China?” You get your dog back, you get your truck back, you get your lover back and life is good. You may think life in China is backwards, but when country music ranks fourth according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, a.k.a, ifpi, as the most listened to music you gotta think that the hardships of life ain’t much different in the land of the rising sun. Just look at these playlists: 2.9 million streams, 3.3 million streams and 4.3 million streams. Typically a male dominated cry, now the female vocalists have stolen the show and are melting audiences worldwide.

Country music takes us to our roots. The reflection of the music industry in the USA with country music now falling sixth behind Latin music with a growing audience in China shows us that the world not as small it used to be; And the people of the world might just have as much in common with you as your neighbors. According to the Grizzlyrose, fans of country music are getting younger and more diverse. The world of music is drastically changing, no longer is rock number one being surpassed by total album consumption in the USA by R&B/Hip-hop in 2017 and now also by pop music last year. No longer is the day of “selling out,” a concern for the songwriter.

No longer does the talented poet need to sell their soul to a corporate record company to have a chance at financial security or even fame. The tools we have today make managing your own career in music a possibility. Having an EPK -Electronic Press Kit-, presence on social media, a web page, videos on youtube, and digital music distribution are all essential for successful independent musicians and can be done mostly for free or very little cost. This checklist will help outline your needs.

This is of course, all after the fact that your music has been written, recorded, performed, copyrighted, etc. Your songs are your babies, find a life for them and get them ready for the big world. You hold the reigns of your own future to be successful or become, “dust in the wind.” Failure only grips you by the scruff of your neck when you stop trying. It is your right to make your music heard. Musicinfo wants to help you, visit us and chat with a real live person! We are available from dawn to dusk to dawn  let us be your spotlight to China. If you are unsure if your music is already in China you can look for it using our China Search app found on our homepage. Please signup to our newsletter!

Numbers mean nothing without context. In China the numbers are unusually huge, and for anyone with big eyes that looks good, the trick is to look with sharp eyes. Eye Spy with my little eye something that has: massive potential for my music to get utilized and return a healthy income, this is what music distribution in China proposes. Please use your sharp little eyes to spot the digital music distribution diamond in the rough, not all services that now boast distribution to China are equal.

These are more or less the only music distributon channels that are being utilized by the majority of the Western digital music distribution services who amongst their typical worldwide music distribution plan including Asia, throw in China for good measure; they are, Kanjian, K digital, KK Box, or have an exclusive agreements with Tencent or Netease, which means you can get your music on one or the other. What if there was an other choice, someone who could get you into China through the backdoor and distribute your music to all the top major streaming services and minor radio and sound media providers and you keep 100% of the royalties to boot? Umm… Where do you sign up you ask.

Musicinfo's digital music distribution gets your music to the largest audience in China hands down, buy distributing your music to all the top major monetizing streaming services and having your music organically promoted to a multitude of significant radio, internet radio and various music media providers. No one else can do this for you all in one shot, and start promotion actions by distributing your video and posting on Chinese social media as well as find your music a life on influential playlists. By all means you are welcome to go and do the leg work yourself, and after miles of pounding the digital pavement you may come up with a better strategy to find the best digital music distribution service, but think of all the music you could have been making in the meantime.

Trend is the trendy word. The now, the current, is all that is important. What we need to know now and do now will give you the power to be in the game and pave the way to your success. The trend, the hype is music distribution to China and playlists. What that means is if your music is in China you gotta get it on a playlist. You’re then on the right track to get your music heard and generate royalties. This is a good thing that your music is not sitting around on the sidelines waiting quietly waiting for its turn to be put in the rotation. As a thriving musician you have the choice to influence how and who your music gets listened to, but when it comes down to it the real matter is in how many plays it gets. More is better and better is more. The bigger the audiences, the more plays, the more royalties, that’s the logic. The biggest audiences now and the current trend is China. But first you’ve gotta get your music there.

Take a comparison, Table 1. of the services that are available inside and outside of China. Note that if you have your music on Spotify, Pandora, Deezer or others it is most likely not in China. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube and others are not in China. Take a look at table 2. and  see for yourself the strengths and limitations of the top distribution services for you. It is obvious that the logical choice when distributing your music to China is to utilize the service that specializes in China. Experience the most extensive reach to the audiences in China, outlined in table 3., and make Musicinfo your music distribution and promotion expert.

Table 1.  Numbers Comparison for Digital Music Distribution, Streaming and Social Media (Monthly Active Users, MAUs) 2019

For updated information about current numbers for 2021-2022 please follow this link.

Table 2. Comparison of Music Distribution Services

Note. Table adapted from: Take, Ari’s. (2018, December 19) CD BABY, TUNECORE, DISTROKID, AWAL, DITTO...WHO IS THE BEST DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION COMPANY FOR MUSIC. Retrieved from https://aristake.com

Table 3. The Digital Music Distribution Coverage of Musicinfo

Our team visited several music clubs in Beijing and met dozens of musicians and music professionals. There was a lot of interest in western music and performers. Our employee Jukka plays handful of gigs in Beijing every week and knows everything about the local live music scene. He was our guide on our journey to Beijing's most legendary clubs.

China's streaming and live music market is really booming. Increasing number of people are paying for their streaming and live gigs can be a really good income for musicians performing there. According to Time out Beijing, the growth of the Chinese music scene has been going on for the past 30 years, communicating ideas about rebellion and art, with Beijing being the core of the movement [1]. Beijing is a huge city with over 21 million residents and naturally the opportunities for artists to perform there are nearly endless.

Musicinfo CEO Kari Halttunen and DDC CEO Jincan Zhang hanging around. Jincan encourages foreign musicians to download their music to Chinese streaming services and to play in Beijing.

We visited Gulou hutong venue, DDC, an abbreviation of Dusk Dawn Club, on Thursday night. DDC is known for having a good mix of local Chinese acts, Beijing expat bands and international bands from abroad, which is impressive considering its size. This bar also has a space for art exhibitions, hosting local and often young artists, and is located in a picturesque courtyard for an authentic Beijing feel. The acts playing att DDC where Unit, Hazemaze and Oldy Baby and the tickets cost 50 CNY ($7.5).  Jincan Zhang, the CEO of DDC club, told the ticket prices normally range between 50 to 100 CNY. The prices of the tickets in China are not cheap but the people are willing to pay for live music. This means it’s not just a great experience for Western artists to play in China, it can be a lucrative venture too. You can take a peak to Beijing live music scene also at http://www.livebeijingmusic.com/

Check out Hazemaze perfomance here!

[1] http://www.timeoutbeijing.com/feature/30232/The-ultimate-guide-to-Beijings-music-scene.html

[2] http://www.timeoutbeijing.com/features/Blogs-Music_Blogs/159061/The-best-livehouses-in-Beijing.html

[3] https://www.chinahighlights.com/beijing/article-live-music-venues.htm

If music be the food of love, play on!

Romantic love, this is a recurring theme in songs around the Globe, no matter which culture and language we are talking about. Cathy Keen from the University of Florida analyzed Top10 Billboard songs from two eras, 1968-1971 and 2002-2005 to find out that 60% of the songs in modern era and 50% of the songs in classic era were about love [1]. We could not find a similar study from China, but our sources in the Chinese music business all had a professional guess that about 70%-80% of the pop songs in China are about love. Like in the western countries, also in China Valentine’s day is a big event to celebrate love and affection. Here are some Valentine’s day playlists from QQ music:

Western Valentine’s Day love songs that I want to listen to with her. 2.8M streams.

30 Western male tracks to get your girl on Valentine’s day. 3.55M streams.

Spend your Valentine’s day with Music. 2.47M streams

Also seems that good old love ballads are hitting the spot in China, check out our artist’s, Tian Tian Fei’s music video The Real You on Chinese video sharing platform YinYueTai. Over 3M viewers, not bad.

The music and love theme has also been present in musicology and evolutionary psychology research. It was Darwin who first proposed that music is the language of love, a courtship signal to show superior fitness and intelligence to attract potential mates [2]. Darwin concluded that every other animal producing music including birds, monkeys and whales, do it to show off to the other gender, why would humans be any different? Modern research has been trying to find out if there is any empirical evidence to support this hypothesis. One research showed that a man asking a phone number from previously unknown women, was more successful in his endeavor if he was carrying a guitar case, compared to carrying nothing or carrying a sports bag [3]. It has also been shown that as a man, it is much easier to get Facebook friends representing the opposite gender, when you are holding a guitar in your profile picture [4]. In my own thesis I studied if romantic hints could result to more creative piano playing and found out that at least the hints led the playing to be more “charming” according to the judges listening to the playing [5]. These studies are fun and useful as preliminary studies, but the evidence supporting music as a courtship signal is still far from conclusive. Love, what a mystery…

Besides romantic love, love refers also to different kinds of affects such as compassion and caring about one another. Here at Musicinfo this an important theme for us, we want to take care of our artists and we would not exist without you. So Musicinfo loves you all <3<3<3. If you are still thinking what to purchase for your friend as a valentine’s day gift, maybe consider Musicinfo giftcard. In the words of one of the dopest love lyricists of the 16^th century, called Shakespeare, “If music be the food of love, play on!”.

[1] Keen, C., & Swiatowicz, C. (2007). Love still dominates pop song lyrics, but with raunchier language. University of Florida News, 31.

[2] Darwin, C. (1871). The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex: Vol. 1. London: Murray.

[3] Guéguen, N. (2014). Men’s music ability and attractiveness to women in a real-life courtship context. Psychology of Music, 42(4), 545-549.

[4] Tifferet, S., Gaziel, O., & Baram, Y. (2012). Guitar increases male facebook attractiveness: Preliminary support for the sexual selection theory of music. Letters on Evolutionary Behavioral Science, 3(1), 4-6.

[5] Hämäläinen, S. (2016) Romanttisten vihjeiden vaikutus miesmuusikoiden improvisaatioiden luovuuteen. Masters thesis, The University of Jyväskylä. 14.2.2018 https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/50910.

Once upon a time it was prohibited for commoners to enter the city without permission. It is now one of the most popular attractions for visitors. Tourism and globalization have been welcomed to the Forbidden City. The new generations of China embrace the change of, new vivid flavors and colorful sounds the waves of foreign culture crash over the Great Wall. Brick by brick a bridge of communication is being built, allowing new opportunity and ventures for the wise individual. The modern music culture in China is essentially virgin, relatively untainted by outside culture, unlike the pop cultures of Korea and Japan who have established their modern pop cultures based on foreign influences. C-pop doesn’t exist, well, not in any way if compared to K-pop and J-pop. The pop music of Japan and Korea have been influenced by world music for decades and so is well established in the music that has influenced their particular sound.

Why look east to China to distribute your music? In the world the most used distribution channel according to Forbes May 2018 are:

Youtube 1.5 billion

Netease 400 million (China)

Soundcloud 175 million

Spotify 170 million

iHeartRadio100 million

Pandora 74 million

Gaana 50 million (India)

Apple 50 million

Anghami 33 million (India)

Deezer 14 million

This doesn’t include the other streaming services in China:

QQ Music 700 million

Kugou Music 450 million

QianQian 150 million

Kuwo Music 129 million

(our other providers)

Do I need to say more? If you don’t distribute your music to China you will be missing out on an entire world of listeners and followers. Be part of the big picture and not just a small piece.

How is it that so many tracks that have been distributed to streaming services throughout the world remain untouched at zero plays? Is it even that the musician who uploads their music to these platforms has not even listened or played their own music? What have they done to get visibility for their music? Do they not have any friends or family? This is where it starts, you need to promote your music at home and have those who trust in you and your music to spread the word.

People are out of touch, relying on their gadgets to be connected to other people. Nothing is more real, more visceral or more telling of the person you are networking with than real human contact and interaction. When this is not possible you need to engage with your network more consistently and creatively to create and maintain that connection. This takes effort and time and interaction with your people and with your tools; social media, EPK, distribution platforms, the internet and even the old fashioned telephone, and network with like-minded people and events, always look for new opportunities. You must promote yourself and your music. No longer hide behind the curtain; It is now the curtain call and you are up! People need to see you, need to know how to find you; You must build your fanbase. Learn how to use the tools you need. Here you can learn how to start your own Weibo and WeChat account, if you use Google Chrome it can translate the pages for easier navigation.

Engage in your life as a professional musician. Find your opportunities and make it happen. A friend told me more than once, “you never, never, know if you never, never go!”

The future of classical music has been a much-discussed and heated topic during recent years in the West. Cuttings on state funding for orchestras, an aging audience, ever declining ticket sales…the challenges faced by art music seems myriad. China on the other hand is embracing classical music with great enthusiasm and zeal, having many of the things that the classical music scene in the West desperately lacks: a young audience, state funding, and a growing market which continues to gain strength.

But how did China of all places become to harbor classical music? And what exactly is the present and future of Western art music in China?

Western Art Music in China: A Brief History

The Chinese have traditionally been known to be quite open to other cultures when it comes to music. The first recorded interaction between Western music and China dates back to the year 1601, when Italian Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci brought a harpsichord as a present to the Court of the Ming Dynasty and introduced Western music to the locals. It wasn’t until the Qing Dynasty in the 19th century era, however, that the influence of Western music became more prominent.

The classical music scene in China took off with the New Culture Movement (also known as the Chinese Renaissance) of the 1910s and 1920s when Western ideas were zealously embraced, cementing China’s interest in Western art music. It also started the touring of Chinese musicians to the West who were now bringing back and disseminating their experiences and knowledge about Western music in their native China. Symphony orchestras were formed across the country, and classical music reached wide audiences through concert hall performances and the radio. Then came a setback for the classical music scene with the aftermaths of World War II which lasted until the late 1970's.

In 1973 US President Richard Nixon set out to start cultural exchange between China and the West, which included not only the famous ping-pong match that lent its name to “ping-pong diplomacy,” but also a visit from the Philadelphia Orchestra. This set the path for China’s embrace of Western classical music as we know it today.

Classical Music in China Today: Bright Stars, A Young Audience, and New Orchestras

Since the closed days between World War II and the end of the 1970’s, China has come a long way from repelling Western classical music to being one of its biggest consumers and contributors in the whole world. For example, today China is the largest consumer and maker of pianos, producing 80% of the world’s supply. Pianists like Lang Lang, Li Yundi, and Yuja Wang have risen to the status of global superstars, inspiring Chinese youngsters to take up the piano to become stars like their heroes. The number of children learning to play the piano in China is currently estimated to be around 40 to 60 million. Children are also brought by their parents to see orchestral performances, where they can then pick up the musical instruments and try them out for themselves. In contrast to the West, Chinese audiences that consume classical music are much younger, which ensures the future of the classical music scene in China which looks very bright. New orchestras and conservatories pop up constantly all over the country complete with a state funding. This fast growth is at least partly fueled by competition: if a town gets an orchestra or for example a violin competition, the next town demands equal rights and the state duly provides it. 

Classical music stations, online education, and outdoor classical music festivals are also helping to introduce and promote classical music to the general public. Online access to concerts and inexpensive tickets all help audiences to gain access to the world of classical music: given China’s huge population the tickets to local events sell well, showcasing the advantage China’s enormous market has. For example, the 2018 New Year’s concert by the German orchestra Staatskapelle Dresden got 5 million views on Tencent Video (a major video streaming platform in China) in just two days. Currently audiences in China have better access to classical music than ever: world-class orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra travel regularly to the country for performances. The Shanghai Concert Hall alone has scheduled 320 classical music concerts for 2018.

The Future of Classical Music is China

China is not only importing classical music but exporting it too: take for example the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra which has been touring Europe. The orchestra is adding ancient Chinese instruments like the plucked string instrument zhongruan and the bowed instrument erhu to break the boundaries between Chinese and Western classical music. While Western classical music is developing in China at phenomenal speed, reciprocally contemporary Chinese composers bring fresh aspects to classical music for Western listeners to enjoy. The new rising generation suggests that the future of classical music might indeed be China. Another case in point is the situation with students in Western music institutions. As the demand for higher music education falls in the West because students seek more lucrative occupations; this creates a necessity in Western music institutions to seek Chinese students to keep their businesses going. Germany for example offers free tuition for Chinese students to maintain its Academies for Music, as filling them with domestic students in the current situation is a tall order. This trend might well result in a mutually beneficial cultural exchange between the East and the West.

The booming Chinese classical music scene already has some famous proponents in the West. The chairman of the Vienna Philharmonic, Daniel Froschauer, says there will be “an extremely excellent orchestral landscape in China” due to the ever increasing number of highly-talented musicians coupled with a strong public interest. Froschauer was also taken with the fact that the Chinese audience expresses a keen interest in cultural aspects of classical music and that they understand the music well. Superstar tenor Placido Domingo was impressed with the enthusiasm of Chinese audiences when performing in China and, like many others, predicted a boom in China’s classical music market.

How would you like to be a part of the future of classical music? Join the growing number of classical artists who take their music to the fast-growing Chinese classical music scene with Musicinfo and check out a classical music playlist from China on QQ Music! Incidentally, the playlist has been listened to over 3 million times already - classical music is indeed booming in China.

World music in China

World music is a term is quite often used synonymously with ethno music, folk music and international music. fROOTS magazine famously described world music as “local music from out there.” The term world music was first used in the beginning of 1960´s in the academic world meaning: music other than Western music. This caused a movement of academics to diversify music education and research in the West.

In 1980´s world music began to rise rapidly as a new genre of popular music following the Beatles-Ravi Shankar collaboration in the 60s. This caused many Western iconic musicians to make collaborations with musicians from other cultures, such as Paul Simon and  South African musicians in the album Graceland. Globalization has made the extent of numerous far reaching cultures available to the sounds of World Music readily accessible.

World Music exists in China and the description of its qualities are similar to ones in Western countries. Numerous popular world music playlists with hundreds of thousands of listeners is evidence that there is a market in China for this culturally inclusive genre of music. Here are a few of examples from QQ music:

Brazilian Folk: https://y.qq.com/n/yqq/playlist/2086428574.html

Finnish Folk: https://y.qq.com/n/yqq/playlist/2391439631.html

African World Music: https://music.163.com/ - /playlist?id=809239670

Musicinfo ambassadors Teemu Uimonen (left) and Santeri Hämäläinen, ready to get down to business

WOMEX 2018

The resonant voices of world music was evident in the World Music Expo (aka. WOMEX) in Las Palmas, Gran Canary. Thousands of artists, record labels, agents, managers and other music professionals gathered on the island known by the Canarii as “The Land of the Brave” located in the Atlantic Ocean just off the coastline of Africa.

The daytime was filled with conversation with artists and music industry people at Infecar conference center. Many musicians and companies had little knowledge about the music market in China. It was a surprise for most that western music streaming services and social media channels are forbidden in China. Many artists dreamed of traveling and performing in China, and some who longed to return told us interesting stories about their musical journeys through China. We learned that workshops for the cajón, a traditionally Peruvian box shaped percussion instrument, are really popular in China. One Colombian company was actually creating a cajón interactive education for the Chinese. Scandinavian folk bands had also toured in China, playing traditional instruments like the kantele. 

Frente Cumbiero

The evening program displayed numerous sonorous eclectic concerts by artists from around the world. The impression left on us by the Czech/Turkey/Serbian band, Invisible World, playing ethno inspired jazz music on the Theatre Stage was truly memorable. The outside stage had the warmest atmosphere with the conference visitors dancing through the night to the beats of Frente Cumbiero; Who’s music combines analogue drum machines and synths to classic samples from director Mario Galeanos vinyl collection, complemented with euphonium, saxophone and percussion. The somehow ominous music combined with grotesque cartoony animations, reminded us of Netflix series Narcos. The atmospheric open air concerts definitely highlighted the expansive cultural feeling present at Womex. The variety of people, culture and music all moving to that same world beat cried this collective experience through wild dance, voice and sound in the warm night of Las Palmas. 

During our trip the words: Oo Las Palmas, Oo Las Palmas, sun luoksesi lämpimään (engl. To get back to your warmth), a Finnish anthem about Las Palmas by Irwin Goodman, played in our minds. Now back in our cold dark Finland, we sure wish we could get back to you, ohh Las Palmas! Next year we will be prepared with winter clothing and flashlights as WOMEX will land in the streets of Tampere Finland.

The days of DJs spinnin’ on vinyl have come a long way. With the evolution of technology ever changing the sound palat of our electronic music, the possibilities to create and share collaborations in sound and innovative methods are bound only by our imagination. There is no final frontier, no final fantasy, it is always a new beginning and the adventure ever moves forward. Our destination is the Amsterdam Dance Event, (ADE) in Holland at the House of China where the focus is on Electronic Dance Music (EDM) in China.

ADE brings sound artists and innovators from around the world to the cultural melting pot of Amsterdam considered by many the centre of EDM. No wonder China has now made its presence there felt for the second year in a row. China is becoming an important force in the EDM scene worldwide exporting its EDM festivals abroad; STORM, China’s largest EDM festival shook the crowds of Australia last year and the rest of the world dropped its biggest festivals ULTRA and CREAMFIELDS to the stomping grounds of China. Now one of the top 5 genres in China, EDM is slowly seeping from the underground to the mainstream. Little wonder Sony launched an EDM label earlier this year in partnership with Tencent Music.

Despite its fast growth, electronic music is still a relatively young genre in China having emerged during the 1980s, after the country’s political opening-up in 1978. Foreign exchange students were the first to organize and attend dance music parties concentrated around Western bars in Beijing. As the local youth became more and more interested in dance music, the electronic dance scene began to grow with the first nightclubs opening in the 1990s. Since then the club scene took off quickly. Nowadays clubs spinning electronic dance music are common in major cities. The increased exposure and availability of EDM in China has drawn out new creative talent from the crowds, producing EDM stars like Chase who is based in both China and Amsterdam.

From the panel discussions at ADE in The House of China this year it was understood that the Chinese audiences are looking for new experiences. The high energy, communal, sensory satiating environment simulated on the dance floors of EDM concerts is just the flavour of awesome they are looking for. EDM is a gateway for Chinese youth to discover and express their inner emotions.

Electronic dance music is probably not the first thing that comes to people’s mind when thinking of China. But China’s dance music scene is growing fast. In fact, it is not only growing fast, but downright booming. The number of electronic music festivals since 2016 has risen from 32 to over 150 this year meaning exponential growth. Even though the majority of the performing artist are Chinese, that doesn’t stop the big names  from making their presence felt like Armin van Buuren spinning at the ISY Festival in Haitang New Years Eve 2018. The craving for more new sounds and foreign flavors are in high demand to fill the ever increasing amount of events allowing upcoming artists to enter the scene. The opportunity for new EDM artists to experience the ravaging crowds of China is knocking on your door. Get started with Musicinfo.io!

The most important issue for musicians regarding the distribution and consumption of their music is securing their copyrights. This means that artists have to be aware in which manner their creations are being circulated. It is therefore the responsibility of the independent individual artist to enlighten themselves in the details the terms of any contract they engage in, so you are fully aware just how your music will be utilized and how the value of your precious, the terms of agreement guarantees to return to your pocketses will be calculated. You must also be proactive and take responsibility to have any infringed creation removed.

Copyright seems like such a distant issue from the act of playing, composing, producing, creating and musicmaking in general. Although it is true that a work is copyrighted as soon as the creation has been realized in physical form, it must be registered and secured to make any claim of infringement. Your creations are your babies, don’t let them out of your sight or let strangers play with them without being fully aware of who’s house they will be going to. Do you need or use an agent or manager; do you trust your creations’ babysitter; institution? With the mass amount of services available they may all seem to offer the same or a version thereof, however when looking at the fine print there might be boogymen hiding. Don’t be too eager to distribute your music without fully understanding the terms of its new caretakers.

Realize the administration of your music in the digital age. The important issues to focus on in the terms of agreement are; the length of the contract, the territory of distribution, exclusivity, royalties, expenses, hidden costs and promotion possibilities.

The length of the contract will define your ties with a certain service, make sure that you are able to cancel the service if you are not completely satisfied without legal repercussions.

The territory will define the countries in which your music will be distributed, not all services have access to every market, you might be missing out on a huge audience and not even know it.

There is debate about exclusive and non-exclusive services. Services who boast a non-exclusive agreement explain that this is the best way to acquire the highest royalty payout, as well as be free to use any other service. This is misleading on two parts because every service achieves the highest payout possible because it is good business for the service to create more profit for themselves and for their customers, and it is not true that you can use any service at the same time, you can’t use CDbaby and Distrokid at the same time. So their services are exclusive, it is the territories in which a service distributes that will define your possibility to use one service in conjunction with another, there can’t be any overlap.

The calculation of royalties are a very complex process and every service has their own system that is confusing for anyone to try to decipher. What is important is that you know how much of the royalties are held back from your final payout and to get a timely and understandable report of your music’s usage and accumulation of royalties.

Expenses should be fairly straight forward. How much does it cost to use the service, are fees collected from a percentage of your royalties or by a fixed subscription fee? Are there any other fees that might you incur for example; cancelling your subscription.

How is the service you use, going to get your music heard? The promotion of your music is huge and will affect big time how your music will succeed. Radio, playlists, video and social media are all necessary media for you to utilize to get the largest audience possible.

Please read thoroughly the terms of agreement when you engage in a new venture. You have many choices and are not limited to your first search. Find what works best for you and don’t get caught with your pants down!

Once upon a time pirates ran rampant in China, today the pirates have turned into paying customers. The protection of copyrights are good for business. As wealth in China grows companies are more concerned about security as it is the main incentive for investment. This is written in the history of other now wealthy Asian countries such as Japan and Korea.

Business is generated when your customers are not getting free content elsewhere and you provide high quality service. Customers are still enjoying free legal content but like like other streaming services in the West, must sit through ads. With multi-function social media applications such as WeChat with now over one billion monthly active users (MAU’s), it has become very easy to pay for entertainment, music and video subscriptions. Revenues from licensed digital music have increased 200% in 2017 from 2014, mostly collected from music streaming.

As the music-streaming market matures in China, the major players, Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu advocate the ending of piracy by pushing copyright protection. This action by the big players is quite the opposite of the tradition of the individual Western artist fighting to secure their copyrights by suing the infringing party. Although there are and will ever be legislative differences with how each country deems best policy for their citizens, there is other more potent incentive for abolishing copyright infringement: Profit. The music industry or any industry for that matter will not survive if it is not financially lucrative. We can attest to the profitability of distributing Western music to China by the sheer fact that the big three (Sony, Universal and Warner) have now distribution in China; They are not in it to test the waters but reel in the flow of royalties.

If you are an artist with signed to Sony, Universal or Warner you are bound to their servitude. Bonus for the independent music industry and even if your music is on Apple tunes or your other providers who distribute to China, you still have a possibility to use Musicinfo’s services, the most extensive reach to Chinese audiences with 33 providers, please enquire. This is essential to control the illegal music still floating around in China. By securing your copyrights though our official channels only then can we monitor and have the pirated copies of your music removed. And, in the meantime you will collect 100% of the net royalties from your newly acquired adoring audience. True to the nature of Musicinfo we support the EU Copyright directive and closing the value gap and encourage all artists and creators to follow their hearts.

We all have heard about TENCENT a lot, but have you ever thought to dig deeper into what this Tech Giant had been up to in the recent past in the digital music landscape? Created back in 1998 as an instant messaging app Tencent is the owner of China’s leading streaming service, QQ Music. Not only did the tech giant merged with “China Music” to become the biggest player in the Digital music distribution industry back in 2016, it acquired the two most popular streaming platforms KuGou and Kuwo. The current market share of Tencent is estimated to be above 70% with no one even close to giving them any competition.

What’s in it for the artists? Tencent currently has over 600 million active users while their premium members stand at a meager 15 million(though there are over a 100 million paid members for listening to certain albums) making up less than 3% of the active users. Similar music streaming services in other countries have this ratio in the range of 20-30% so there is still a huge potential for growth in the long run. Now with the Chinese music industry getting more transparent with strict anti-privacy laws coming in place, this percentage is bound to rise leading to higher streaming revenues for the artists. This statement is substantiated by the fact that in 2017 China saw music revenue increase by a mammoth 35.3% with a 26.5% growth in streaming revenues.

One might get the false impression that Tencent is a local turf bully with stakes only in the Chinese market. On the contrary, Tencent & Spotify recently announced a share swap last December leading to Tencent holding 7.5% stakes in Spotify making it one of the biggest stakeholders in the streaming service giant. At the same time, it doesn’t mean that if your music is being distributed on Spotify it will automatically be distributed on services like QQ Music, KuGou & Kuwo. It is very likely that your current music distributor, if you have one, is not able to get your music distributed on these streaming services and many others operating within China. If you are interested in getting your music distributed on these services and generate streaming revenue from it, Musicinfo can help you out. Through us you can get your music distributed in China to 22 different music streaming services including QQ music, KuGou, Kuwo and NetEase. Try us and get your music distributed in China today.

Why oh why do we musicians do the things we do? Because we love it! People need music, this is an evolutionary fact. We were born to run and make music; this is how we have become the dominant species on the planet. We can communicate, form bonds and work together no matter how far the distance, or turn and run from danger. We share a universal language that runs to the core of our being: Music, and we love it! We love it so much we can just sit and enjoy our music for hours, days, for forever. Who is then going to hear the music you make? You gotta run! This is the danger that falls on many musicians. You gotta get out of that old funk and find your new funk.

Boogying around the world is made easy today, too easy. There is too much information, too many choices, and too many places to check out. How to best find your audience? It’s like fishing, you need the right bait, the right waters, the right time of day and then they’ll start biting. You’ve got your rod, line, and hook with a fresh juicy worm wriggling on the end just waiting to be chomped down on. But you won’t get the big fish till you find that sweet spot and then you’ll be reelin’ them in. The sweet spot for your music is China until the tides change, because nothing lasts forever. But that’s not going to happen anytime soon.

Finding Your Funk

Musicinfo’s network in China is extensive. This ensures a wide broadcast of your music and your image. The Chinese population are hungry for fresh vibes and culture. Nowhere else is the enjoyment of new music growing more rapidly than in China with 96% of the revenue coming from digital sales. Unlike the UK, with one of the top music markets markets in the world, which generates only 43% revenue from digital sales. What this means is that your music has a much greater possibility to be heard in China than anywhere else. We will provide you with the best service possible to get you to China. Come join the wave!

Breaking ground in China has not been easy until now. Through Musicinfo you can make your presence known. We post your content to the top social media channels in China where, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat are banned.

WeChat is an all in one messaging app developed by Tencent. It is the most popular social media platform in China with over 900 million daily users who spend an average of over 70 minutes a day on it. The majority of the users are career employed consumers who have expendable income and spend a great deal of time to leisure and shopping. Most of the users spend a lot of time reading news and watching funny videos but spend most of their time browsing and posting on Moments where you can interact with your followers. It is a mix of WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and Skype, and also contains millions of third party apps. In WeChat almost everything you need can be found such as games, online shopping, and financial services so you never have to leave the app to find what you are looking for. It is even an electronic wallet.

Sina Weibo often known as just Weibo is a microblogging site that has more than 411 million monthly active users. Weibo literally means “microblogging,” but what is microblogging? Microblogging sites let users post short bits of text, videos or images and are typically posted quite frequently, even more than once a day. Weibo has been compared to Twitter but it is much more than that. Twitter has since vamped up its interface and although it is fairly similar, Weibo’s interface has more extensive media and over 400 emoticons! It also has threaded comments which makes tracking user feedback much easier. This is important when analyzing the tastes and needs of your followers and users can also insert images and video with their comments. There is a “Board of Fame,” where all the hottest trends by category are listed on the same page; No need to spend time searching separate posts. The coolest of all is the idea of “Micro Topics,” where the application identifies and gathers all posts relatedto a specific topic. So your relevant posts about your music can be easily found.

Where Musicinfo posts your music videos

Tencent QQ Video is the leading online video platform in China and has a substantial library of premium videos of TV drama series, children’s programs, documentaries, sports and many more. It has doubled its paying subscribers in just one year and now has over 62 million paid subscribers and 137 million Daily Active users.

Yinyuetai is the largest music video platform. Our customer Tian Tian Fei has now over 3.3 million views! Yinyuetai has teamed up with Billboard and provides them with Chinese music statistics to take Chinese hits mainstream. It does not display ads and keeps only one copy of each video for easy search, unlike Youtube. It allows users to shop for music, lists nominees for the V Chart Awards, hosts crowd funding for artists, and much more. It is also the host of the V Chart Awards and plans to be the authority on music charts. Internet and Social media use over time.

Internet and social media usage has grown in China in comparison to the United States and other developed countries. From 2013 to 2016 there has been a growth of 16% in internet usage and 14% in Social media usage in China, with only a 4% growth in internet usage and an 8% growth in Social media usage in the United States. This means that for a large population in China, the Internet and social media are still relatively new phenomena. Your audience in China are fresh and unsullied by the bombardment of sponsored posts, policy updates and are eager to connect.

Musicinfo provides our customers with the best services possible. We admire and value our artists’ creativity and strive to support your careers as musicians and performers. Never before has it been possible to be connected to so many people from all over the world and no longer do local artists need to be confined to their own neighborhoods, the whole world is your play ground, play and be heard!

When we were at the Frankfurt Musikmesse 2018 in April, we got the chance to talk to many talented and exciting musicians there. One recurring theme in our discussions was that the music business has a somewhat negative connotation in the eyes of many artists. The notion that companies want to cheat musicians out of their money runs deep, making artists cautious to pay for any new services music companies might offer them.

So, you might ask yourself, why would you trust Musicinfo?

First, because here at Musicinfo what you see is what you get: We’re here to offer every artist an equal and unique opportunity to enter the Chinese music market. Yes, that means everyone, not just those with major record label deals and lofty promotion budgets. We truly understand your concerns and thoughts, as many of us working here at Musicinfo are musicians ourselves, sharing that same passion you have for music. But don’t just take our word for it, check out the growing list of our satisfied clients and artists!

Second, our whole business philosophy is about helping you achieve your goals and dreams, and to get the maximum exposure for your music. We know what it means for you to get the royalties you deserve: With us you’ll keep 100% of your streaming royalties coming from China. We know that instead of 1 or 2 streaming channels you’d like to see your music on all major Chinese channels. Well you got it, too: We’ll distribute your music to 33 different channels (and counting), and we'll help to give your music a life on the enormous Chinese market. In case you already have music distributed in China, we can further boost it and get it additional visibility.

And remember that we’re here to talk to you in case you have any questions or want to know more about entering the Chinese music market through our homepage. Use our chat or leave us a ticket in case we missed you! Join our growing artist base and let’s get your music the audience it deserves.

Let’s conquer the Chinese music market together!

4.      Copyright Matters

Once when we talk about music market in China, we first thought about piracy. While things have been changed by the end of 2015, along with the copyright restriction order from the Chinese government. After that, exclusive partnerships between the country’s biggest internet groups and major international record labels surged the copyright competitions in the market, as well as the value of copyright.

Paid online music is expected to rise to RMB 8.35 billion ($1.2 billion) by 2020 with growth rate 30.3%, according to iResearch from China. (Source: http://report.iresearch.cn/report_pdf.aspx?id=3144)

5.      Music + Social, make your music heard easily

The strong social character of Chinese streaming services makes it is really easy for users to access new music and independent music. Streaming services like QQ Music and NetEase Music can be seen as “music social media”, which build communities around a group of music lovers to chat and share their appetites to music.

On Chinese music streaming services, user-generated playlists and comments play main part of the services, for example, on NetEase Music, all the playlists can reach 80% play-rate, and almost every user has grown the habit to comment and read the comments while listening to music, most of the comments and tracks will also then be shared to other social media platforms (e.g., Weibo and Wechat). (Source: http://report.iresearch.cn/report_pdf.aspx?id=3144 http://www.sohu.com/a/204539092_403354 )

6.      Young User Group

Among Chinese online music users, 70.2% of them are under 30 years old, and on Tencent QQ Music, according to Tencent Music Entertainment Group VP Andy Ng, the percentage even reached 80%. The young generation is the main user group of Chinese music market.

Besides, in China, people in the age from 15 to 30 are educated to appreciate the content, thus, they know music has a value, and they respected that, so they are willing to pay for the music services. According to a report from iResearch China, over 70% of under-30-years-old music users in China have purchased at least once premium accounts on streaming services, and over 65% of them have purchased at least one digital album online. (Source: http://report.iresearch.cn/report_pdf.aspx?id=3144; http://www.questmobile.com.cn/blog/blog_108.html; http://musically.com/2017/06/06/tencent-music-andy-ng-china-midem/)

Our delegates for the trip was Musicinfo’s Account Manager Santeri Hämäläinen and myself. We spent the day before the conference in London, meeting with a prospective new employee for the UK market, and with our brand ambassador DJ Drez. It was a pleasant day in London, windy but sunny. We simultaneously noted with Santeri that the London skyline prompted us to start hearing Sherlock’s (the TV series with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman) main theme in our heads while navigating our way through the huge, atmospheric metropolis.

The conference day in Brighton was quite busy and the venue itself was pleasant. Starting at 10am, the first two sessions focused on recorded music in China and on music copyright issues. One of the key points was that China’s music market has tripled since 2017 and the growth in 2018 is forecasted to be over 30%. Quite an amazing growth rate! At noon it was our turn: Santeri joined the panel consisting of Anne Jenniskens (FUGA), Nina Condron (Horus), and Mathew Daniel from Chinese streaming service NetEase Cloud. This session focused on the streaming services of China, and how to get Western music to these channels. After the panel we met with some talented musicians who were interested in distributing their music to China through Musicinfo. Santeri also did a podcast with CMU after the panel sessions discussing Musicinfo’s role in exporting Western music to China.

After the lunch break the conference proceeded at 1:45pm with the panel discussion focused on how to reach an audience in China. The final two sessions, starting at 2:30pm and 3.20pm respectively, dealt with the artists’ perspective and on the Chinese live music scene. The conference ended at 4pm and in the evening we sipped complimentary drinks kindly provided for conference delegates by The Great Escape. We enjoyed the festival and laid-back atmosphere of the Brighton seaside.

In all the take-home message at the China conference was, that after 10 years of scouting the prospects and opportunities of the Chinese music market, its enormous potential is finally opening up in a tangible way: it’s time for the industry and musicians to tap into this huge market and keep up with the times. So why not be part of this exciting new trend and share your music to a whole new audience in China through Musicinfo? In the words of our favourite detective Sherlock Holmes, the game is on.

Finland has gotten a lot more attention lately and for good reason. It has been a globally top ranked country across the board from stability, freedom, equality, innovation, transparency and much more. Only there is one important aspect that is not globally rated: Honesty, and if it were, Finland would be at the top as well. I can account for this from personal experience having lost my wallet twice and getting it back completely intact both times. I had even lost my new camera and had it returned to my door in person with a, “don’t worry I didn’t look at all the pictures.” Yet never in my life have I experienced such honesty as a semi-acquaintance’s recap of his recent heart wrenching break up with his long-time girlfriend in response to, “Wassup?” Dude, ouch!

You may be thinking so what? So, I came here to study music and my extravagant and somewhat naïve romanticisation typical of a lot of North Americans, of a European life in music, because anything across the Atlantic was Europe, didn’t match reality. It got real.

Finland is not Europe and I was very quickly enlightened by the locals that it is not Scandinavia either. It is Finland in its own right. Finland grew from the swamps of the glacial tundra, broke free from the occupation of Sweden and Russia with its own culture and its own language and climbed to the top of the world in Education, Information Technology and Social Rights. This was only possible with the raw truth of an unforgiving land where winter dominated and the brutal honesty one needed to work hard during the fairer months to survive the long cold dark winters. It is from this grain of truth that is inherent in the people who live here that life continues to thrive.

The peeps here at Musicinfo are no exception, in true Finnish form honest to the bone. There is a reason that a business like Musicinfo with partners in China exists in Finland. With direct flights from Helsinki to Shanghai and the rest of the world, connecting the West to the East, Finland has been referred to as the centre of the world. Even last year Finland has acquired a trust unbestowed to anyone else, by China entrusting their dear pandas to us.

It is May and we have all waited for this moment, for the lengthening of the days and the Birch to sprout its green and the flowers and animals to spread its seed of love; for Spring to finally arrive. Music distribution to China is just the first step in the courting ritual of your new audience. They’ve got your number. Do you just wait for them to call? You’ve gotta let them know you are alive and your heart beats with desire to make a connection. You’ve gotta let them know who you are and impress the message that you have composed in your music. Send your picture, your video and a note to where they can find you through Musicinfo’s Social Media Promotion and Video Sharing. Musicinfo is here to spread the love of music, yet our work is never done as even now winter is on its way.

Juri is a naturalised citizen of Finland originally from Canada working with the marketing team at Musicinfo.

It was a pleasant little taste of summer for us (Imre and Teemu) coming from wintry Finland: sunshine and 20+ degrees Celsius made sure we were going to enjoy our stay beneath the tall skyline of Frankfurt am Main. On the day of our arrival we checked out the festival venue, and the magnitude of this year’s Musikmesse became quickly clear: it was a near 15-minute walk from the main entry to our Hall 8.0 through airport-style moving walkways and escalators. This was going to be a super-busy and exciting fair no doubt.

Musicinfo ambassadors Teemu Uimonen (left) and Imre Lahdelma, ready to get down to business

Musikmesse Day 1:

The rush at the main entry around 10 am was indeed unbelievable, it felt like we were attending a Bundesliga football match or a rock-concert. It was very exciting and inspiring to see so many huge fair halls full of exhibitors, interested guests swarming around the stands. We also got down to business immediately and started talking to interested people about our services at our stand. While Teemu already had experience from previous year’s Musikmesse, I was quite thrilled to meet so many people in one day and by the scale of the buzz. Right from the start people were very open and enthusiastic about our company and services, and surprisingly well aware of the fact that Western social media is not available in China for music distribution. In the afternoon we also had a look around the nearby halls and stopped for some additional networking along the way. We also popped over to Hall 9.0 and met with the only Finnish exhibitors besides us at the Musikmesse this year: the guys from Loota Percussion were showcasing two fantastic-sounding wooden drum sets to the interest of many bypassers. 

Musikmesse Day 2:

The second day was even busier than the first one. We met with a huge amount of people, and some even came specifically to meet us after having heard about our company through social media. We discussed business on both small and large scale: in addition to showing our distribution services to potential customers, we also networked with prospective new business partners and discussed possibilities for broadening our business model. The general atmosphere was very pleasant and positive, some people we talked with even wanted to take selfies with us – spirits were definitely high.

Musikmesse Day 3:

On the third day we continued networking, and like on the previous day, we discussed business not only with bands and musicians, but also with company representatives. We also checked out the Musikmesse Guitar Camp, which was a special area in Hall 9.0 for mini gigs. We caught a stellar 30-minute gig by the unbelievable Mattias IA Eklundh: while Teemu was a huge fan already, Eklundh’s perfectly intonated 8-string guitar and complex Indian rhythms satisfied my appetite for musicological extravaganza as well. After the gig Teemu and Mattias were goofing around for a couple of photos, and I got Mattias’ guitar pick as a little souvenir of this year’s Musikmesse.

We met also with small record label and studio owners, who were interested in distributing their artists’ music to China. Later we met with a couple of German rock-musicians, who kindly invited us to their radio show called VirusMusikRadio at the local radio station Radio x Frankfurt. We accepted the invitation with great pleasure and chatted on-air with our hosts about how to get Western music to the Chinese music market. By the end of the day we felt the physical strain of constantly standing and walking, but it did not matter as the work was most rewarding.   

Musikmesse Day 4:

The fourth and final day was an active one as well. We got pleasant feedback of our distribution platform: people thought it was clear and easy to use. Moreover, what really felt rewarding was that people also remarked that our service seems not only straightforward but honest in nature. That’s exactly what we strive for at Musicinfo: to win the confidence of our customers and to get across the message that we’re helping artists and record labels to spread their music to a whole new and huge audience in China. We continued networking until the very end of the final day – just before the fair officially ended we shared a couple of beers with the guys from Loota Percussion and called it a day.

Conclusion:

All in all, the Musikmesse 2018 was a very fruitful excursion for Musicinfo. It was an intense 4-day festival full of exciting and inspiring buzz, and an ideal place to promote and spread the word about our company and services. Practically everyone at the fair was involved with music in some way – from independent musicians to record-label owners and music business professionals. We were also very pleased how well the Musikmesse was organized, starting from the enrolling procedure: the officials were friendly and helpful, and the whole infrastructure of the fair worked perfectly. Danke sehr, Frankfurt!

 The Musikmesse’s venue was huge, yet the infrastructure worked perfectly

Advocate

In the past, the production and release of most music was decided by prominent media companies’ executives and investors. They were the ruling overlords who decided the fate and profitability of the humble musician, who they would grant the right to record, how long the musician would serve as their profit puppet and denied those not deemed worthy of their advocacy. They had extravagant studios, expensive equipment and extensive production. This practice still happens today and if you want to be rich and famous and if you were given the chance, you could sign your life to one of these large companies, but there is an other choice.

Today, technology has evolved and become so convenient and compact that publishing, recording and promoting music is possible for anyone from your own home. Thus, new music is created and released from individual independent musicians more than ever without the need of the enabling media company. This is a beautiful thing, because every individual has access to facilities to create their own personal voice and vision for all to regard. The flourishing generation of social media has facilitated the blossoming of an extensive abundance of new musicians to the public, which makes finding and listening to new music more difficult than ever. Unfortunately, from the copious amount of music waiting to be heard only a tiny minority will ever make it to the surface with the rest lost to the deep. 

Independent musicians and record companies make more music than ever, but are just not getting heard in Western services. Major record companies and their artists are increasingly dominating the industry. Streaming services in 2016(Finnish link) offered over 40 million songs, but only 28.3 million songs were listened to. In addition, only 50 songs collected 3.9% of all revenue collected and 5000 songs collected 40.3%, and only 500,000 songs collected any royalties of the 93.6% total streaming volume in Western streaming services. Universal, Sony Entertainment and Warner dominated the market amassing 82% of the industry’s revenue, as independent artists and record companies mustered only 18% in 2017. Major record companies are capable of managing markets, playlists, radio broadcasts and streaming services with vast financial assets, networking resources, executive influence and targeted business partnerships with large distributors such as Spotify.

Musicinfo aspires to advocate independent musicians in this universe of information to help them define their music in this growing world of data. We endorse independent musicians and record companies through our knowledge and services to attain their best in China and at home. For everyone at Musicinfo, music is a passion and our confidence in Musicinfo is reflected in the use of our own services. Musicinfo's staff and networks are expanding all the time and are currently serving musicians in China, Europe and North America.

Facilitator

Musicinfo helps you commercialize your music in China. Our first aim is to amass your music an audience; We make it accessible for everyone by providing the following choices to best serve our customers’ needs: one (Star), 20 (Gold), 200 (Platinum), or more than a thousand (Diamond) releases to more than 20 listening services in China. The second plan of action is to get you and your music the maximum amount of exposure through our promotion services. Your favored images, video, tracks and text, will be curated and translated into Chinese to be posted in China’s biggest and most influential social media services: Weibo (equivalent to Twitter) and Tencent Media including: Wechat, Tencent News, QQ Kandian and Kuai Bao, which covers 800 million monthly active users. We provide three tiers of service to best deliver your message: Social Media Promotion, Social Media Promotion Pro and Video Sharing. This is essential as most western social media services such as, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube are forbidden in China.

Musicinfo's new comprehensive service is an asset to independent artists and record companies. In the growing digital music market, the world's largest countries are the last and potentially most lucrative and now can be accessed through Musicinfo. Artists will earn honest royalties according to the reliable evaluation of their music’s consumption, but more importantly they will earn the adoration of a vast new listening audience. This will bring you to your ultimate goal: Live concerts in China! But, it doesn’t stop there. Your recognition in China will impact the success in your own home where you and your music will receive the acclaim you are entitled to. It is a cyclical journey that starts with a dream and a bold venture into a land of possibility. Musicinfo is just a drop in the bucket to the ocean of listeners that could be listening to you and following your music. 

Cheers,

Kari Halttunen
CEO & Co-Founder
Music.Info Finland Oy

When we talk about China, we are talking more than 977 million music users, as 72% of the population, they listen to music every week. The average Chinese consumer enjoys 16 hours of music per week, with 66% of listeners using a streaming service.

2. The Untapped Market

Even China has a huge number of music users, it is beyond the touch of all the western streaming services, like, Spotify, SoundCloud and Deezer. Chinese music market has its own players, as QQ Music, Baidu Music and NetEase Music, with local services, you can embrace local audience.

3. Various Appetites for Music

Music appetites in China varies nowadays. It is not the time that only pop music or big stars lead. Music become more vertical and focus, every music type has its own audience, therefore, more and more independent musicians with different music styles can become major in China. Statistics from streaming service NetEase (Music 163) shows that 3 out of the top 5 digital sales artists are independent musicians in 2016.  (Source: Music Business China)