The development history of Chinese pop music industry

趙苜希

Abstract： This study investigates the development history of Chinese pop music industry since from 1920s， and also indicates the external factors influencing the Chinese music industry. In this study， I will find out the current status of the Chinese music industry and explain the important reasons why piracy is on a rampage in China， and why China has not been able to solve this problem.

Key words： Chinese pop music industry； history； depression； piracy； copyright； law； western music； western culture； Chinese music market； Chinese culture；

【分類號(hào)】J692

The earliest appearances of pop music compositions can be traced back to the 1920s in China， when people returned from overseas； they brought Western music and culture with them. This let the Chinese people to know western music， which became wide-spread after the1980s. The most attractive songs are student or “campus” songs， and other popular songs from TV shows， such as “Take the wrong bus.” Looking at the history of pop music in China during the 1980s， one can see that it had its own development track； it was the outcome of the combination of the Eastern and Western cultures. But it was restricted by politics， the economy and different cultures.

Pop music in China changed quickly after the 1980s. This is through the new ideas of the Western music culture that came into China， especially after China entered into the World Trade Organization （WTO）. The Chinese pop music industry took on an entirely new outlook； in addition to their new perspective of pop music， the music market moved from Taiwan and Hong Kong to the main land. Before the new outlook， music was not as an important in the main land. After entering WTO， the economy of China had more freedom than before， banning unfair business clauses， and cancelling the trade barriers. This allowed China to connect with other countries in various domains， especially music.

The international importance of the Chinese music industry grew. People who worked in the record label companies felt that despite everything the Chinese music market matured. The Chinese music industry became bigger internationally， and it became a bigger part of the Chinese peoples lives. While some music industry insiders feel that Chinese pop music is still in the “penetration” stage， it can still stride towards fame， such as the Japanese and Korean pop music market. If anyone has been to Beijing in recent years， they will find that the Chinese music taste is， now， very rich. The recordings of the latest popular singers and bands from North America， Europe， and Asia can be found everywhere.

International market analysts are most concerned with the serious problem of piracy in China. People in China can directly download music without having to pay for the music and they can share music without the constraint of the law. Piracy is not only harming international radio and video publishers， but it is also affecting the development of the Chinese music industry. Piracy impedes the development of the music business and musicians， because they do not make any profits off of the music.

Copyright infringement happens often in China， because the Chinese people view copyright differently from the Western people. One reason for this is that the laws and regulations are not concrete. Since there are no set rules， there are no set consequences； therefore， the Chinese people download music illegally even though they know it is morally wrong. The second reason is that copyright to the Chinese traditional culture is not as big of a deal as to the Western culture.

The Chinese culture is starting to see the importance of a copyright. Although some of their ancient works do not have authors， they are beginning to see the importance of referencing material that is not their own， such as the nuclear trigram. We dont know who wrote it but we cannot just take the information and use it as our own. Many Chinese scholars are confused by this because there is no terminology in the culture for copyright. Compared to the West， in regards to property rights and copyrights， the Chinese have a completely different view. However， the Chinese are working on making changes of their view towards copyright. They are beginning to set standards for copyrighting in their culture.

Reference

[1] Ye， Ting. The development and value of Chinese pop music， Journal of ShenzhenUniversity （Humanities & Social Sciences）， July， 2005.07， 22（4）， 99-103

[2] Guan， Li， and Zhang， Hui. The development history of Chinese pop music， Music Life， 2007， 05， 83-84

[3] Cheng， Huifen. Thinking of the traditional Chinese culture， who encouraged the piracy？Peoples Daily Online， 2012

[4] Li， John Fangjun. The development of Chinas music industry during the first half of the 20th century. Macquarie University Faculty of Arts， 2011

趙苜希（1988.09.23—）漢族 遼寧省鐵嶺市美國威廉帕特森大學(xué) 音樂管理專業(yè) 碩士 研究方向：中國流行音樂發(fā)展史研究