The record industry in China has come to the situation the US and European fear, their music is almost not sold legally. Almost all Chinese people are listening to pirated music (95%). The solution: don't see CD's as revenue making products but use them to promote the artist.
According to Clark, whose company manages mainland rock superstar Cui Jian and six other acts, the only choice for now is to learn to live with pirates. During a recent recording session in Shenzhen with Tongue, a hard-core Xinjiang outfit, Clark takes time out to explain his company's unique approach. In China, he says, albums have to be viewed as promotions for a company's artists, not as revenue-generating products. |
Money is made from concerts and corporate sponsorships for acts or events. So his company stamps just enough CDs to attract the pirates' attention, who then do what they do'”effectively functioning as a free and highly efficient promotional machine. "We want to flood the market with live recordings," Clark says, in the hope that more people will pay to see the live shows.
The albums are recorded at concerts, for which Pulay Music has devised a site-specific recording unit. No need for studio time, so its expenses are minimal. The pirates pay for the rest. China's music pirates aren't going away any time soon, so in the meantime Pulay's play is to use them any way it can.
Well this might be the future of music, but I don't see the stiff people of the recording industry change to this method very fast. What do you think, will this ever gonna happen in the rest of the world ?
Source: Time.com
