by Ami Li
Hat tip to Twitter, Peter Schloss and Music Dish China for this. Following in the footsteps of Shanghai and Guangzhou, the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) has announced a Beijing chapter of the National Music Industry Base, which will
“Develop classic music and music with Chinese characteristics that cater for the demand of the international market, and forge a complete industrial chain. It aims to build a national music composition and production center, an international musical performance and consumption center, a national digital music production and dissemination center, a national music industry service center, as well as a national music copyright protection and trading center.”
Two things jump out to us immediately. One, the national music copyright protection and trading center. Good luck, guys? We’d be interested to see what kind of corporate tie-ins this new base has with the record labels and current popular (if less-than-legal) digital streaming platforms such as Xiami.
Two, the members of the Base include the 1919 Music and Culture Industry Base, Beijing Music Creative Industry Park, China Record Corporation’s music center, Tianqiao Performing Arts Park, China Music Valley, Xishan Cultural Creativity Avenue, and a digital music demonstration park. A quick glance at the names screams “government organisations” to us, with no private-sector participation. It remains an open question whether these government-backed entities will be able to compete or police the big private corporation players in the industry.