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Original music struggles on a thorny road
www.chinanews.cn 2006-03-03 08:37:22
Chinanews, Beijing, Mar.3 (By Ma Haiyan) - Before the entertainment storm
arising from "Super Girl" contest at the beginning of the New Year
subsided, different media have already been flooded with dazzling ads of
ring tone downloads. Pop songs familiar to everyone were delivered to the
public's ears in this way. Though new album releases in the pop music
industry have never ceased for even one second, only a few big names on
the front line of the industry can really ring up considerable sales. In
view of this situation, people cannot help asking, "Where on earth does
the impetus of China's original music come from?"
Super Girls are better known than their songs; medleys composed of
irrelevant ring tones are heard everywhere. Such phenomena are no longer
than unusual in the current pop music circle in China. At the same time,
music lovers show more devotion to classic albums released by the Rock
Records in the 1990's and prefer to listen to concerts of established
Taiwanese singers such as Lo Tayu, Chyi Chin and Tsai Chin who resumed
their music careers recently. The sharp contrast between classics in
earlier days and hullabaloo at this moment constitutes the style of the
pop music industry in this era.
Ultimately, Super Girls have to go back to their record companies and
work out new albums of their own songs with a down-to-earth attitude. The
above prediction made by Zhao Xiaomin, Music Nation Records' marketing
director of northern China, turned out to be correct. However, whether
these Super Girls can eventually achieve a safe landing with their debut
albums is up to the quality of their works. How long the song "Wish you a
happy winter" by Super Girl champion Li Yuchun will remain popular after
this winter indeed worries fans of both Super Girls and the music scene.
Nowadays, pop singers undoubtedly find it more and more difficult to rise
to the top of the charts than two or three decades ago. Although the
number of newly-released discs is on the rise in the market, holding
autograph sessions, topping the charts and obtaining an award have run
into fiercer competitions. Fewer singers from any record companies can
easily impress an audience, and it is getting harder and harder for
singers to gain popularity. Renowned mainland musician Xu Xiaofeng
considers that the present pop music market is in need of singers with
song writing talent, which means singers of higher caliber and better
musical endowment.
As a result of increasingly dazzling sensationalism, fewer teenagers and
young people in their twenties, who are presently the main targets of pop
music producers, can settle down to enjoy the true beauty of music like
the generation two decades ago. Therefore, how to get songs into people's
ears has become a crucial issue. Ring tones thereby serve as the most
convenient platform for transmission and mode for making a profit.
Surprisingly, profit from ring tone downloads has exceeded that from
record sales. Xu felt a bit sad because this money-making approach not
only deprives music of its true impact with wireless technology, but more
tragically makes people abandon the best music and prefer spending money
on downloading some unworthy by-products rather than buying an original
record for patient appreciation at home.
Nonetheless, there are still a large number of record companies quietly
tilling at this windmill by casting new artists, composing new songs and
launching new albums without break. However, a new star cannot be groomed
in one day and sometimes the right timing in marketing plays a more
critical role. When Taiwanese super star Jay Chow worked up a storm when
he brought his R&B music to mainland China, it never occurred to anyone
that an ordinary song "Two Butterflies" on the net would suddenly turn
into a smash hit. Likewise, under the boisterous campaign of Super Girls,
nobody expected that a song named "Three Auspicious Treasures" would give
rise to a refreshing vogue. As a matter of fact, more and more music
lovers put heart and soul in music composition and await an unpredictable
opportunity.
China's pop music industry will have to struggle along a long thorny road
fraught with difficulties in the future. Zhao Xiaomin's opinion might
have echoed the aspiration of many music makers in the industry: as
investment has to face inevitable risks, we will try our best to produce
musical works we consider good. Everything depends on the music itself
and anything is possible. She believes that high-quality music will
undoubtedly surface in China's music industry tomorrow.
Copyright� 2004 Chinanews.com. All rights reserved.
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