Change your tune when selling music in China
If you were walking around one of Beijing's shopping malls in October you might have heard The Prodigy's controversial song “Smack My Bitch Up” blaring out of one particular retailer. What makes this unusual is that China's ministry of culture has banned the track from sale because it considers the lyrics offensive.
Some might think this fair. But Cyndi Laupersuffered the same fatewhen the censors decided her song “I Drove All Night” sent out a potentially dangerous message to motorists. Meanwhile, the Rolling Stones were ordered to remove four songs from the Chinese release of theband's last compilation album, 40 Licks.
Yet copies of all these tracks are available in China if you look hard enough because a staggering 95 per cent of music sales are pirate copies, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. In fact, the government's insistence that any foreign record label must submit for approval a translation of all lyrics is partly blamed for fuelling the illegal trade.
China may have the largest music piracy market in the world, valued at about $600m by the IFPI, but it is also the second biggest legitimate music market in Asia, with a retail value of $101.6m.
This is a long way behind Japan's $2.4bn but international record companies are eyeing up China's long-term sales potential. China's legal music business has seen double-digit growth in each year since its accession to the World Trade Organisation in 2001. This was the year Sony Music established the first Chinese-foreign joint record company in the region, Shanghai Epic Music Entertainment, and now all the other big music groups have offices in the country.
The leading and independent record companies are optimistic about the future of the industry in China. When the copyright and trademark laws were tightened in 2001, the number of raids on pirate operations in cities such as rock and dance capital Beijing and Shanghai, home of classical and jazz music in China, increased significantly.
Tougher state regulations relating to copyright and intellectual property are due to be published before the end of December. In preparation for the new laws, UK royalties collection society PPL (Phonographic Performance Ltd) met its fledgling Chinese equivalent, the China Audio Video Association, a few weeks ago to help set up a system similar to the UK model for collecting performance and broadcast royalties. This move will benefit overseas rights owners significantly if the government does crack down harder on the pirates.
The UK independent labels that visited China in October under the umbrella of the Association of Independent Music (AIM) realise they cannot expect an early return from any investment they make next year. Sales and royalty revenuesfrom China will remain tiny compared with other parts of the world for some time, while a strict licensing quota system remains in place to limit the number of foreign releases.
It means smaller record companies may have to be content with getting artists' tracks on compilations rather than trying to compete head-on for the few hundred album licences awarded by the Chinese government each year.
The independents have identified other areas where their acts could earn revenue from China's 1.3bn population, of which 300m are now referred to as middle class and have disposable income to spend on music.
One possible route will be partnerships with international brands looking to raise profile and sales in China. The idea is that global brands will sponsor tours, ask international artists to endorse products, and pay synchronisation fees to use tracks in advertisements. Heineken has already sponsored concerts, club tours and DJ competitions in the big cities.
The growth in mobile phone penetration in China also offers huge sales potential. According to Nortel Networks (China) the number of Chinese people owning a mobile phone will double to 500m by 2007. The ringback tones market where customers are charged on their normal telephone bill is a growth area, while the ringtone download business will accelerate slowly as more of the population apply for credit cards.
“What we know about China and its piracy problems is that the Chinese love music but they do not put a value on it. If we can bring artists into the country via touring or marketing it will create other benefits such as merchandising sales. At the moment it is all about labels getting a foothold,” says Phil Patterson, British music industry export promoter for UK Trade and Investment.
There is plenty of evidence of labels taking the initiative. Scottish label P3 Music is close to concluding a label deal it negotiated with state-owned China Records, the country's biggest music company with a catalogue of more than 370,000 albums. It could mean up to nine of P3's albums are licensed in the territory next year. “China requires a different business model that we must all get used to . . . CDs are cheap in China but consumers are prepared to pay more to experience music live, for example,” says James Taylor, P3 managing director.
Charles Kennedy, managing director at Invisible Hands Music, says the high level of piracy could initially work in the labels' favour because the priority is to get artists' music distributed as widely as possible and then find ways to make money.
“In China that might mean concert tickets, ringtones and product endorsements that will reach hundreds of millions of consumers,” he says.
Yet John McLellan, a partner at law firm Haldanes based in Hong Kong, warns labels to be realistic about the potential of the Chinese market. “The sector remains highly regulated and there are also substantial cultural and linguistic barriers to overcome. UK record companies need to know which regulatory hoops they must jump through,” he says.
在中国卖音乐要变个调
如果你10月份在北京的一座购物商厦中闲逛，你可能会听到某家零售店的喇叭里大声播放着超凡乐队(The Prodigy)那首有争议的歌曲《Smack My Bitch Up》。这件事的不寻常之处在于，中国文化部认为这首歌的歌词写得很粗俗，已禁售该歌曲。
有人可能认为这是正当做法。但辛迪?劳珀(Cyndi Lauper)也在中国遭到同样的命运，因为审查机构确定，她的歌曲《I Drove All Night》向驾车者发出有潜在危险的信息。同时，滚石乐队(Rolling Stones)在中国发布其最新精选集《40 Licks》时，被勒令删除其中的4首歌。
然而，所有这些歌曲的复制品在中国都可以弄到，只要你努力去淘，因为据国际唱片业协会(International Federation of the Phonographic Industry)统计，中国销售的唱片中有高达95%是盗版。事实上，政府坚持要求，任何外国唱片公司所售唱片的歌词都要有中文译文，用于提交批准，有人指责这部分助长了非法音乐产业。
中国可能拥有全球最大的音乐盗版市场，据国际唱片业协会统计，该市场规模约6亿美元。但中国也是亚洲第二大合法音乐市场，零售额达1.016亿美元。
虽然这比日本24亿美元的零售规模要差很多，但国际唱片公司看好中国的长期销售潜力。自2001年中国加入世界贸易组织(WTO)后，该国的合法唱片行业每年呈两位数增长。2001年，索尼唱片(Sony Music)成立了中国地区首家中外合资唱片公司上海新索音乐娱乐(Shanghai Epic Music Entertainment)。现在所有其它大型音乐集团都已在中国设有办事处。
一些领先的独立唱片公司看好中国音乐产业的未来。2001年加强版权和商标法后，一些城市对盗版经营的突击行动大大增加，例如中国摇滚和舞蹈之都北京，以及古典和爵士乐故乡上海。
版权和知识产权方面更严格的国家法规将于年底前颁布。为迎接新法规颁布，英国版税征收社团录音制品播放版权有限公司(Phonographic Performance Ltd)几周前与成立不久的中国同类机构中国音像协会(China Audio Video Association)举行会谈，帮助后者建立一个类似于英国模式的演出及广播版税征收体系。如果中国政府更严厉地打击盗版，那么此举将使海外版权所有者极大地受益。
今年10月，英国独立音乐协会(AIM)旗下的一些英国独立唱片公司访问中国，它们意识到，不能指望明年在中国的任何投资能很快获得回报。在一段时间内，相比世界其他地方，来自中国的销售和版税收入会一直很少，而且一套严格的特许配额制度仍在中国施行，以限制外国唱片的发行品种。
这就意味着，规模较小的唱片公司可能不得不接受发行歌手合集的方式，而非直接去竞争中国政府每年发放的几百个专集许可证。
独立唱片公司已确定在其它一些领域采取行动，从中国13亿人身上赚得营收。在中国13亿人口中，现有3亿被称为中产阶级，有可支配收入用于音乐。
一些国际品牌期望在中国提高知名度和销售，唱片公司与它们建立合作关系也许是一条途径。这种想法是，由全球品牌赞助巡回演出、让国际艺人为产品做推广、并支付配音译制费以在广告中使用曲目。喜力(Heineken)已在一些大城市赞助了音乐会、巡回演出和DJ竞赛。
移动电话在中国越来越普及，也为音乐提供了巨大的销售潜力。据北电网络(Nortel Networks)中国公司称，拥有移动电话的中国人到2007年将翻一倍，至5亿。在普通手机账单上向客户收费的彩铃市场是个增长领域，而随着越来越多的人申请信用卡，铃声下载业务发展速度将放缓。
“有关中国和它的盗版问题，我们所知道的是，中国人喜爱音乐，但他们没有尊重音乐的价值。如果我们能通过巡回演出或市场推广，把艺人介绍进这个国家，那就会产生商品销售等其它好处。眼下的问题是唱片公司要找到一个立足点，”英国贸易投资署(UK Trade Investment)负责推动音乐产业出口的菲尔?帕特森(Phil Patterson)说。
大量证据表明唱片公司正在采取主动。苏格兰唱片公司P3 Music即将与中国唱片总公司(China Records)达成一宗唱片交易。中唱是中国最大的唱片公司，拥有超过37万张唱片。这可能意味着，明年P3将有多达9张专辑获得授权在中国发行。“中国要求一种不同的商业模式，这是我们都必须习惯的……例如，CD在中国很便宜，但消费者愿意付更多钱体验现场音乐，”P3董事总经理詹姆斯?泰勒(James Taylor)说。
Invisible Hands Music董事总经理查尔斯?肯尼迪(Charles Kennedy)表示，中国的盗版程度如此高，一开始可能会对唱片公司有利，因为唱片公司的首要任务是尽可能广泛地传播艺人的音乐，然后找到赚钱的途径。
“这在中国可能意味着音乐会门票、手机铃声，以及面对数亿消费者的产品代言人，”他说。
但香港律师行Haldanes的合伙人约翰?麦克列兰(John McLellan)警告说，各唱片公司对中国市场潜力的看法要现实点。“这个产业仍然受到高度管制，另外还有实质性的文化和语言障碍需要克服。英国唱片公司有必要了解，它们必须跨越哪些监管障碍，”他说。
