Chinese indie rock band Second-hand Rose performs at the Modern Sky Festival in Central Park in New York in Oct. 2014. (Photo : Getty Images)
Wang Lei recounted how he realized that his dream of becoming an indie singer-songwriter was not meant to be after meeting then-guitarist of rock band Sober Shen Lihui.
"It was hard for indie singer-songwriters to survive then because the market was very small," Wang recalled as he became acquainted with Shen's indie songwriter friends.
"Meanwhile, after listening to their music, I realized that not everyone can be a singer-songwriter. I didn't have that talent," he shared on Friday, Nov. 6, at the Music Industry Forum 2015 at the Communication University of China in Beijing.
Shen sank all if his money into putting up Modern Sky, a now successful music festival producer which started out as an indie record label. Wang went on to become senior director of the music department of music streaming service NetEase.
With more than 55 million active users, NetEase has become an ideal means for Chinese musical artists to bring their work out to a worldwide audience.
"Despite the fact that the adjustment to this new reality has been painful, and not everyone has embraced it, the Internet boom has helped original Chinese music," Wang said.
A report released on the forum reported the statistical gravity of the Internet's influence on who, how and what people listen to in terms of music, as well as the payment methods by which they legally acquire music.
The report stated that in 2014, the Chinese digital music user population peaked at 470 million with an industry value of 49.1 billion yuan ($7.79 billion). It also valued the physical record industry in the same year at 600 million yuan.
Music website Douban.com director Liu Jin reported that the site hosts the release of the materials of some 34,000 singer-songwriters.
"Many people complain that there are fewer good songs than 10 years ago. Some charge that the Internet destroys creative content and the rampant piracy violation makes the industry decline irreversible. But the good side is obvious: For example, Chinese original singer-songwriters share the opportunity with worldwide musicians. For music lovers, they have a wide range of choices," Liu explained.
Shen added that live performances are where musicians really earn. Giving away their tracks online for free serves them well by acting as advertisement and publicity for the artist. Case in point, ticket sales from 2014's 20,000 concerts added up to make 4.4 billion yuan in profits.
Meanwhile, Chinese video streaming website LeTV.com kickstarted the pay-per-view live concert streaming trend in August when it streamed musician Wang Feng's concert in Beijing. The site confirmed that 75,000 people availed of the service at 30 yuan each.
These recent collaborations among musicians, record labels and Internet services may usher in a shift in the music industry as a business.
