As pointed out in an earlier post, China's music industry is currently dominated by illegal downloading and copying, an industry in which artists rely on other sources of revenue such as merchandise and shows. Consumers value songs at next to nothing, and downloading tracks is exceedingly simple thanks to Chinese search engines such as Baidu.com and Yahoo! China. So how exactly have these factors affected Chinese musicians and the country's industry economically?
About 95% of music sales in China are pirated copies, and almost 100% of music downloaded in the country is done so illegally. As a result, Chinese musical artists earn next to nothing solely from album sales and rely on other forms of exposure. An example of these is large commercial shows performed by prominent Chinese acts. The BBC explains how artists "get paid a set amount by companies or promoters regardless of how many tickets they sell," in their article on China's music industry. The article goes on to state that these performances account for over half of Chinese pop stars' income.
So why should artists even attempt to sell music if most of their songs are stolen and the majority of their earnings come from other sources? The BBC article highlights the fact that while "US and Europe are still finding ways to counter piracy, Chinese record companies have already decided it is a lost cause, finding other ways to make money which are not directly related to music sales." This "lost cause" way of thinking about selling music is quickly becoming the broadly-accepted point of view globally. In Kevin Maney's article on USAtoday.com, he points out the fact that "music pirating is so rampant and so entrenched in China that it's unlikely to ever be eradicated," and quotes the vice president of Global Catalyst Partners as saying that "there never will be [a legitimate music download service that charges for music in China]." This will soon most likely be a reality in many other countries, including the United States.
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