Mixed notes sounded on future for music business

TME has the advantage of being a fully developed entertainment and content empire supported by its WeChat messaging app, video games, video streaming, a karaoke app and content-licensing deals with more than 200 international and domestic record companies.

Yang said new technologies, such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence, benefit musicians and listeners, adding that as boundaries between different industries blur, music can be sold, for example, in tandem with movies and video games.

"Music is innovation, after all," he said.

For content provider Shen Lihui, the founder of Modern Sky, one of the country's biggest independent record labels, original compositions are bringing excitement to the music scene, thanks to the emergence of online reality shows.

For example, rap has witnessed a resurgence after the first season of The Rap of China, the country's first-ever such competition, which premiered in the summer of 2017. In summer this year, The Big Band program put Chinese indie rock bands in the spotlight, raising audience figures for live shows. Both programs were produced and broadcast on the online video platform iQiyi.

Shen feels confident about the creativity of young Chinese singer-songwriters because "they are well-qualified in music production and have the potential to reach listeners abroad".

"We've signed a 19-year-old musician, who can write, produce and arrange her own music. We've also just signed a young Tibetan woman, who has been living in the United States for years and is influenced by her Tibetan roots and Western music," Shen said.

He added that both singer-songwriters are signed to his company's office in the United Kingdom, which was founded three years ago and now handles 20 bands from around the world. "Though we face lots of problems, it's comforting to think that new music is still out there."