China: The Biggest Threat To The Future Of Music
By: Graham Alexander
Chinese Parliament discusses its Western Media strategy in tandem with its companies
This isn’t hyperbolic - it is literally happening as I type. By 2030, Asian music (largely K, C, and J Pop) will flood and paralyze the Western music markets…possibly permanently.
The only three major record labels left - the mainstream music industry - will be majority-owned by Asian conglomerates.
Quick overview:
Universal Music Group (owned by Vivendi in France) is in the process of selling 10-20% of itself to Tencent (a Chinese media conglomerate that already owns 10% of streaming giant Spotify) - this number will increase as a battle between Alibaba and Tencent surges over control of the largest record label (UMG). In March 2020 they finalized an acquisition 10% - another 10% is on the docket. Spectators note that Tencent hopes to acquire controlling interest by the mid 2020s.
Warner Music Group was wholly owned by a Russian Oligarch until June 2020; it recently sold 10% of its stock to …Tencent…with hopes to gain a controlling interest by the mid 2020s.
Sony Corporation in Japan already owns Sony Music Group…but it has partnered with companies like Tencent the last several years; even investing huge sums of money into a Tencent subsidiary.
Of course, you must see the pattern at this point - the Chinese Government and Tencent are VERY closely intertwined. Actually, in order to be in the tech industry in China, there is no such thing as being ‘not close’ with the Chinese Government - who often utilize their might to gather data, spy on citizens, control behaviors, and crush any kind of organized dissent. In 2019, a high ranking US State Department figure called Tencent a ‘tool of the Chinese Government’…many officials from many governments across the globe agree with this statement.
By now you might be thinking ‘How does this affect MUSIC? what does a little Chinese government intervention mean to ME as a music fan or musician?’….
To this I say; the very future of Western Music, Culture, and Democracy is at stake in the next decade.
Have you noticed it? surely you’ve noticed. In the last 5 years, we have an incredible explosion in the presence of J and K Pop (Japanese and Korean Pop Music) in Western music marketplaces. Now let me state; we have plenty of room for Asian artists in the Western music market. No doubt about it, there are millions of lovely BTS fans in America and Europe as we speak - many of them are even signing up to Trump Rallies and reserving millions of tickets so that the Tulsa arena wound up largely empty - now to that I say; bless. Truly funny, modern protest.
Here are the two primary problems facing future music fans and musicians (and Western Governments) should the remainder of the mainstream music industry be sold to Chinese conglomerates over the next decade:
Far less artistic and economic opportunity for western musicians and music/entertainment related companies, as Chinese corporate influence erodes already dwindling cultural bandwidth for music fans and musicians
Even though the mainstream music industry is a shrunken brittle head of its former self…it still holds a lot of power and influence over music fans in the Western marketplace by virtue of its existing content (back catalog like The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Britney Spears, 2Pac, etc. etc. etc.) - and by virtue of its newer artists bolstered by its incredibly effective marketing machine. By flooding the music markets of western countries with foreign music - artists in the Americas and Europe stand to lose ground to foreign corporate suits that favor their own culture’s creations inherently…and financially. Turning the tables on the American music market (which has failed to brutally overwhelm Asian markets since the 1980s -when many Asian governments created laws that encouraged companies to develop localized talent) would mean gradually eroding a western music global dominance that has existed since the 1900s - when…The Victor Talking Machine Co. (inventors of the disk record, record player, music industry) took the music market from Camden, NJ - to a global power that established itself in Japan as JVC (Japanese Victor Co.), The Gramophone Co. (EMI) in Europe/UK, and The Victor Company Of China - the first music company in mainland China). This would have a trickle-down effect of eroding everything left in American music from the musical instrument industry (already being decimated by China), to classic rock and contemporary radio platforms, to merchandising sales of back catalog and newer western artists, to the booming tribute concert and jukebox musical markets - American musicians and music-related companies cannot afford even a 10% offset due to an unbalanced eastern music heavy western music market…and if history is any indicator, without serious American, Canadian, EU, and UK Government intervention; we are about to hear a LOT more computer programmed, largely disposable, cheaply made, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean pop in the mainstream American music industry….and eventually….have a lot fewer musicians able to make a living here in America (and the entirety of ’the west’).
Foreign government/business monitoring and influencing our behaviors as consumers.
Data is powerful. It tells our competitors what a populace is feeling, what they are searching for, and it creates the ability to laser target those same consumers with content they are most likely to engage with. In this sense, China is actually following the tech/music industry playbook written around 120 years ago by The Victor Talking Machine Co. of Camden, NJ….if you own the technological platforms by which content travels (for example, the Victrola® record player and records); your content (music) can be universal - even if the markets aren’t accepting of it at first; Victor Records often forced American and English artists on its Canadian Subsidiary; so much so that the government of Canada actually passed LAWS to ensure 40%+ of the music on the airwaves was of Canadian origin - a boon for the Canadian music industry. It did the same for Germany, Japan, South America, and more - until each country rebelled against the Americanization of their culture via the music industry; by then, in many cases…it was too late. This influence expands to political concepts, business concepts - a populace is much less likely to oppose foreign influence if it feels some connection to that influence starting at a cultural base; a healthy, free, music market isn’t just an art form…its an indicator of the health of our Democracy - it has the power to start awareness of social issues that are inconvenient to Governments worldwide; a good reaction example of this would be The Government of China banning Bob Dylan from performing many of his most iconic songs during a tour of China several years ago…..China also recently banned HIP HOP entirely from mainstream Chinese media….among hundreds of moves across the last few decades.
Studying the history of the global music and media markets, you’ll find that the Chinese conglomerations sudden interest in the western mainstream music industry is no accident….dare I say it….it is more than a little shady on a business AND cultural level; and as a strategy, it leads entirely back to the Chinese Government’s unending desire to control and influence the world during its rise to what will inevitably be the next primary ‘superpower’. The strategy of taking over western ‘software’ (content, music, films) looks very much like what Asian governments (particularly China, Japan, and Korea) have been doing for decades since the industrial revolution; they get involved in the market lightly, the market evolves due to tech strides, they buy up the older manufacturing from disloyal Wharton School of Business American Psycho types, they evolve the industry themselves and supersede the companies they bought it from, and then they dominate the market - and sell the goods back to the west utilizing the same free trade agreements originally signed to export labor from western countries. The only difference this time? They already own the factories - now they want control of the content.
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