Original title: Annual White Paper on Chinese Digital Music: A new song is born every 27 seconds
May 10, “2021 Chinese Digital Music Annual White Paper”(hereinafter referred to as the “White Paper”)Launched by Tencent Music Data Research Institute. This “White Paper” is divided into three chapters, observing and analyzing the development and changes of the industry from different aspects such as industry macro review, industry focus issues, annual works, and singers.
By analyzing the “White Paper”, Red Star News reporters found that the total number of new songs reached 1.145 million(2021)Since then, the income of the original musician group has increased significantly. The previously controversial “hot songs” and “music quality” have also been specifically analyzed in this white paper, “‘hot songs’ coexist with the works of traditional well-known singers, and with the popular hits from film and television dramas and music variety shows. Coexistence, coexistence with emerging vertical genres and independent music has become a new ecology in the current Chinese music scene.”
May 10, “2021 Chinese Digital Music Annual White Paper”(hereinafter referred to as the “White Paper”)Launched by Tencent Music Data Research Institute. This “White Paper” is divided into three chapters, observing and analyzing the development and changes of the industry from different aspects such as industry macro review, industry focus issues, annual works, and singers.
By analyzing the “White Paper”, Red Star News reporters found that the total number of new songs reached 1.145 million(2021)Since then, the income of the original musician group has increased significantly. The previously controversial “hot songs” and “music quality” have also been specifically analyzed in this white paper, “‘hot songs’ coexist with the works of traditional well-known singers, and with the popular hits from film and television dramas and music variety shows. Coexistence, coexistence with emerging vertical genres and independent music has become a new ecology in the current Chinese music scene.”
The total number of new songs in the year is 1.145 million, and a new song will be born in an average of 27 seconds
In terms of industry productivity, which represents the upstream vitality of the industry, the “White Paper” data shows that in 2021, the total number of new songs will reach 1.145 million, a year-on-year increase of 53.1%, which is equivalent to an average of 27 seconds in 2021. A new song will be born. In addition, new songs have also successfully grabbed more “attention” from users. In 2021, the number of new Chinese songs played will increase by 9.3% year-on-year, and the share will expand to 24.3%. Behind this is the influx of a lot of fresh blood. In 2021, the number of new singers will increase by 41.2% year-on-year, the independent creation and distribution of original musicians has become the norm, and the phenomenon of “one song becoming famous” is prominent.
The Red Star News reporter observed that while the number of new songs is blowing out, the number of singers and creators in 2021 has also increased significantly. In the whole of last year, the number of Chinese-speaking singers who released new songs reached 253,000, a year-on-year increase of 89.9%; the number of songwriters successfully exceeded 100,000, a significant increase compared to previous years. While both the total volume of music and the number of creators have risen, the number of new songs that can reach millions of plays across major genres has fallen significantly over the last year. Among them, rock music fell the most, with a decline of 71.2%, while electronic music, which fell the least, also fell by 13%. In addition, with the advent of the streaming media era, the proportion of albums will drop in 2021, and the release volume will only account for 7.3% of the total. In contrast, the proportion of singles released has reached a new high of 79.4%.
The “White Paper” pointed out that in the era of all media, the linkage of music, video, and social networks makes a work with pop potential more likely to become a real hit. The methodology for making explosives is also maturing. In 2021, with the efforts of the new generation of singers, the maturity of cross-border music marketing such as film and television, and the promotion of audio and video gameplay, more new phenomenal Chinese songs will be born.
“Hot Songs” and “Music Quality” attract attention to rebuild the quality music ecosystem
At the end of 2021, the keyword “Chinese music” will be on the Internet again, due to the public attention and controversy caused by the annual “Top Ten Hot Songs”. Some people expressed incomprehension and questioned the quality of hot songs, while others were open-minded. This series of discussions points to another important judging perspective in the music industry: music quality.
According to the data of “White Paper”, in the annual inventory of Tencent’s music chart, the first “Top 10 Songs of the Year” is Dazi’s “White Moonlight and Cinnabar Mole”, while Eason Chen’s “The Lonely Brave”, which is popular all over the Internet, only ranks in the top 10. ninth. Similarly, in the “Top 10 Most Popular Songs of the Year”, the top three are “White Moonlight and Cinnabar Mole”(large seed)“Finding in Painting”(Zhang Yunlei)“Can you not leave me”(Don’t call your sister)。
big seeds
It is undeniable that the emergence of “Hot Song” reflects another huge objective demand. “In the mass market, it is often the more popular, mass-friendly content that is more likely to be widely disseminated and empathetic. And so-called ‘Internet songs’ have a market in different eras. However, in this data more transparent, By choosing a more diverse era, the silent audience was further seen,” states the White Paper.
Eason Chan
Indeed, with the changes in the industry, the evaluation perspectives of music quality are constantly updated and collided. The traditional dimension of evaluating music quality generally starts from the process of professional music production, including the quality of lyrics, music, editing, recording, mixing and other links. After the production threshold was lowered and more works poured in, more original works were discovered and liked, even if they were not necessarily mature in terms of creation and production. “According to the standards of the record industry, many works now are relatively crude. Nowadays, young people prefer this kind of real thing, and I am very open. For example, the songs of some independent bands are getting stronger and stronger, and they do not need commercial Decorate, package, and directly convey the spirit and story they want to express to the audience.” Songwriter Zhang Jianjunwei expressed his understanding of this change.
Although the new production model has enabled the rapid growth of hot songs and derivative ecosystems, the problems of the quality of the massive works behind the rapid development have become more and more prominent, and the upstream and downstream industries have begun to rethink and practice how to build a high-quality music ecosystem. It is also mentioned in the “White Paper” that, for example, music labels have changed from quantity to quality, focusing more on the creation of good lyrics and songs, and improving the quality of content from the source; while music platforms have introduced intelligent intervention, reshaped professional recommendations, served differentiated users, and improved Orientation in recommendation and distribution, try to find a balance between solidly serving users and guiding public aesthetics. Both are trying to find more beneficial orientations and strategies for the content ecology, and try to promote the healthy development of the industry.
Red Star News reporter Ren Hongwei intern He Yanling
Edited by Duan XueyingReturn to Sohu, see more
Editor:
Disclaimer: The opinions of this article only represent the author himself, Sohu is an information publishing platform, and Sohu only provides information storage space services.