For many in the West, 2016 will be remembered for Trump, Brexit, terrorism in Europe and an absurd number of pop culture deaths, from Bowie to Muhammad Ali. By comparison, China had an unusually quiet year. Nonetheless, there were still a few goings-on in the world's most populous country.
In our 2016 Year in Review series, we recap the best (and worst) of China's year in the worlds of technology, social media, sport, fashion, food, arts and more.
With 2016 dominated by a streaming-rights bidding war between Alibaba and Tencent (from which only the biggest artists currently benefit), we speak to Douban Music’s Zhao Yue about the state of indie music – and looking out for the little guy.
At a time where music is turning more towards streaming, Douban launched a conventional record label. Why did you decide to do this and how was the year for D Force?
Glad you asked! We launched a record label because the scene seems to require more of them. Our main objective really is to help indie artists achieve more whatever way they can. We have already built the online platform and community. We have also done a series of small shows for up and coming bands called 'Unranked (公告牌之外)'. It was the natural next step to help indie acts with actual record production and publishing.
Even though many of us have a strong "DIY culture" background, we intentionally try to do things at D Force in the traditional and 'proper' way from writing proper press releases and bios to releasing albums on vinyl and procuring shows for our artists. It seems to us that with the rise of internet, many Chinese artists and labels are not doing their own production and promotion well enough. The industry standards also seems low. We all believe that the more traditional record label business has much to offer still.
That said, D Force is still very different from a conventional record label in many ways, because of our internet background. For example, A&R is so simple because we are able to track every act who has new music coming out and gaining popularity without having to go to different cities. With a whole platform and probably the most fervent indie music fans already gathered together, it is also very easy for us to do promotion.
Douban has long been a vital tool for China’s indie musicians. How has that community grown over the past year and what services has Douban added/improved to help these musicians?
Each week we see around 80-100 new acts emerging and each day over 200 new tracks uploaded. Obviously these include a lot of false starts but all across the country young people are realising their creativity. We launched Golden Fleece back in 2014 - the first transparent income per stream scheme in China. In 2015 we launched the second phase of Golden Fleece - the International Digital Release project where we deliver artists' music to Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, Pandora etc. without any hassle. The next phase, which will happen soon, will be linking all these uploaded tracks with Douban FM - our Pandora type streaming service; hence giving these tracks more chances of exposure and earnings.
There has been increased crackdown efforts on musical piracy. How have these efforts been going and what effect has the growing market for music streaming exclusive had on the music industry?
For us, it's like a chaotic battle of the giants at the moment. Douban has no giant company backing and at the current going rate we just can't afford the licensing deals. Our FM service has suffered a great deal, which is a great pity because we have the best recommendation algorithm on the market. Music lovers have suffered too. Now they all have to install multiple apps and probably pay for multiple subscriptions to simply enjoy music.
On our part, we hope the market settles soon, so we can negotiate fair rights for licensing catalogues and get our share of users back. At the same time, we are investing even more on cultivating the indie music margin of the market. This is something the giants don't care about but means a lot to us and fans of our site.
But obviously, young people are getting used to paying for music which is such an encouraging change. However, it's not really surprising that people would do this. In the early days of the intenet [in China], people downloaded not necessarily because they couldn't afford it, but because they couldn't access it. The more a person cares about something - be it music or films or books - the more they want to give back and show appreciation. It's only natural.
Do you feel optimistic about China’s music industry?
My personal feelings are mixed. On the one hand I do believe people's need for music can only grow. But on the other hand, I'm worried about that the potential dangers in economy and politics could easily set the music industry back. There are so many new music apps and festivals emerging everyday, and some of the money have to go back to the artists which is good no matter what. They need to survive first, then quality and character will flow naturally.
What trends do you envision occurring in 2017?
All I can say is that Douban Music has a very cool plan and we are all excited!!
D Force is home to acclaimed Chinese indie bands like Duck Fight Goose, DOC (pictured), J-Fever & Soulspeak and Stolen. For more, visit site.douban.com/dforcerecords.
For more 2016 Year in Review coverage, click here.
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