New changes in the Chinese music scene: "volume" has become a thing of the past, where is the new solution?

Author | Fan Zhihui

"After 23 years, I still hope to make good music and AI one day." ——Following a post last month to personally respond to the phenomenon of "AI Sun Yanzi", Sun Yanzi recently wrote on Weibo.

Calculate it, in the long 23 years since Sun Yanzi's debut, there are about 432 cumulative published works such as studio albums, EPs, and OSTs; And "AI Sun Yanzi", which has only been "debuting" for a few months, already has more than 1,000 cover works. 

From the rise of industrial production models to the maturity of AIGC today, we truly perceive the efficiency improvement, boundary expansion and more possibilities brought by the technological revolution. Since 2019, the number of new Chinese songs has also increased from 237,000 to 1,145,000 in 2021, and the number has grown by leaps and bounds. 

However, according to the latest "2022 Chinese Digital Music Annual White Paper" (hereinafter referred to as the "White Paper") released by Tencent Music Research Institute, this trend has reversed for the first time: the number of new Chinese songs in 2022 will be 1.019 million, down 11% from 2021.

Behind this key data change is a game of quantity and quality, and the deep logic of the game is that the Chinese music scene is undergoing changes and is also giving birth to new life.

New changes: "volume" has become a thing of the past, and the Chinese music scene has ushered in a watershed

According to the White Paper, the number of new Chinese songs once soared from 237,000 in 2019 to 1,145,000 in 2021, an increase of nearly fivefold; but by 2022, the scale of new songs directly dropped to 1.019 million. 

At the same time, the "White Paper" also compared the 1,000 most popular new Chinese songs every year, and finally found that the average popularity cycle of new songs in the head in 2022 was 57.3 days, an increase of 5.6 days over 2021, which indicates that there are more long-lasting songs in the head new song pool. 

The double changes of a slight decline in the total output of new songs and the extension of the popularity cycle of new songs in the head send a signal to the industry that the market returns to rationality and actively compresses the production scale; On the other hand, the deep-seated reason is that the content production of the Chinese music scene is ushering in a watershed, that is, from the pursuit of extensive growth in quantity to the pursuit of high-quality growth in quality.

This background will also be the main premise for observing and discussing the Chinese music market in the next few years. 

We have noticed that in the past few years, the new production track, which has focused on public preferences and focuses on market-oriented production models, has also taken the initiative to transform to "quality" in 2022. According to the data of the "White Paper", according to incomplete statistics, the total number of songs released by nearly 100 labels at the head of the new track decreased by 11% year-on-year, which is consistent with the trend of the market market, of which the top 30 labels with the number of songs released decreased by 272 songs per year. From the perspective of transformation results, the popularity cycle of the new track head songs increased by 10.3 days, and the total votes of professional judges on the wave list also increased by 12.8%, which means that the "boutique strategy" has achieved initial success.

So, from "volume" to "quality improvement", how did this turning point come about? 

This starts with the origin of the "volume". Thanks to the shortened creation cycle and the traffic dividend of the rise of short videos, the rewards brought by popular songs are staggering, and a song with more than 100 million views means a lot of revenue. As a result, a large number of music labels with new production models have emerged for a while, bringing about a rapid increase in content supply, but also chaos such as homogenization, shoddy manufacturing, and fancy song washing, such as when "The Wind Blows" became popular before, a large number of plastic Hong Kong style songs appeared on the market. 

However, with the sharp divergence of traffic, the competition for new songs is intensifying, and the cost of publicity is rising, many industry insiders told Music Herald that the publicity budget that can see some results in the past may not see a splash at all now. In fact, this is also a clear signal given by the market: extensive mass production of sea investment, the practice of putting all the mind on promotion, will not work.

The Chinese-language music market in 2022 has also poured cold water on the trend of blindly "volume". At the same time, the quality of old songs that have been verified by time have been favored by all parties in the market. With the help of online concerts, music variety shows, short videos and other channels, the nostalgic trend led by Jay Chou and Wang Xinling has become an annual memory in 2022. With excellent content quality, a large number of treasure old songs such as "Love You" and "First Love" have successfully become popular, or regain the love of young people with new songs. 

This is also confirmed in the White Paper. Data show that in 2022, the share of old songs played will rise by 8.1%, and the number of old songs played more than 100 million will increase by 15%, exceeding 1,100, and the old song market will usher in a new life. The popularity of old songs washed by time and the market also gives music production a clear point: users have higher and higher requirements for music quality.

Of course, this does not mean that old songs squeeze the market space of new songs, and there were many high-quality new songs last year, which reached the market performance of applause and applause.

For example, the singer-songwriter "Captain", who focuses on the lyrical R&B route, won attention again last year's new work "11"; Jay Chou, who released a new album after six years, exploded the public opinion field with a song "The Greatest Work"; "The World" sung by Lei Jia as the theme song of the hit drama of the same name, its prose poetic soulful timelessness makes the audience unmoved; And Zhao Lei's "I Remember" touched countless netizens with its sincere and moving emotions and singing, and realized the mainstream breaking of the circle of independent music. 

In addition, the music industry should also recognize that under the trend of concentration, goals such as "popular all over the country" are no longer the only option. Nowadays, rap, rock, folk, electronic music, national style, etc. are all beautiful, and different groups of people are enjoying themselves in their own small worlds, and it is becoming more and more difficult for a real national hit like "The Lonely Brave" to emerge. The data of the "White Paper" also shows that in 2022, the number of songs that exceeded 10 million and exceeded 100 million increased by 585 and 38 respectively, but the number of songs exceeded 1 billion decreased by 20.

Looking back at the music market in 2022, whether it is the renewal of old songs under the wave of nostalgia, or the emergence of many quality explosions, its core points to high-quality content, which is also good news for practitioners who really do content.

We believe that under the common call of the industry and listeners for music quality, content is always the only way to win the era. For music platforms, record companies, independent labels and other industry parties, only by polishing works with the spirit of craftsmanship can we harvest the long-term vitality and development possibilities of music, and can we foresee the future through the clouds.

New solution: integrate different channels, enter the circle first and then break the circle

Under the changes in the Chinese music scene, where is the new solution to break the game? 

It is mentioned in the Tao Te Ching that there is a way without art, and there is still a way to seek art, and there is no way to stop at art. 

In the current situation of "big blockbusters are difficult to find, small blockbusters are constant", in order to break out of the massive content pool, the level of the Tao undoubtedly refers to the quality of the work, whether it is a new song, an old song or a mainstream, independent, its foundation lies in the work can be hit, the quality is online. At the technical level, it refers to various ways to promote the work out of the circle, which requires the content party to accurately reach the target audience in the market segment based on the content attributes, through suitable channels and communication methods, and then trigger the communication.

Generally speaking, the mainstream music out of the circle is roughly classified as offline tours, variety show stages, film and television OSTs, short videos and other channels, and in the past year, we have also seen many "techniques" of pushing new works out of the circle in core tracks such as mainstream singers, independent music, new productions, and IP songs. 

Among them, in order to break the dilemma of "singers are not popular", some leading new labels have also begun to think about boutique transformation, and actively embrace mainstream variety shows in order to gain influence beyond a single platform. Different from the "No Detectable Person" hidden behind the popular songs, through the narrative and lens of music variety shows, it presents a more diversified story and personality of the artist under the stage, which can not only enrich the musical image of the artist, but also rely on the old and new gameplay to complete the new work of the newcomer. 

According to the White Paper, in 2022, among the independent music tracks mainly for heavy music fans and focus markets, the annual playback of more than 10 million songs will increase by 58, which is also the largest increase among the four core tracks. Based on the popularity of rock, rap and other pendant music, a number of concept projects initiated by platforms, labels or singers have also produced many hits.

It is worth mentioning that the popularity of the independent track has also achieved further out of the circle through the strong recovery of offline performances. Especially in the first half of this year, head bands such as Universal Youth Hostel, New Pants, and Pain Yang frequently landed at major music festivals, and consumer brands also began to attach importance to cooperation platform IP and self-created performance IP, amplifying and extending the marketing value of the performance market.

In addition, the "White Paper" also pointed out a change in the film and television OST track - producers gradually began to expand from focusing on well-known singers and professional singers to more popular "new" people in the selection of singers. The "new" here is not necessarily the age level, but it can also be a new content trend that has formed in the audience market. 

For example, the production of the series "Lonely Beast" was convenient to choose to sing its episode "Slowly" in the popular Yan people of young people, this song is also included in the stellar gravity concept album "The Voice Under the City Under the Stars", with the blessing of double buffs, the annual effective playback exceeded 100 million, and the TGI of listeners aged 13-18 and 19-22 exceeded 190, successfully helping the TV series enter the young circle and continue the long-tail value of the work.

From the new gameplay that emerged from the above, it is not difficult to summarize the current out-of-the-loop methodology of popular songs, that is: under the decentralized market, through the integration of different channels, to open up listeners in different circles. Combine and utilize existing channel resources such as music variety shows, planning compilations, and IP projects, as well as music platforms, satellite TV platforms, short videos, social media and other traffic positions, and finally complete the progress of works from niche to public. 

Of course, the premise is still that the content quality is excellent and has public resonance, in order to bridge the aesthetic gap between different circles, first enter the circle and then break the circle, and become a real popular era.

Whether it is mainstream, independent, or new production, IP song track, whether it is new songs or old songs, the specific ways to get out of the circle are diverse, but what can really win the market is "good content + good channels", which is the fundamental of unchanged response.

epilogue

Data is boring, but in the interpretation of industry phenomena and cases, the music industry has also become alive, and a magnificent music picture seems to be in front of you. 

At the level of content production, the "2022 Chinese Digital Music Annual White Paper" not only has a macro-level framework description, but also a detailed insight into the four core tracks from a micro perspective, which is professional and practical, which is enough to provide data reference for upstream and downstream decision-making in the industry. 

Under the undercurrent, there are changes and new lives. The most important thing is whether you can snap your fingers with the times with a new solution and leave a real voice of the times.

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