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What can we learn from Covid-19’s impact on China’s music industry?

The Chinese music industry saw 16% growth in its recorded music revenues in 2019 according to the IFPI, but it was also the first country to be affected by the Covid-19 outbreak. Does that make it a canary in the coalmine for the global music industry, in terms of learning lessons from the coronavirus impact, but also the industry’s reaction?

Perhaps so. Music Ally has spoken to a number of Chinese market experts to understand what happened, how the industry responded, and what the lessons might be for the music business elsewhere in the world.

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Indian music industry debates potential for paid music subs

“I think we’re on course,” said Blaise Fernandes, the president and CEO of India’s official recorded music industry body the Indian Music Industry, when asked on a status update on the country’s plan to break into the top ten of the world’s biggest music markets by 2022, at this year’s edition of the annual All About Music conference on Tuesday.

“For us to get to the top ten, we’ve got to double our revenues, we’re at $150 million, we’ve got to get to $300 million,” Fernandes told moderator, Outdustry’s Ed Peto at a panel entitled ‘Musicnomics: Making Sense Of Money In The Music Business’.

Among the drivers that Fernandes said would help India in reaching its destination, is an “underexploited” public performance market; the estimated 830 million smartphone users the country is expected to have by 2020; and a “$2.5 billion digital advertising market” owing to which “you’re going to see a lot sync opportunities”.

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China’s music potential: ‘We are finally getting there!’

2017 was a big year for the music industry in China: according to the IFPI, last year it was one of the world’s 10 biggest recorded-music markets for the first time.

Excitement around the growth of the music-streaming services run by tech companies like Tencent and NetEase is palpable within the western industry, but a day’s worth of talks and panels at last week’s The Great Escape conference curated by Complete Music Update (CMU) provided more context for that enthusiasm.

The day started with the IFPI’s regional director for Asia, Ang Kwee Tiang (or KT Ang, as he’s often known), providing an excellent overview of what’s been happening in China.

He explained that in 2017, recorded-music revenues in China grew by 35.3% to $292.3m, and that within that, streaming revenues grew by 26.5% to $204.5m.

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India music trends: Transparency, independent artists and more

India has long been one of the most interesting music markets in the world, and one that dances to its own rules, particularly with the influence of the film industry – Bollywood included. So how is the Indian market evolving in the streaming age?

A panel at Music Biz and Music Ally’s NY:LON Connect conference in New York this January offered some thoughts on that.

The panel included Priyanka Khimani, who leads the Mumbai-based practice of law firm Anand and Andand & Khimani; Neeta Ragoowansi, SVP of business development and legal affairs at NPREX; Gaurav Sharma, COO of Saavn; and Tom Rettig; VP of product at Gracenote. The moderator was Outdustry’s Ed Peto.

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India is still taking time to emerge as a music market

If you missed our recent report on India and China, the writer of the Indian half has now published his piece online. In it, Ed Peto of consultancy firm Outdustry digs in to the prevailing trends of the Indian music market.

“India’s recorded music industry generated just US$0.09 per capita in trade revenues in 2016, making it the most poorly monetised music market currently being tracked,” he noted.

“An optimist would rightly point out that with a population of 1.27bn India has had more heavy lifting to do than most, and that obviously there is enormous room for growth, but even amongst the giant emerging music markets India is taking its time to emerge.”

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Roadmap to India: tips for music success in 2017 (#midem)

India is often cited alongside China and Latin America as one of the music markets with huge potential for contributing to the next 100 million music subscribers. But can non-Indian artists and labels be part of this?

A panel session at Midem today discussed some of the current trends, legal developments and opportunities to do business in India.

It included Mandar Thakur, chief operating officer at Times Music; Sonya Mazumdar, CEO of EarthSync India; and Gaurav Sharma, VP of growth and data science at Saavn. The moderator was Outdustry MD Ed Peto.

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Roadmap to China: tips for music success in 2017 (#midem)

China has long been a market of huge potential for music, but also considerable challenges for western artists and labels: from piracy to regulatory headaches.

There is more optimism about its prospects in 2017 than ever before, though, with encouraging signs for China’s legal digital-music market, and a sense that local companies are open for business with western partners.

A panel at Midem today discussed some of the trends. It included Cherry Chunfei Guo, intellectual property and corporate affairs lawyer at Tiantai Law; TC Pan, CEO of Ultimate Music China; and Billy Koh, founder of Amusic Rights Management. The moderator was Ed Peto, MD of Outdustry.

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Digital music trends from Russia, China, Africa and Latin America

The music industry is getting even more excited about emerging markets in 2017, from Latin America to Russia, China and India. A panel at our NY:LON Connect conference today explored some of the challenges and opportunities outside the west.

The panel included Olga Moldavskaya, client and marketing manager for Russia and Eastern Europe at The Orchard; Ed Peto, MD at Outdustry; Virginie Berger, CEO of Armonia; and Alfonso Perez-Soto, SVP of business development for emerging markets and Latam at Warner Music. The moderator was LyricFind’s VP of international publishing Robert Singerman.

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How ‘sleeping giant’ China is waking up to legal music

Until recently, China was seen as a hugely problematic market for the recorded-music industry, with piracy dominant against legal digital music services.

Things are changing fast though, due to a combination of the Chinese government’s crackdown on piracy, and the emergence of a group of legal, innovative music services. At our NY:LON Connect conference today, market expert Ed Peto from Outdustry expanded on these trends to explain why “the sleeping giant” is waking up in 2017.