Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 20 (2013) 263–271
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Western popular music consumption by highly involved Chinese music fans Antje Cockrill a,n, Yang Liu b,1 a b
School of Business and Economics, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP, United Kingdom 25 Gwydr Crescent, Uplands, Swansea, SA2 0AA, United Kingdom
a r t i c l e i n f o
abstract
Article history: Received 26 March 2012 Received in revised form 18 December 2012 Accepted 2 January 2013 Available online 8 February 2013
This paper explores the development of Western popular music consumption for highly involved Chinese consumers. This research is exploratory and uses semi-structured online interviews. The consumption of Western popular music in China is deeply embedded in the changing political and social context. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, an underground culture of ‘dakou’, cut tapes and CDs, developed, which was a decisive and formative influence for many of our respondents. Later this was supplemented by counterfeit tapes/CDs, and by Internet downloads, which also increased access to Western music. However, both recorded and live music are still censored in China. Our respondents agreed that the political restrictions on music have prevented China from developing a ’normal’ music market, and created a market which is almost entirely based on illegal downloading. As the lifestyle choices of our respondents were deeply influenced by the consumption of Western music, many of them ultimately decided to leave China and live abroad. & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Music Popular music Music consumption China
‘‘Without music, life is a journey through a desert.’’ Pat Conroy, Beach Music, 1995 1. Introduction Music consumption is a relatively new topic in the academic literature, although the consumption of music itself has been part of human culture for centuries (Cockrill et al., 2011) and is found in any known human culture (Rentfrow et al., 2011). Recently a number of studies have explored various aspects of music purchasing and consumption behaviour (see, e.g., Cockrill, 2011; Molteni and Ordanini, 2003) and their history (e.g., Bennett, 2001). Most of such studies are set in a Western context (with some notable exceptions, see Bradshaw and Shankar, 2008) and the study of music consumption of Western popular music has largely been restricted to studies based in countries that are culturally relatively close to the origin countries of Western popular music. There is not much research which specifically investigates the consumption of Western popular music within the Chinese context, and those that do exist either focus on the development of the music industry in China (e.g., Morcom, 2008; Priest, 2005, 2006) or on the development of the music scene n
Corresponding author. Tel.: þ44 1792 295775; fax: þ 44 1792 295626. E-mail addresses:
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(De Kloet, 2010). There is very little research that deals specifically with consumer behaviour in this context. This study aims to fill this gap. This study has three objectives. First, to provide a review of the development of Western music consumption in China from a consumer perspective. Second, to explore the formation of Western popular music consumption patterns and motivations for consumption among highly involved Chinese consumers. Finally, to explore the social cultural implications of Western music consumption amongst the group of respondents. 2. Context There is considerable debate amongst musicologists how to define popular music and its characteristics. Following Adorno’s (1941) views of popular music as standardised, repetitive and leading to conformity, Tagg’s (1982) seminal work describes popular music as forms of music which are conceived for mass distribution to large and often socio-culturally heterogeneous groups of listeners; are stored and distributed in non-written form [as sound]; are only possible in a capitalist industrial monetary economy where the music becomes a commodity (Tagg’s (1982), p. 4). Similarly, Warner (2003) describes pop as a music form that is artificial, with an emphasis on recording and technology, with trivial and ephemeral content. These descriptions clearly define popular music as a commercial product, aimed at a mass audience in a free market environment, and sold as a commodity, which perpetuates existing societal structures. Some authors maintain
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that music became a mass marketed product even before 1000 AD when standard music notion was invented (Ogden et al., 2011). This mass marketed ‘commodity’ is undoubtedly successful – popular music is a primary, if not the primary, leisure resource in late modern society (Bennett, 2001, p. 1) and, for a majority of people, popular music is an omnipresent aspect of their day-to-day existence (Hosokawa, 1984, cited in Bennett, p. 1). However, in contrast, critics have argued that popular music often expressed the life experiences of marginalised groups such as minorities or working class youth (Hebdige, 1987; Gilroy and Baker, 1991; Kellner, 2002). Consequently, a number of researchers have conceptualised the different varieties of popular music as fundamental cultural entities (e.g., Coleman, 1961; Friedlander, 1996; Kotarba and Vannini, 2009) and as comprehensive products of contemporary culture, and thus a form of overt social dialogue. Larsen et al. (2009, p. 16) maintain that ‘‘music is clearly shared across society and it is equally clear that its meaning, both musical and symbolical, is socially constructed’’. Despite its commercial elements, popular music is inherently associated with the dynamics of different life styles and subcultures (McIntyre, 2011; Nuttall et al., 2011). The development of popular music in the West clearly shows its dichotomous nature. Much of modern popular music is originally based on the experiences of marginalised groups – e.g., most of what is today considered popular music has its roots in the music of the oppressed American black population (Hebdige, 1987) – but at the same time successive styles such as Jazz, Blues, R&B, Soul, Rock etc. became rapidly commercialised for a mass audience. But even such commercialised music is time – and generation bound, and is consumed within particular social and historical contexts. People express their life style choices with their selection of music and thus music becomes a means of identification within the self and with a particular social group (Larsen et al., 2010; Nuttall, 2009). Popular music is commonly considered to include a wide range of genres, a typical classification can be found on Allmusic.com (http://www.allmusic.com) where 15 different subgenres of popular music have been identified. The focus of this project is primarily on general pop and its subgenre rock. These two main categories were chosen because in China, perhaps more than elsewhere, there is a perceptual dichotomy of ‘authentic’ rock music versus ‘commercial’ pop music. De Kloet (2010, p. 32) claims that when one walks into one of the rather small number of record stores left in Beijing,y, one will find the rock tapes grouped together, set apart from what is categorised in popular discourse as pop music – the latter is perceived to be the inauthentic Other of rock. This contrast epitomises the paradox of the wider genre of popular music, some of which is perceived to have a socially and culturally transformative role and other parts are perceived to be largely or even purely commercial. Understanding the cultural role played by popular music as a social practice is key to studying the consumer behaviour of recorded music in the current context. In China, the development of popular music has gone through a number of dramatic transformations which reflect the changing nature of society and life in different time periods, although, in comparison to Western countries, its history is brief. Popular music is now perceived to be one of the highly influential art forms, altering people’s ways of thinking because of its nature of active participation in the construction of symbolic musical meaning (Baranovitch, 2003). In response to the loosening of the severe political restrictions of the past, both professionals and general audiences in China have quickly adapted to the new forms of music from the West.
Additionally, increasing consumer spending power and rapid technological breakthroughs have made Western popular music widely available – and this music functions as a window through which a broader world can be observed.
3. The development of Western music consumption in China Before the end of the Cultural Revolution in China, Chinese people’s understanding of Western music was extremely limited as severe political restrictions and the absence of communication with other parts of the world restricted exposure (Lu, 2004). Music was used as a means of political communication in the form of ‘praise songs’ for Chairman Mao and ‘rebel songs’ for Red Guard Groups for revolutionary purposes only (Clark, 2008; Morcom, 2008). Any forms of art from the West were entirely forbidden, as the influence of liberal intellectuals was feared. Consequently, very few cultural productions were allowed and took place (Mittler et al., 2005). During this 10-year period, the only non-Chinese music permitted was strictly selected Russian classical music, imported on a highly-controlled basis (Fung, 2008). The scarcity of available music resulted in an extremely narrow scale of music reception, leading to a situation in which ‘‘the concept of music records was simply obsolete’’ (Mittler et al., 2005, p. 47–48). Apart from political public performance and gatherings, the only music-accessing, as well as the most prominent informationgaining means was the radio. The radio held a prominent place in people’s lives because it served as a ubiquitous information channel covering the whole country, from suburban areas to metropolitan cities (Latham, 2007). However, despite the extensive wired radio networks, the charged political atmosphere during the cultural revolution led to sharply reduced music broadcasting times (Liu, 1975) with, for example, 365 music hours being planned on the First Programme in September 1963 in comparison with 195 music hours in January 1967 (Liu, 1975, p. 190). Most of the music available was restricted to revolutionary tunes. The impact of recorded Western popular music, not even Western music in the contemporary sense, was minimal. The situation changed when China opened her doors in 1978, allowing much wider scope for the slowly developing Chinese music scene. In the years following 1978, reforms were introduced. The state controls loosened and the general population’s living standard increased. Numerous objects of novelty from the Western countries aroused people’s desire to experience them personally, and one of these novelties was popular music (Mittler, 1997). In the early 1980s a small number of Western artists were permitted to perform in China, the first of them being Jean Michel Jarre (Connolly, 2012). However, the first major event relating to this development was the mini-tour of Wham! a British pop-rock duo, in mainland China in 1985 (BBC News, 2005). This tour was a historic moment and received extensive media attention around the world, but more importantly, also had an immediate effect as for the first time, the real sound of contemporary popular music could be heard by a wider audience. After this event, the demand for and exposure to Western popular music rose exponentially, and this demand led to the emergence of an underground market for ‘dakou’ (cut) tapes and CDs in China. Some commentators (De Kloet, 2005, 2010; Dutton et al., 2008) have referred to this phenomenon as one of the most unique cultural benchmarks in the history of Chinese modern art life (although the phenomenon was not solely restricted to China, see below). ‘Dakou’ generally refers to cassettes and compact discs which were supposed to be disposed in the countries of origin by record companies either because of excessive and low-
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quality stocks or other issues. The tapes and disks were intentionally damaged to prevent use. However, the damage done to the media was usually only a cut into the barcode on cover inserts or in the playing area, rather than the burning or crushing of the entire CD or tape to destroy it completely. Thus, most of them were still playable after repairing, although a part of the contents might be missing. Due to the soaring demands for plastic processing and cassette production in the early 1990s in Europe and North America, and lower disposal costs in developing countries such as China, large quantities of redundant plastic goods were shipped abroad for final disposal. However, most of these tapes and CDs were diverted into the southern coastal areas of China for re-distributing and re-selling (de Kloet, 2010). Thus, the ‘dakou’ market emerged, fuelled by the lack of availability and high demand of Western popular music by young consumers – a grey market with products which came into the market legally through the border as plastic rubbish, but which officially could not be sold as audio products. The official music market place was – unregulated; prices were set largely based on the seller’s will. In addition, CNPIEC (China National Publications Import and Export Corporation) monopolised the legal import of Western music into mainland China, and demand far exceeded what it could supply. Within such a context, the emergence of ‘dakou’ remained the most important channel for adolescents who aspired to broaden their musical horizon before the advent of the Internet (Dongting, 2008). This grey market made a wide range of musical genres available. Consumers could discover everything from Pink Floyd to the sound of Pearl Jam and Skid Row (Heavy metal). Whilst a market in ‘cut’ Cds and tapes also existed in other countries, the extent and impact of this phenomenon were entirely unique to China. In Europe and Australia ‘cut’ American CDs and tapes and inexpensive parallel imports from Asia or within the European Union supplemented the official music channels by providing lower priced access to music in the 1990s, and only to a much lesser extent offered access to music not otherwise available (Malik, 2005; Bun and Horrocks, 1998). The key difference was that in Europe and America such music was also largely available through legal channels but in China ‘dakou’ CDs and tapes were the only way how much of contemporary Western music could be accessed. These faulty music products provided access to the experience of contemporary forms of music from the outside world and also represented the urban generation of that time period (Dongting, 2008). The existence of this market ‘‘ushered one million Chinese youth into a new wave, a new listening sensibility, a new awareness, a new mind and a new set of values’’ (Dundee, 1999, p.28). By the end of the 20th century, the ‘dakou’ market was beginning to decline. On the one hand, it failed to satisfy the increasingly varied musical tastes of consumers. More people with a wider listening experience started to look for more specialised alternatives, and trendy mainstream music was no longer the main priority. At this point, the competition between the growing music pirate market and both legal and ‘dakou’ media intensified. Counterfeits outperformed the ‘dakou’ in terms of providing a much wider range of selection, for example by offering more alternative and underground music, which could not be formally imported due to political censoring, nor could it be found on the ‘dakou’ market. Nearly all the genres which could be found on Allmusic (www.allmusic.com) were pirated and made widely available through regular retail outlets. Chinese music consumers’ tastes became more discerning, and this was also reflected in the by the appearance of a number of popular music magazines (e.g., ‘‘X-music’’, ‘‘Music Heaven’’, ‘‘I Love Rock n’ Roll’’, ‘‘Modern Sky’’, ‘‘No Music’’, ‘‘Dakou Music’’, and ‘‘Extreme Music’’), as well as the rise of the Internet at that point in time. Gradually, the counterfeit CDs also became more sophisticated,
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with counterfeit product being manufactured nearly to the quality standard of the original CDs. Moreover, due to high rental costs and complicated procedures of running a physical store in metropolitan regions where more potential consumers reside, the Internet became soon the primary platform to conduct music sale activities. As De Kloet (2005) (p. 625) states ‘‘the availability of music through the World Wide Web has rendered ‘dakou’ CDs almost redundant, new songs are just a mouse-click away’’. The Internet also opened the door to one of the most wide spread practices of music consumption globally today—downloading. In conjunction with the development of mobile music listening technologies, music reproduction and distribution have been significantly re-defined (Sterne, 2006; Dilmperi et al., 2011). The creation of compressed audio files led to the constant evolution of online file sharing sites and applications of peer-to-peer (P2P) software to actualise the free and mostly unauthorised transfer of music (Stafford, 2010). Digital piracy does not only disseminate unauthorised music in the virtual space, but also expands physical piracy by taking advantage of easily accessible online music resources to produce almost identical illegal copies. According to the International Federation of Phonographic Industry, the music piracy rate in China is currently ‘‘virtually 100%’’ (Lee, 2011; Peto, 2007; Priest, 2006, 2005).
4. Research design As there is not much research concerning music consumption patterns and behaviour in China, the approach to this study is exploratory. Epistemologically, this study is set within the interpretivist paradigm. Interpretivists argue that we cannot understand why people do what they do, or why particular institutions exist and operate in characteristic ways, without grasping how those involved interpret and make sense of their world: in other words without understanding the distinctive nature of their perceptions, beliefs, attitudes, and so on (TLRP Resources for Research in Education, 2009). The underlying assumption is that human behaviour is always context-bound and that even the same behaviour can be interpreted differently depending on situation. The context of this study is defined by a specific social– political context, namely post-reform China, and the development of a specific behaviour, Western music consumption within this context. Without an in-depth understanding of the socio-political context and its impact on individuals, the behaviour under investigation cannot truly be explored. Furthermore, the interpretivist paradigm recognises that inevitably each researcher brings his or her own unique interpretation of the world or the construction of a situation to the research (Vine, 2009) and filters through their own perspective (Riemer, 2009). Furthermore, although this project is not, in the strictest sense, an ethnographic research project, it does have ethnographic elements which help to set the framework for this study. In ethnographic research, often teams of cultural ‘insiders’ and ’outsiders’ are used to conduct the study (e.g., Bartunek and Louis, 1996). The ‘insider’ can access the target population through his or her own social networks, has intimate knowledge of the context and is often from the same ethnic and linguistic background (see Maydell, 2010). The ‘outside’ researcher is often responsible for the formal aspects of the research and can provide a broader, interpretive perspective. For this project, this approach was particularly appropriate because the research team consisted of one European and one Chinese researcher, both with a strong personal interest in music consumption. The research team effectively consisted of a cultural ‘insider’ and a cultural ‘outsider’, thus combining the benefits of a researcher whose cultural and linguistic background is similar to the respondents in this study, and a researcher from
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the outside, being able to frame and more widely interpret the research. The aim of this paper was to explore in depth the consumption of Western popular music in a Chinese context, both from an insider and an outsider perspective. The development of popular music consumption in Europe and the US does not feature prominently as popular music consumption in Western contexts has been investigated extensively elsewhere (e.g., Longhurst, 2007; Frith, 2001; Johnston, 1999; Frith, 1988). In order to achieve this aim, semi-structured interviews with selected music fans emerged as the preferred method of data collection. This allowed comparisons between individuals without restricting respondents to an entirely inflexible set of questions. Following the examples given by Salmons (2010), a criterion-based sampling approach was chosen. A snowballing/ referral approach was used to achieve purposive sampling, namely to select a small number of highly involved Chinese music consumers. Two key criteria were applied. First, respondents had to be highly involved with Western popular music, and second they had to have spent their formative years in China. This latter criterion was applied because research has shown that music tastes are acquired in adolescence and early in adulthood largely stay with an individual throughout their life (Holbrook and Schindler, 1989). Based on the social networks of the researchers, a final sample of 14 respondents was chosen, 11 men and 3 women. All were Chinese nationals and had been highly involved with Western popular music and its consumption for a number of years. Respondents came from all parts of China. At the time of this research, some of them had moved abroad (the implications of this are discussed later in this paper). ‘High involvement’ here has been defined as high personal relevance, combined with a lasting commitment (Fill, 2005). These consumers also represent a potentially lucrative niche market for the music industry, namely highly involved, relatively affluent young Chinese music fans. The Appendix provides details of their demographic details, locations, preferred music genres and level of involvement with Western music. Based on the literature review, a semi-structured interview guide was developed and pre-tested. The following topics were covered by the interview guide: Western popular music consumption development and consumption pattern, early exposure, influence on other areas of life, personal expertise, perceptions of trends in the Western popular music market in China. (The interview guide is available on request). Following some amendments after the pre-tests, the interviews with the selected respondents took place online, using Internet chat software. Prior research has shown that text based communication can be effectively used as a way to conduct interviews (Salmons, 2010). It allowed an interactive form of communication with supplementary questions focused on the individual responses. As with face-to-face interviews, responses were immediate and additional questions could be asked, but the use of this technology allowed the approach of respondents who were physically very widely dispersed (see Crichton and Kinash, 2003; or Garcia et al., 2009 for the advantages and limitations of virtual ethnography). Three interviews were entirely conducted in English, the other eleven in Mandarin. The interviews were transcribed, the content carefully examined and emergent themes identified. Finally, all interviews were translated into English.
For example, R7 stated that most of his time was devoted to music ‘‘except sleeping and lectures, and mainly Western popular music’’. Another respondent R4 maintained that Contemporary Western popular music y helps to explore and expand my knowledge of the wider unknown world for me, y It is indispensible to me. Equally all respondents mentioned the associations with Western popular music were established when they were young, confirming Holbrook and Schindler’s (1989) findings. Notably, more than half of the respondents experienced Western popular music for the first time in the early 1990s, when Western popular music was still rather scarcely available through formal channels. During this time period, Western music in various forms in the early 1990s was regarded as a groundbreaking cultural innovation. The genres with strong rhythms and high volume, in particular, had an immense impact because stylistically they were very different from the prevalent music at the time. Mainstream musicians, such as Michael Jackson and Madonna, played an important role for the wider diffusion of Western music by arousing people’s desire to listen to more progressive music. During the peak times of their careers, these musical icons were regarded as principal guides for Western music listening practices in China, and considerably influenced the development of multidimensional popular music in the country. Our respondents belong to the first generation of Chinese who were able to access Western music on a large scale. As music is a socio-cultural product, this did not only impact on their music taste, but for all of them, this experience had a profound personal impact (see also Shankar, 2000). This music gave access to another cultural world, which, up to that point in time, was largely unknown and inaccessible in China. In the 1990s, this music allowed young Chinese the opportunity to hear about another way of life, other social (and sexual) values and lifestyles. It also contributed to a growing awareness of the tight political restrictions in China, in contrast to the much more liberal political systems in the West with their extensive personal freedoms. These (new) values became a central element in the identity finding process of many young Chinese, especially those who were already socially and politically aware. All our respondents commented on the connection between their self-identity and the values they perceived Western music stood for. Typical comments were the following. Since its beginnings Western popular music, especially rock music, represents [for me] a number of standards and values. A large part of these values perfectly match my understanding of life, therefore music becomes a symbol and an attitude for life. R7 Western music has a relatively great influence on my life, such as the development of interests, behaviour and manner of talking to a certain extent y I don’t care about what other people care about today like a house or a car. This may keep people away from me. But I get on very well with friends who love musicy I have long hair and wear glasses, may look like a so-called art youth. Most of my friends are also involved in this circle. R1
5.1. Self-identity, self-congruity and early impact of Western music
[Western popular music influences] my lifestyle, being honest, straight and open. I buy everything related to Metal, CDs, vinyls, clothes accessories, wear old denim vets, slim jeans, leather jacket etcy. R5
All respondents without exceptions referred to the importance of Western popular music in their music listening experiences.
[I] got to know many Western myths and the dark side of contemporary Western society through this music. I learnt the
5. Findings and discussion
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trumpet and guitar under the influence of Western popular music as well. R8 In a highly collectivist and conformist society as China, music thus became both a tool for the expression of uniqueness and individualism and a product of ‘symbolic consumption’ (Larsen et al., 2009), representing access to and involvement with a new and foreign world. For some respondents, it also had practical consequences like learning to play instruments, get involved in bands or it even influenced their career choices (see Appendix). The mere fact that they were interested in Western music meant for our respondents (and anyone else of their generation in China) almost inevitably a connection to the underground scene, as the legal channels, i.e., radio and TV limited the time of Western music, and on the import market only a small number of titles were available. Between 1978 and the early 1990s ‘dakou’ was the only channel of music that permitted listening to large amounts of different Western popular music. This was reflected in the interviews, all respondents had engaged in purchasing ‘dakou’ products in the early years of their Western music consumption. For some individuals, ‘dakou’ products were formative to their music consumption experiences: I went through the entire process of the prosperity of ‘dakou’ until its total decline, since the first time of buying ‘dakou’ tape in 1992, till the last time in 2000. R10 It was quite early, around 1990, I had some friends around who listened to music from ‘dakou’ and I also knew a few international students. We had parties together and listened to music. What they brought to me was quite powerful and innovative. There was neither mobile phone nor the Internet, all the information was communicated by word-of-mouth. ‘Avantgarde’ would be the right word to represent the status of ‘dakou’ music at that time. Ordinary Chinese people rarely listened to foreign music, let alone assorted rock music or even pop music. R14 The ‘dakou’ culture enhanced the position of music culture in the minds of Chinese students at that time because of scarcity and low accessibility of music products, [it made us] us especially value our physical records. So sometimes I feel people in my generation love music far more than the Western youth in the same age group who have grown up in an environment where resources were much richer. R7 However, in the late 1990s, the importance of the ‘dakou’ culture declined, as pirated music products became available on a large scale. In turn, these were supplemented and replaced by downloads from the Internet. Income levels were rising and consumers were no longer reliant on buying damaged tapes or CDs. One of the former ‘dakou’ dealers describes the end of this era of music consumption in China. He had been asked what made him stop selling ‘dakou’ tapes and CDs. The government—this kind of stuff was more or less ‘illegal’. The authorities came and investigated from time to time. My stocks were confiscated and I lost a fortune. Also, people were thinking more favourably about originals and the consumption power was rising. More and more consumers preferred buying original CDs instead of cracked tapes or CDs. In the Internet age, more channels emerged and the market for tangible formats was rapidly shrinking, [and] therefore the competitiveness of ‘dakou’ was further reduced. R14 Whilst the ‘dakou’ market declined, its role was taken on by firstly by pirated CDs and tapes and more recently by downloads from the Internet. This was reflected in our interviews – although all respondents had been involved in the ‘dakou’ culture, they
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began to buy pirated products at some time because these were undamaged and still much less expensive than original CDs or tapes. Today, the purchase of physical counterfeit copies has been replaced by the popularity of file sharing. Our respondents argued that they downloaded from the Internet because the legitimate market could not (and cannot) fulfil their music purchase requirements and downloading allowed them to try new or different music.
5.2. Current music consumption As the access and the choice of format is a core element of music consumption, respondents were also asked about their music format purchasing behaviour, and their perceptions of the different physical music formats. Cassette tapes held a central position as a music format throughout the 1980s and 1990s, but today are much less important. The decline of the cassette tape was directly tied to the changes in technology – today more than half of the respondents no longer own a proper cassette player, and thus are unable to listen to music in this format. Consequently, they do not buy tapes anymore. Those respondents who still own a player also still buy cassettes occasionally. Vinyl records (LPs) are valued as a nostalgic, yet highly valuable, music product in terms of a range of features to most of the interviewees. Some respondents perceived the sound quality to be different, with a warmer and richer sound. However, as with cassette tapes, most respondents did not own a record player and were thus unable to play music on records. Respondents emphasised the physicality and feeling of authenticity of vinyl records. This finding is not unique to China, there has also been a ‘comeback’ of vinyl especially in the American market (Dell, 2008; James and Grogan, 2011; Felten, 2012). Today the most prominent physical format purchased are CDs. This was confirmed by all respondents, for example R5 commented that ‘‘it is still one of the most popular music formats’’. Digital music files are now being accepted and preferred when respondents experiment with music, exploring a large number of artists, particular underground and not-yet-known musicians and bands. Very few our respondents were willing to pay for downloads as they could not see the point of paying for something that was available for ‘free’. Despite this, the respondents in this study still like to buy physical copies, primarily in the form of CDs, for their favourite music. Despite the fact that Western popular music is much easier accessible today than it was a decade ago, restrictions remain. Both artists and their music are censored by the Ministry of Culture, and if a song or an artist is considered as having ‘‘poor taste and vulgar content’’, or ‘‘illegal or unlicensed content’’ (Global Times, 2009), they will be banned. For example, at the time of writing, Bjork, Miley Cyrus, Jay-Z and Oasis are banned from playing in mainland China completely (Sharp, 2010; Walker, 2010). There are restrictions on play lists for both live performances and recorded music (Lynski, 2011). In this way, music fans in China are still have to resort to illegal channels (downloading or pirating) if they wish to experience a full range of Western music. The censorship system stops lots of releases from getting licensed in China, and most people cannot afford imported releases which usually cost more than US$15. R3 The existence of the piracy market tells [us] that people desire to consume music. But many of them have to buy counterfeits due to some very real restrictions such as over-priced original CDs and narrow selections y. R8
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I think Western popular music is a market with huge potential in China but [that] is not well developed. There are always plenty of consumers in the Chinese market. So hopefully this market can be more open, consumption only takes place when goods are available. But at the moment supply does not meet the demand. R13 However, it is not only censorship that restricts access to Western music, other factors also contribute to limited access. We asked our respondents about their attendance of live music events – all of them had attend ended life music events but in comparison to many Western music fans Chinese consumers are much less involved with live performances of Western music. The small number of Western musicians performing in mainland China, relatively high transport costs and long distances between gig locations reduce accessibility to live performances of Western music. Typical statements were the following: There are not too many Western musicians coming to perform in China, although the number is increasing in recent years. The budget is also high every time I go to a gig because the geographical location of my home city is not good [convenient]. R1 There are not too many bands or artists who tour China so if they come then it may be the only chance to see them in China. R6 [I am rarely going to live music] y ticket prices is one of the reasons, and stuff we like is different. Also there are few gigs around. It would cost a lot for transport when going out of the town. R8 For music fans in China, even today, nearly 25 years after the reforms from 1978, legal access to Western music is not unrestricted. Censorship of both recorded and live music is still firmly in place. Concerning live music, the practicalities of accessing gigs and concerts mitigate against achieving a similar level of performance attendance as can be found by Western fans. 5.3. The future In addition to being asked about their current music consumption and choice of music formats, respondents were also asked about their views on the future viability of physical music formats in the Chinese market. Here, collectability emerged as an important aspect of the interviews. This was mentioned by the majority of the respondents. Collecting music was regarded as an important way of supporting their favourite artists, especially in this age of music digitalization. These respondents were music fans and supporters, and all collected music. R3 even referred to himself as a ‘collector type’ and claimed to have a collection of ‘‘about 1300 CDs, 600 vinyl records, [and] 200 tapes’’. This is both an interesting and important aspect – despite the shift from acquiring recorded music as tapes, CDs or vinyl records to the use of digital MP3 player files, dedicated music fans still like to own a hard copy, a tangible music format of their favourite artists. A recurring theme was the impact of political constraints on music consumption and the effects they have. The comment below summarises in a very succinct way the current situation of the music industry in China. The Chinese music industry is facing the same problems as literature, painting, movies and other art industries. Most works of art are only from underground or overseas without freedom of creation. There is no future for a culture industry where the underground channel is prosperous but the formal
one is poory. The Chinese culture industry’s problem is not business related, not counterfeits or consumption perceptions, but a political problem. No way to sort it. R9 In this context perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of this research is the fact that many of our respondents have chosen to live abroad. Whilst this can be attributed to a whole range of factors and is likely to be only partially related to the fact that our respondents are music fans, their music preferences and consumption were undoubtedly key contributing factors for their decision to move abroad. Whilst the choice of location often depended on opportunity, the decision to leave China reflected that for this group of young people a less restrictive environment, free from censorship and political pressure is important – and became important after exposure to Western music. Such an environment provides an attractive alternative to their birth nation, where there is still a danger of being penalised for freely expressing opinions in lyrics or lifestyle. For their music consumption, a move to a Western nation also meant easier access to a wider range of music, and no restriction to (illegal) downloads when non-mainstream music is required.
6. Implications This paper set out to review the development of Western music consumption in China from a consumer perspective. The formation of Western popular music consumption patterns and motivations for consumption among highly involved Chinese consumers was investigated. In this final section, the personal, political, social–cultural and managerial implications of Western music consumption amongst the group of respondents will be discussed. 6.1. Socio-cultural implications The consumption of Western popular music in China is characterised by its connection to the changing political and social landscape. Before 1978, access to Western popular music was severely restricted, and even after this point in time, Chinese music consumers could not access Western popular music easily. ‘Dakou’ tapes and CDs offered, for many consumers, the first opportunity to explore new forms of music, later the role of these tapes and CD’s was replaced by counterfeit tapes and CDs, and later still by (illegal) Internet downloads. Both ‘dakou’ and counterfeit media made Western popular music widely available in an environment that was characterised by political censorship and low disposable incomes. In the age of the Internet, this ‘underground’ role has now been taken on by file sharing on the Internet. The Chinese context very clearly depicts the contradictory nature of ‘popular music’ as a commodity and a medium of social change, which, for the highly involved respondents in this research, represented a formative influence on their life. For many of them, Western music consumption became a vehicle to explore Western social and cultural values, express themselves and to create a match between the two; and with that, a contributing factor to leave the restrictive environment in China and move abroad. The power of Western popular music as a medium for social change is reflected in the notion that Western pop and rock music substantially contributed to the collapse of the Communist system in the former Soviet Union and its satellite states by creating both a black market and an underground culture with social and political values that contributed to the demise of socialism. (Troitsky, 1988; Ryback, 1990; Woodhead, 2009; Rohter, 2009; Zhuk, 2010). As in the former Eastern Bloc, Western
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popular music in China is an important part of the rapidly changing social and political landscape. The Chinese leadership recognises both its importance and potential influence, and therefore still restricts access through censorship. However, censorship is not the only barrier to access to Western popular music in China. The number of Western musical performances is still limited, especially in relation to the size of the country so that physical distances and transports costs impact on the accessibility of live music. Nevertheless, modern Chinese music fans like to explore new music and new artists, and therefore use the Internet extensively to use MP3 files to explore new music or favourite artists. Amongst our respondents, many of them have also chosen to escape the restrictive environment in China and now live abroad, free to express themselves in a lifestyle and music consumption of their choice.
6.2. Managerial implications From a managerial point of view, several of our respondents pointed out that the restrictions on music and the comparatively high prices of original music have prevented China from developing a ‘normal’ music market and have created a situation in which most music consumers almost entirely use (illegal) downloading to access music on an everyday basis. Even if the political restrictions are entirely removed, it is now unlikely that such entrenched consumer behaviour can be successfully challenged. Therefore, rather than wasting resources on trying to curb what is an ubiquitous phenomenon in China, a way forward for recording studios might be to offer free downloads themselves, explicitly marketed as tasters for new albums and perhaps in conjunction with discount offers such as vouchers for the purchase of the whole physical album. Another way to make money in this market might be the customised bundling of music as a paid service (Hayes, 2011; Warr and Goode, 2011).
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However, despite the prevalence of downloading, for the highly involved music consumers in this research, digital music was by no means the major and only way to appreciate music. For these music fans, both the physicality and collectability of music formats were important aspects, and motivators to continue to buy physical media. At the same time, downloads were seen as an economical way to explore music, with little willingness to pay for music that was ‘freely’ available anyway. As collectability was a recurrent theme in this research, adding value to physical formats is an important consideration. For example, the packaging of a physical medium can enhance value significantly. The importance of this issue has already been recognised by the global music industry, with limited editions, boxed sets and other added-value features. Especially in a market where counterfeits and ‘free’ downloads are extremely prominent, the ‘collectability’ of physical media needs to be emphasised, even more than this is the case in other markets. In summary, the socio-cultural and political environment has deeply shaped the music consumption of our highly involved Chinese music fans. For many of them, exposure to Western music triggered significant changes in their lives. Their identity formation, self-perception and reference group choice were deeply influenced. It also made them aware of the restrictions of their home environment, so that the (underground) ‘dakou’ culture became the home for many of our respondents, to be replaced by equally illegal downloading of file sharing sites (although they still value physical copies of their favourite music) today. Ultimately many of these people left China to live in environments where the expression of their identity and values is easier.
7. Limitations and further research The empirical part of this study relies only on a small number of respondents, and all respondents in this research are younger
Table A1 Respond- Age Gender Occupation ent
Preferred music genres Location (if not indicated otherwise, respondent still lives in their home town)
Involvement with Western popular music
1
28
M
Nanchang, southern China
Runs for labels of different styles.
2
20
M
3
21
M
4
32
M
5
29
M
6
24
M
7
23
M
8 9
22 36
M M
10
34
M
11
31
F
12 13
20 23
F F
14
36
M
Record label owner Student
Audio engineer Assistant manager Clerk Internet marketing Student
Metal, dark music, post rock
Post rock, progressive rock, alternative Plays in a band, used to do interviews for a rock, folk, nu-metal, grindcore, J-pop, music magazine jazz, blues New Zealand, originally from Metal, classic Rock, wave/synth pop Runs a label, has three bands, records for other Tangshan, northern China bands France, originally from Zhengzhou, Folk, classical, jazz, soul, rock, Personal interest northern China soundtrack, modern musical fusion France, originally from Lanzhou, Metal, classical, post rock ‘Metal’ lifestyle, used to play in a band western China Hangzhou, eastern China Metal, folk, punk rock Personal interest
Beijing, originally from Kunming, southern China
France, originally from Nanjing, eastern China Panjin, northern China Beijing
Rock, folk, post punk, metal, classical
Had a band and individual music projects. Plans to get involved in music distribution. Student Metal, techno, jazz, pop, hip-hop Plays trumpet and guitar. Personal interest Record label Extreme metal, dark music, noise and Runs underground music label, editor of several owner industrial music music magazines. Ran a web-based radio station for some years. Administrator Hangzhou, eastern China Dark music, metal, rock, early pop, Former ‘dakou’ seller e.g., sting Germany, originally from northern Early pop, e.g., sting Writes for music magazines, helps to translate Translator/ China articles related to music. language teacher Student Tianjin, northern China Pop, rock Personal interest Student France, originally from Xian, Pop, post rock, indie, alternative, folk Plays guitar. Used to play in band. western China rock Magazine Beijing Rock, metal, old-school hard-core/ Former ‘dakou’seller, personal interest editor punk
270
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than 40 years of age, and thus have experienced the rise of Western music consumption in China in conjunction with the changing political landscape. Music preferences and political awareness are often linked, as are lifestyle and self image. Most of the respondents did not state general mainstream pop but more ‘alternative’ genres of popular music as their preferred music genres, indicating a potentially higher socio-political awareness than that of the ‘average’ young Chinese music consumer. The fact that some interviews were conducted in Mandarin and others in English may also have influenced the results, but the choice of language was left to the respondents, allowing them to choose the language they felt most comfortable in. There could also be a gender bias. This research has also deliberately marginalised the details of downloading behaviour, as many other studies deal with this in more detail (e.g., Chiou et al., 2005; Easley, 2005; Al-Rafee and Cronan, 2006; Bhattacharjee et al., 2006; Priest, 2006; Chiang and Assane, 2008; Coyle et al., 2009; Wang et al., 2009; Hayes, 2011). Potentially a broader, much larger deductive study could build on the qualitative findings of this study. Whilst a different epistemological approach could have been chosen and perhaps a larger group of respondents would have raised the generalisability of the findings, the authors believe that this research would have lost much of the depth and the distinctive experience of these music-loving respondents, whose lives have been shaped by the emerging availability of Western music.
Acknowledgements We gratefully acknowledge the help of our interviewees who gave their time freely to provide information for this project.
Appendix. Details of respondents See Table A1 below.
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