"Top Ten Hot Songs of the Year" are all short video songs. Is the


Chinese music scene really going to end?

◎Sword ware

　　On the evening of December 11, the third TMEA Tencent Music Entertainment Festival, known as "National Music Entertainment Event in the Chinese Music Circle", closed at the Venetian Macao's Cotai Arena.

The "Top Ten Hot Songs of the Year" were announced at the ceremony. Short video songs such as "Clouds and the Sea", "Treading the Mountains and Rivers", "White Moonlight and Cinnabar Moles", "The Prodigal Son", "The Shepherd of the Cocoa Sea" and other short video songs took all the seats.

One stone caused a thousand waves of waves, and the "Top Ten Hot Songs of the Year" quickly became the focus of hot discussions across the Internet. Related topics #华语乐坛# have received nearly 200 million views on Sina Weibo.

　　Music lovers, music practitioners, or people who eat melons have all participated in the discussion. Some people are heartbroken that the Chinese music scene is about to end, and some claim that we should not overthrow the past and the present, and seek truth from facts to evaluate the current development of the music industry.

In most Internet disputes, in the end, each has its own reason, and each does not accept the other's reason.

Under this circumstance, it is better to put aside the controversy and use the phenomenon that short video songs monopolize the annual hot song list as an opportunity to discuss the industry rules of Chinese pop music and the update and iteration of the audience population over time, or it may be more beneficial.

　　Can hot songs represent the Chinese music scene?

　　Only by clarifying what hot songs are and how they come from can we know whether hot songs can represent the Chinese music scene.

First of all, according to the encyclopedia, the Tencent Music Entertainment Festival is an annual music event jointly created by music platforms including QQ Music, Kugou Music, Kuwo Music, and National K Song.

According to the organizer, the annual award of Tencent Music Entertainment Festival "enables richer and diversified data and fan dialogues. Based on the massive users and huge data of Tencent Music Entertainment Group, it comprehensively considers the time dimension, list results, market value, etc. In terms of factors, the various awards selected.” Therefore, it can be roughly said that the “Top Ten Hot Songs of the Year” is a list drawn by the organizer based on the broadcast data of its streaming media platforms.

In addition, works whose copyright is not in the Tencent Music Entertainment Group cannot participate in the selection.

Therefore, it naturally cannot represent the Chinese music scene.

　　Ironically, the selection of many authoritative awards is influenced by the human factors of the judges, but the "Top Ten Songs of the Year" may be the fairest award, because it almost only looks at data.

It seems unbelievable, but in fact it is reasonable. It illustrates a phenomenon that has always existed but has been ignored: the "silent majority" has been seen-they have been caught by big data, and they have begun to speak out.

　　Who is "producing" the explosions?

　　Although silence does not mean non-existence, in traditional communication effects, sometimes silence does mean non-existence.

It is appropriate to use the term "silent majority" to describe the audience of Chinese pop music. Compared with actively choosing songs to listen to, these people are more accustomed to being fed.

Before the Internet age, they listened to almost any song on the market.

In contrast, some music fans or music practitioners choose songs in another way. They not only have the ability to actively search for songs that match their own taste, but also have a little understanding of song creation or production.

　　In the past years, even in the early Internet era, the former, the "silent majority", did not grasp the trend of music-related public opinion. Public opinion was composed of a community of media, music critics, and record companies, plus music awards such as the Golden Melody Award. leading.

From the rise of digital music, mp3 and other formats, the traditional recording industry has been impacted and the industry has begun to transform. The rules have changed: the music market and public opinion that was once controlled by a few people have been divided by more newcomers.

　　During this period, the most representative phenomena include the "mobile phone ring back tone" that began in 2000, the "traffic star" around 2014, and the short video bursts today. The essence of the phenomenon is the development of new technologies to allow more audiences. Access to music in a more convenient way.

With the popularity of smartphones, the audience of popular songs is no longer limited to young people who are pursuing trends. More middle-aged and elderly people join the ranks of popular music appreciation. There is even a trend of catching up from behind. Among them, square dance BGM (background music) ) Is a good example.

The rise of platforms such as Weibo gave traffic stars a place to survive. Afterwards, short video software such as Douyin became popular, and its precise algorithms coordinated with the sinking of the market, allowing popular hot songs to spread virally among the crowd.

Where there is demand, there will be products. With this as a cycle, relevant music practitioners will connect the music industry with the market and the public in a "short, flat and fast" manner under the premise of profit-oriented.

　　The sea anemone music, which can be called an explosive production machine, is the most typical example. The winners of this year’s hot song, such as the big seed singing "White Moonlight and Cinnabar Mole", and Wang Jingwen singing "Occupied" are all from this company. company.

Based on market research and big data analysis, Haikui has made a complete production line for hit songs.

According to data, they have a massive music library of over 560,000 and nearly 10,000 unreleased demos.

The hot song market produced by the company accounts for 15% of the market, and the cumulative playback volume exceeds 10 billion times.

This order of magnitude is difficult for traditional record companies to achieve in a short period of time.

　　The rules are changing. With the popularity of short videos and capital, the Chinese pop music world is increasingly moving towards content-based industrialization.

Content parties and platforms have divided most of their profits. Traditional record companies are facing increasingly severe challenges. Rather than angrily saying that it is finished, it is better to say that they are facing another new upheaval.

　　The world of music is extremely rich and diverse

　　"The world is big, I want to see." The world of songs is the same.

Thanks to the convenience of the information age, more and more songs can be listened to online through streaming media.

For music listeners, if you want to, you can actually find more music that meets your taste, even if it is a very popular song, although there is no way to listen online, most of it can be obtained through the Internet.

　　For music creators, besides hot songs, there are also more creative directions.

For example, the band culture re-detonated through "Summer of Bands", we can now feel how the band culture that emerged in Europe and the United States in the 1960s has taken root and grown in China, and how these bands and musicians have gone from pop music to rock, folk music, and music. Jazz, electronic music and other styles to create, thereby expanding the style of Chinese music; another example is the "City Pop" that emerged in the Showa era in Japan, which is sought after by today’s subculture lovers for its soothing and relaxed urban style. Fan "Vapor" retro style song creation craze; another example this year, whether it is Cui Jian, Dou Wei, Xie Tianxiao and other music veterans, or up-and-coming stars such as "Mr. Turtle" and "Dirty Fingers" are still releasing high-quality new Albums; more and more creators, whether they are graduates of music academies or young people with music hobbies, are directly interacting with the audience by means of live broadcasts and offline performances... These are all we are arguing about in the Chinese music world. Whether it's finished, what's happening right now.

　　Understand the current situation of the music industry and put aside the controversy, you will find a fact: more and more people are listening to music, and more and more people are starting to make music.

As long as you open a music app, or walk into a Livehosue, you can discover new music and new musicians. The scale of music participants and audiences is increasing as never before.

It is both an opportunity and a challenge. The future of Chinese music is like a boat sailing in the mist.

Whether it is an industrial bubble or the birth of a new pattern has yet to be tested by the market and time.

But for music creators and fans, stepping out of their own information cocoon and embracing the larger world of music may be the best action right now.