A major development in the music industries in recent years has been the rise of 'unsigned' or 'self-releasing' musicians (sometimes problematically called 'DIY musicians' or 'independent musicians') who upload music directly to music streaming platforms (MSPs). This article examines the distinctive way in which Chinese MSPs have sought to incorporate such selfreleasing musicians into their platform eco-systems and what it tells us about the ways in which digital platforms commodify cultural expression. We show that a remarkable new system has developed in China, based on evolving dynamics of platform power and state-business relations, and very high levels of concentration and integration. Yet the work of independent, selfreleasing musicians is playing a much bigger part in the Chinese system than in other parts of the world, allowing them to reach audiences in ways that were not previously possible. Drawing on critical studies of digital platforms and of the historical development of the music industries, we show that this apparent democratisation also represents an incorporation and commodification of activity that would often previously have taken place beyond the music industries, in ways that place constraints on the cultural autonomy of self-releasing musicians.
This paper presents a study of an artistic resistance project in China, “Everybody’s Donghu (East Lake),” held in 2010, 2012, and 2014 with the aim of intervening in the commercial development of an urban scenic space. It aims to demonstrate the practices of resistance in public spaces, particularly in the context of an authoritarian regime such as China, as opposed to democratic societies. First, the recent development of protest and forms of resistance in China will be discussed. It will then focus on the arising conflicts between the conceptualization of an urban space by the urban planners and the imagination of it by the participants. This is followed by a discussion of the tactics deployed in this event, focusing on how the participants appropriate urban space for their own use through performance. Finally, it explores how technology is used in the practices of resistance, concerning the representation of the area through utilization of online space. Overall, this paper argues that appropriating and representing urban space can open up new possibilities of resistance to power and control in the process of urban transformation.
This article presents a study on the punk phenomenon in China, with a focus on how the punk musicians create new spaces within music production and performances. More importantly, it will examine how these spaces and acts of performance engage with political structures in contemporary China. By analyzing the impact that the political and economic changes of recent decades have had on the nature of Chinese society and culture, the article will first set out to understand the social context in which the punk phenomenon emerged and developed in China. Drawing on interviews with Chinese punk musicians, a discussion of the politics of place will show how a Chinese punk band has challenged a dominated space by performing in the Tiananmen Square. Informed by Attali’s theoretical discussion on “noise”, the next focus will be on an exploration of the process of power negotiation in performing punk music and seeking punk authenticity through non-conforming practices at government/institution-sponsored events. Overall, it is argued that punk performance can carve out a space for alternative political aspirations through interaction with authoritative figures (e.g. in resisting the existing powers), thus challenging state power and institutional oppression in China.
This paper addresses the importance of singer-songwriters to understanding China's contemporary folk music ethos. Instead of considering singer-songwriters as those who perform their own material, this paper examines them as a discursive field that involves the notion of authorship. The first part of the paper revisits the history of singer-songwriters as a thickening process of the aesthetic and sociological voices in their singular authoritarian role. Drawing on Negus's “unbundling” concept, the myth of singer-songwriters' heightened investment of authorship is deconstructed via analysis of the dynamic relationships between the song, the performance and the real author. We then demonstrate three kinds of authorship across three phases of the making of folk singer-songwriters, namely confession, parody and scenius. The analysis reveals why and how the making of singer-songwriters and the issue of authorship are useful to the understanding of contemporary folk ethos in China. Overall, the transformation of authorship in the making of singer-songwriters reveals the complexity of textual narratives, the expansion of performance approaches, and the enhancement of sociological agency in the evolution of contemporary folk music. Folk music carves out a distinctive space for reflection on the process of urbanization and its effects on the thought and practice of people of different cultural, social and ethnic backgrounds.
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