Music to Their Ears
Interview with Zhang Jincan, Founder of DDC
China Pictorial (CP): What are your future plans for DDC?
Zhang Jincan (Zhang): DDC is a multi-variant, open platform for cultural communication, primarily featuring music, but also other media ranging from modern art and photography to movies and reading. As a functional platform, it creates space for patrons and cultural workers to share information and communicate.
Moreover, I believe in “open source,” in which everyone can contribute. My role is simply curating and providing supporting services. Today, the content of music is pretty important, but how to deliver to be enjoyed by fans while still benefiting the artist has become a question. This is why a platform is so valuable. DDC was established to serve as a new, open and fair platform enabling greater numbers of people to participate in collaboration resulting in shared music.
CP: How does DDC turn a profitas a platform for independent music?
Zhang: Well, today, Beijing is seeing positive growth in the development of independent music: Both the spectators and city are embracing it through greater proliferation of festivals and construction of more stages. The market is thriving.
DDC has been making money since the day it was founded because we found many ways to stay in the black in terms of scale and resource allocation. On the basis of daily operation, we serve a lot of nice drinks. We have also attracted commercial sponsors who not only pay for promotion, but also for branding.
CP: So many independent brands are passionate about ideals. What’s your dream for DDC? Will you stop chasing your dream?
Zhang: I think I should have passion, but that’s not what our customers pay for. Regardless of my brand, each act should be independent with its own team, its own operation, and its own product.
My brand was born with the U-dastan Ensemble, which teams up veteran musicians who can perfectly fuse traditional Uygur music with modern approaches. Our collaboration has injected new voices into Chinese music circles. As far as management is concerned, we are fairly green, but I think I have what it takes.