Overseas sound waves crescendo
Foreign musicians are finding their flow on Chinese streaming platforms,
When American singer-songwriter Galen Crew returned to the stage for the encore during his show in Beijing on Jan 10, which was the final performance of his Troubadour Tour, the crowd started singing Beijing Welcomes You, a song released in 2008 to mark the 100-day countdown of that year’s Beijing Olympic Games.
“I was so moved, and it nearly brought me to tears. There was so much love between us in the room. It was truly an unforgettable moment,” says Crew.
The singer-songwriter released his first song, Sleepyhead, from his 2016 album,
Acoustic Daydreams, on Chinese musicstreaming platforms, including NetEase Cloud Music — one of China’s leading streaming services, which has about 800 million registered users.
Since then, he has gained a large fan base in China, touring the country twice in 2016 and once in 2019. So far, he has released over 80 songs on NetEase Cloud Music.
Sleepyhead has racked up over 60,000 comments on NetEase Cloud Music, and his channel on that platform has about 290,000 followers.
“Chinese music streaming platforms have given me a chance to connect with an audience I might not have reached otherwise. I spend hours each week responding to fan comments and interacting with them. These platforms have allowed me to have quite a unique international connection with them, which feels really special,” says Crew, who started putting more effort into expanding his Chinese fan base around 2016, when he realized that fans in China were embracing his music more than anyone else around the world.
“Many Chinese fans have told me that my music has a healing effect on them and that it brings them a sense of calm or peace. The number of fans that say this exact thing is very striking to me, because my name, Galen, actually means ‘healer’ or ‘calm’. And I don’t think most of them are aware of that. The heartfelt messages I receive from fans give me motivation to continue creating, with the hope of impacting more lives in a genuine way,” he adds.
The singer-songwriter actually wrote a song while in China on his first tour, called
Fragrance, and filmed a music video for it in Shanghai and Guangzhou, Guangdong province.
He also says that another interesting fact is that his music is currently not very popular in his home country. So, the way that Chinese listeners celebrate it has been a great reminder that it’s a big world out there. He also wrote a song, I Know Your Name, by working with a friend who speaks Chinese. His friend wrote the lyrics in Chinese, which led Crew to write his first song in another language.
“This is something I often tell other independent artists in America, who only think of success in terms of how it’s defined in the US: be open-minded and think globally. Having your music become popular in a different country than the one you’re from is a beautiful thing,” he says.
According to the global music report released by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry in March 2023, China — as Asia’s second-largest market — saw a significant rise of 28.4 percent in revenue, pushing it into the top five markets globally for the first time.
“The significant growth of fans in China who pay for streaming services naturally makes the market healthy and attractive for foreign artists. There are also a growing number of homegrown musicians who become new forces for collaboration when foreign artists consider expanding their fan bases,” says Wei Yuan, vice-president of copyrights of NetEase Cloud Music. “The paid ecosystem is established, and international artists cannot ignore it.”
Wei says registered foreign artists account for more than one-third of the 1,000 most popular artists, and the number is going up.
“Our platform users are open to a diversity of music styles, such as hip-hop and R&B, and we also help these foreign artists launch tours in China, as well as help them build a presence on Chinese online platforms by communicating with Chinese fans,” Wei adds.
China’s music-streaming platforms also offer their own form of social media, allowing verified artists to post photos and videos to their profiles for users to “like” and comment on.
Canadian rapper Alexander Leon Gumuchian, who’s known by his stage name, bbno$, is one of the most popular rappers on NetEase Cloud Music. His song, Lalala, has been played on the platform over 150 million times.
The rapper has been keeping in touch with his Chinese fans since 2017 by releasing songs on Chinese streaming platforms.
“The first time that I found out about my popularity in China was a huge shock to me. Also, growing up in Vancouver, Canada, most of my friends were of Asian descent, and lots being Chinese. I deeply appreciated the culture prior to having success in the market,” says the rapper, who was born in 1995 and has released seven studio albums since 2017.
He adds that he learned Mandarin when he was home-schooled.
He has released nearly 200 songs on Chinese streaming platforms, including some created exclusively for China. He also has collaborated with Chinese artists, such as female rapper Vava.
“The world is so interconnected via social media these days,” adds Gumuchian, who will return to China with a tour in September and October.
Among China’s younger listeners, songs often go viral on social media apps like Sina Weibo and Douyin, so active social media presences help artists expand their fan bases. Many young Chinese are bilingual, which allows them to communicate with foreign artists without language barriers.
“It’s been seven years since the first time I listened to your song. And now I’m a university student; your songs have been accompanying me throughout my youth, creating lasting memories,” comments a fan of Danish pop singer-songwriter Christopher Nissen.
Another fan of Nissen writes: “You are the most hardworking artist I have ever seen — you keep updating your social media frequently.”
With nearly 200,000 followers on his Sina Weibo account, Nissen communicates with his fans in China and keeps them posted about his tours in Chinese cities.
“Nihao to all my friends in China! I am so excited to share great news with you: I’ll be back in China on tour this year! I know many of you have been waiting patiently these years. And I can’t wait to bring my music to you in person,” the singer-songwriter posted on his Sina Weibo on Sept 16.
“It feels truly amazing. I feel the Chinese fans have been incredible over the years and have been with me for around 10 years now. China was actually the first country outside of Denmark that I had hits in, so it feels very special to me,” Nissen tells China Daily.
Born in 1992 and having five albums to his name, the singer-songwriter has gained about 780,000 fans on QQ Music, one of the streaming platforms that are part of the Tencent Music Entertainment Group, a leading online music-and-audio platform in China.
The first song he released on Chinese streaming platforms was Against the Odds
in 2011. So far, he has released more than 200 tracks in China, including remixes and acoustic versions.
“I kept having success with songs, and I was amazed to be met by fans already at the airport (when) arriving. It was truly memorable and unbelievable to grasp that my music connected so far away from home. It was like a dream,” says Nissen, who has also made appearances on Chinese TV shows.
Norwegian singer-songwriter Aurora Aksnes made her first trip to Beijing last year. Besides performances and meetand-greets with fans, she spent a week in the capital enjoying cultural experiences like listening to pipa (four-stringed lute) music, tasting tea and wearing traditional Chinese clothes.
“It’s important that our cultures merge. Music and art get to stretch their arms as far as possible,” says the singer-songwriter, whose album, Touch,
received warm feedback on Chinese musicstreaming platforms.