New Music Industry Observation original article, unauthorized reproduction is prohibited
Author | Zhu Li Ke
At the end of the year, we can all review the songs we heard this year in the year-end summary of the music app: which songs have been repeated as singles Many times, which singer is our favorite... Every year, we silently make a personal annual list in our hearts.
What if we look at the entire Chinese music scene?
Among the millions of new songs released every year, which songs are collected by hundreds of millions of music fans? Which songs are more recommended by professionals? Which singers have received dual affirmation of user preference and quality reputation... Everyone has a possible answer in their mind, but it is difficult to make a list for the Chinese music scene throughout the year, so we need a list to review this What happened in the Chinese music scene?
The annual list released by Tencent Music Chart on January 23 allows music industry practitioners and music fans to see the full picture of Chinese music and the Chinese music scene in 2023 from multiple perspectives such as data, market, and aesthetics.
Fast food hot songs are on the wane, but quality is picking up
Tencent Music Chart 2023 annual list will first present the "Top Ten Songs of the Year" and the "Top Ten Singers of the Year". A major feature of the top ten songs and top ten singers is the convergence between the professional ratings of the singers and works on the list and the audience big data. In short, it is a combination of word-of-mouth and market - . This is due to the ingenious "dual list integration" mechanism of Tencent Music Chart: starting from 2022, Tencent Music Chart will integrate the data-oriented Your List + quality-oriented The wave list jointly outlines the popular trajectory of the Chinese music scene in the previous year.
In the field of music, flow and quality have never been a pair of antonyms, and now the two are back on the same line again. Among the top ten songs of the year on the Tencent Music Chart, "It's Mom, It's Daughter" and "Rakshasa Sea" are all "exquisite" in terms of lyrics, composition, singing, emotion, production, and even artistry and literature. They also won the Widely loved by hundreds of millions of music fans.
The selection of the top ten singers in the Tencent Music List also reveals that these singers have received dual recognition from user preferences and professional recommendations. Take Yuan Yawei, one of the top ten singers of the year on the Tencent Music List, as an example. Her new album "In Inherent Imbalance (Allure)" released last year invited Golden Melody Award songwriter Ge Dawei and Golden Melody Award composer Chen Jianqi made a bold attempt in music style that was different from the past. Not only was he recommended by the judges of the Wave List, but he also achieved better performance in terms of data.
For all musicians who create, it is indeed an "innate imbalance" to take into account both quality and popularity. But this kind of "imbalance" is not something that needs to be considered when creating, but is evaluated by the market and word-of-mouth after the song is released.
Tencent Music Chart's annual list is to select music works that have both popularity and quality, that is, "acclaimed and well-received". Compared with pure judges' recommended lists, which may face "high and low-key", pure traffic-oriented lists may face "Shoddy", the annual list of Tencent Music Chart is an extremely rare "balance".
Through the annual list of Tencent Music Chart, we can see that: the Chinese music market in 2023 shows a trend of returning to quality content. Even on the purely data-oriented You You list, the number of "fast food songs" has dropped significantly compared with previous years. The audience seems to have had enough of the chaos in the music scene where bad money drives out good money, and the entire market has finally returned to a more rational state.
After the changes in 2023, 2024 may be an important "watershed" in the Chinese music scene.
Face "differentiation" head-on and embrace the blooming of a hundred flowers
In addition, another trend shown in the 2023 Tencent Music Chart is "differentiation". The "differentiation" mentioned by here is not a differentiation in genres, but a richer diversity presented by the entire annual list.
Today, with the diversity of channels, the diversity of users’ entertainment methods, and the diversity of users’ music preferences, coupled with the unprecedented abundance of music content production, from an objective point of view, even if we miss it very much, it is difficult for us to return to the Chinese language of 20 years ago. The music scene.
Therefore, the industry needs to face this real "differentiation", and when it accepts this "differentiation", we can see a Chinese music scene with a hundred flowers blooming.
On the data-oriented Tencent Music You Chart, the total number of songs on the list in 2023 is nearly 100 fewer than in 2022, but the number of consecutive songs in 2023 has increased by 3, and 9 songs are on the list. The list lasted for more than 52 weeks. It can be seen that compared with the general success of based on quantity, in the past year, a good song has shown greater vitality.
The top ten songs of the year listed by Tencent Music include "It's a Mother, It's a Daughter" and "Flowers Blooming" which were popular from the Spring Festival Gala stage at the beginning of the year to the end of the year, as well as the widely popular OST tracks "Cage" and "Go There" "Where the Wind Is", as well as social media's "King of Topic" "Rakshasa Sea" and "Umeko-chan", the ever-changing idol worship of the younger generation ("5:23pm", "Fireworks Rise and Stop on the Starry Night" "), and "Girl in the Distance", which can feel happiness even in a 30-second melody... These songs present different aspects of the Chinese music scene in 2023.
When looking at the sub-lists of the Tencent Music Chart, this differentiation becomes more obvious based on the different characteristics of multiple platforms: the Weibo Hot Song Chart focuses on idols, while the Radio Chart mainly focuses on the works of powerful singers. K-song platforms and video accounts are dominated by short video songs... Audiences of different ages and different style preferences have all found their own niche. The "differentiation" presented by the listening to music platform is a reflection of user preferences.
Tencent Music Chart boldly faces such "differentiation", and now it embraces "let a hundred flowers bloom" and presents "real" data by category. In the past two years, under the premise that the mainland has frequently produced various high-scoring and popular hit movies and TV series, Tencent Music’s annual list has added a new sub-list of "ost album of the year" . In addition, with the current trend of global physical albums recovering, the Tencent Music Chart has also added a "physical album chart" this year.
Two flowers bloom, one on each side. The Inspur Chart, which runs alongside the By You Chart, always insists on using song creation and production quality as its only selection criteria. Among the top 10 songs with comprehensive scores on the Tencent Music Wave Chart, seeing the names of several singers such as Leslie Cheung, Lu Guanting and Li Zongsheng makes people feel like they are dreaming back to the Chinese music scene decades ago. But seeing that there are no parties in Caodong and Dou Jingtong's name makes us happy that the younger generation of singers in the Chinese music scene are persevering in their creations.
This kind of "differentiation" can also be seen in this year's newly upgraded Tencent Music Chart Annual Chart program. In the program, ak Liu Zhang, Chen Zhuoxuan, Mika, Cheng Huan, Huang Qishan, Yuan Yawei and other different generations, Singers of different styles share the stage. In addition, as a music list that integrates data from multiple platforms, the Tencent Music Chart also invited Weibo Music and Performance General Manager Wang Ran, ifpi International Recording Industry Association Greater China President Guo Biao, and Beijing Music Broadcasting Chief Producer/Host Mai Mai Mai, announced the lists for different platforms and different fields.
As one of the few industry tools that has survived the physical era, the music list seems to have finally embarked on a path of innovation unique to it. Tencent Music Chart not only adheres to tradition, but also strives to explore innovations that adapt to trends in the rapidly changing Chinese music scene, whether it is market data, professional aesthetics, or cross-border platforms, circle of music fans, or physical recovery , Tencent Music Chart continues to improve the dimensions and evaluation system of the list.
is on a list, not only seeing the whole picture of the Chinese music scene, but also seeing the small corners of the Chinese music scene - this is exactly what the Tencent Music Chart is doing.
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