Mandopop in Singapore, China, and Taiwan: Developments and Outlook

Held online on 12 November with over 10,000 Facebook views, the 2022 SUSS Cultural China Public Lecture revisited Chinese music, but of a very different genre – Mandopop!

Mickey Huang, Billy Koh, Peter Lee Shih Shiong and moderator Ken Low, a senior journalist with Lianhe Zaobao, shared their views on the developments and outlook of Mandopop in Singapore, China and Taiwan.

Associate Professor Foo Tee Tuan, Director of Centre for Chinese Studies@SUSS, opened the lecture before Mickey Huang, a Taiwanese television and radio host, and Billy Koh, a Singaporean music producer, started the discussion by reflecting on the contradicting impacts of technology and how it has transformed the music industry.

Mickey Huang reminisced that consumers used to buy albums to listen to pop songs and to support their favourite artists, but music streaming platforms have since changed everything. He shared, “Interestingly, new songs are easily available and it is a lot easier to self-release music now, but it is also more difficult to get your music heard.”

Billy Koh added that in the past, songs we listened to were mostly selected by professionals such as producers and DJs. Nowadays, listeners have to bear the “time cost” to pick the songs themselves.

The role of independent artists was also discussed during the lecture. While it seems that there are more independent artists now, Billy Koh thinks that they somehow have an uphill struggle to break into the mainstream to stimulate the development of the Mandopop industry.

Both Billy Koh and Peter Lee Shih Shiong shared more about pop music artists and the elements of pop music. Billy Koh divides pop music artists into three categories: performers, songwriters, and idols. As artists grow and become more successful and experienced in the industry, they can be a performer, a songwriter, and an idol at the same time. According to Peter Lee Shih Shiong, a great pop song has to be catchy and tell a story that strikes a chord with the listeners.

The SUSS Cultural China Public Lecture (CCPL) is an annual event organised by the Centre for Chinese Studies@SUSS and Lianhe Zaobao, conducted in Mandarin, with simultaneous English interpretation.

黄子佼、许环良、李偲菘谈华语流行音乐发展

新跃中华学术中心的品牌活动2022年新跃文化中华讲座（CCPL）于11月12日（星期六）在线上举行。去年第11届谈的是“鼓乐”，今年第12届谈的则是“华语流行音乐”。

今年的CCPL在形式上与往届略有不同，由《联合早报》的高级记者刘永健穿针引线，分处三地的黄子佼、许环良和李偲菘一同探讨“异曲同工，共创华流：中、台、新华语流行音乐的发展和互动”。

以下是这场讲座的重点摘要：

一、华语流行音乐当前面对的挑战

台湾的综艺和电台主持人黄子佼和本地资深音乐人许环良都提到了资讯科技对华语流行音乐发展带来的冲击。

黄子佼指出（13:54），以前听歌、支持喜欢的歌手，要逛唱片行、买专辑，现在听歌用的是音乐串流应用程式或网站。虽然“取得”变容易了，创作者发表作品的平台多了，但也正因为人们的选择增加，音乐人的作品可能更难被听到。

许环良表示（20:00），由于少了业界人士如制作人、DJ的筛选，选择却增加，听众的“时间成本”因此提高，需要花更多时间来试听、筛选。

二、独立音乐人对音乐产业的意义

现在的独立音乐人感觉上增加了，但许环良（1:08:47）认为， 只有能颠覆主流、成为下一个主流，才对音乐产业有意义。当独立音乐人只是一个阶段。

三、音乐人的类型

许环良也指出（1:16:06），纵观整个流行音乐产业的发展，只有三种艺人对整个产业有意义，即表演型艺人、创作型艺人和偶像型艺人。一个音乐人未必只能是其中一者，可以三者都是。

四、流行音乐需具备的元素

李偲菘则在讲座中提到了流行音乐所需具备的元素，包括旋律必须朗朗上口、容易记（1:22:06），也必须有故事、能引起听众共鸣（1:31:24）。

新跃文化中华讲座是新跃社科大学与《联合早报》合办的常年活动，这些年来所讨论的课题包括媒体、影视、文化、民间信仰、文化遗产保护、社会政治发展等等。

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