The BBC World Service recently produced a series on creativity in China and one episode involved interviews with two musicians about China's growing alternative music scene.
Shanghai-based electronic DJ and producer B6 talked about the lack of Western music when he was growing up which resulted in music fans relying primarily on black market CDs ("compact discs that were imported from the West to be recycled, then sold on the black market"). During the Chairman Mao era, music was controlled by the government and used primarily for propaganda purposes.
"We grew up so fast, there are now a million bands and a million rock 'n' roll kids in China." Abe
Another musician interviewed, Abe, is a guitar player for Beijing-based Bigger Bang! (大棒!) and also talked about how he was influenced by Western rock and punk music, which was also hard to come by. However, both Abe and B6 believe things are much different now, largely due to accessibility of all kinds of music online as well as relaxed somewhat government regulation of entertainment and media. The Internet has also made it much easier for Chinese musicians to make their music available to others, although not necessarily easier to make money doing so. Both agree that it is still very difficult to make a living as a musician although B6 is one of the rare exceptions that is able to make a living as a full-time musician.
While B6, Abe and many other Chinese musicians have been heavily influenced by Western music and tend to mimic Western styles, they also add Chinese influences to their music. elements. As B6 puts it:
"I do Western music but I'm Chinese, so it's Chinese music."
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