Mapping China: Music - Cities & Scenes: Taiwan Scene

After martial law was lifted and with the rise of China as its main market, Taipei became the center for Chinese language popular music in the new millennium. However, in popular music it lost the competition to South Korea (50 million people), which has a comparable history in the 20th century (Japanese occupation, American military R&R during the Vietnam War, democratization and economic development). Whereas K-pop came to dominate the boy and girl band scene, Taiwan (23 million people) produces individual stars, as well as singer-songwriters and indie pop bands that require less investment, all mainly for the Chinese market.

Pre-1949

Taiwan was part of the Japan between 1895 and 1945. Since 1917 a small local record industry developed in Taiwan. Most songs were structurally similar to Japanese enka and sung in Taiwanese (also referred to as Hoklo or Hokkien). With new lyrics, some of these songs were later used by the Japanese to recruit Taiwanese soldiers for the Second World War.

Martial Law 1949-1975

In 1949 the Nationalist army (KMT) fled from mainland China to Taiwan. These ‘extra-provincials’ now ruled the island in Mandarin and from Taipei. During the 1950s and 1960s there were three main kinds of music.

Mandopop, mainly Shanghai-style Modern Songs.
During the Cold War Taiwan hosted American military bases, functioning as an important hub for the war in Vietnam. Like in South-Korea and Okinawa (Japan), in Taiwan the presence of American soldiers introduced American pop through the airwaves and in bars.
Despite the KMT repression of Taiwaneseness and the language in particular, Wen Hsia, Ang It-hong and other Taiwanese-language singers managed to become hugely popular. Many of their songs express a sense of loss and insecurity in Taiwan’s rapidly modernizing society.

Transition 1975-1990s

Campus Song

Around 1975 a Campus Song movement emerged that stressed ‘singing our own songs’, encouraging youngsters to pick up acoustic guitars and start expressing themselves musically. The movement was inspired by American singer-songwriters but also by anxiety over Taiwan’s status after the USA shifted allegiance to the PRC after Nixon’s visit to Beijing in 1972.
Magazines and radio stations organized contests, the result of which they released as albums. This later developed into major elements of Taiwan’s popular music industry, including the Golden Melody Awards and Rock Records.
Campus Song produced hits such as “Descendent of the Dragon”, sung by Li Jianfu, written by Hou Dejian, and launched the careers of singers, songwriters and producers that would dominate the 1980s, including Qi Yu, Jonathan Lee, Hou Dejian and Luo Dayou.
By the late 1970s Campus Song became co-opted by the mainstream. Luo Dayou’s album Gibberish (1982) claimed the death of Campus Song, replacing its nostalgic elusiveness with a more confrontational rock sound.

Mandopop

Campus song influenced mainstream pop singers in Hong Kong and Taiwan. They started recording songs that were patriotic or that reflected on Chinese traditional culture. For instance Teresa Teng’s 1983 album Light Exquisite Feeling set Chinese traditional poetry to music and was produced by a Campus singer.
Teresa Teng (Deng Lijun) is the most successful singer of Chinese-language popular music of all time. Born from mainland Chinese parents, Teng started singing ‘song of the times’ in 1960, mostly to KMT soldiers. In 1973 Teng went to Japan, where she had her first hit a year later. During the 1970s and 1980s many of her mandopop hits were versions of her Japanese songs with new lyrics, published by her Hong Kong record company. Different albums were produced for different parts of the Asian market, and original Teresa Teng vinyl albums have become pricy collector items. Teng was briefly banned in the PRC in 1983, but also in mainland China, which had just opened-up, her popularity proved unstoppable. However she never performed there. Sadly, Teng passed away in 1995.
- “The Moon Represents My Heart” still defines Chineseness for many Chinese descendants across the globe.
Su Rui scored a huge hit with the title song of the 1983 film Papa, Can You Hear Me Sing, which dramatizes how a fledgling pop singer disavows and then remembers her modest beginnings.

Dominance late 1990s-now

After restrictions were lifted gradually, martial law was fully lifted in 1987. Gradually local Taiwanese identity and language became accepted and later obligatory in official and mainstream media. At the same time mainland China became a major market.

A-mei (Chang Hui-mei) combined some of these trends since the late 1990s. Her aboriginal background authenticates her Taiwaneseness and makes her sexy outfits and wild dancing acceptable in the eyes of Taiwanese audiences. However, references to her ethnic background do not dominate her music, which combines Eurodance, rock and typical Mandopop ballads. A-mei’s popularity in China ran into problems when she sang the national anthem of the ROC (Taiwan) in 2000 at the inauguration of president Cheng Shui-bian, a vocal proponent of Taiwanese independence.
Jolin Tsai (Cai Yilin) became the top female artist because of her dancing skills. In albums such as Agent J she presents an image of female power and control. Her success in keeping her body figure has helped her launching her own health line and work-out videos.
Jay Chou (Zhou Jielun) dominated the first decade of the 21st century. Like almost all Chinese stars, Chou does not focus on any genre. However he has introduced R&B sounds and is known for rapping in an inarticulate but highly creative way. Additionally, his yearly albums typically contain one or two songs in a style dubbed Chinese Wind, which includes Chinese instruments (often in the intro or the bridge) and lyrical allusions to Chinese tradition (such as calligraphy, medicine or lacquer ware). Some of these songs eulogize the rise of China, which has helped Chou gain official support in mainland China. But most songs present the past as a distant, ephemeral lover.
Wang Leehom, an American Born Chinese, developed a similar style, which he dubbed Chinked Out.
Whereas in South Korea a small number of media companies successfully groomed pop stars and groups for international markets, economic pressure due to dwindling revenues in the music industry had the opposite result in the Taiwanese music industry. Rather than a more rationalized division of labor, Taiwanese companies preferred artists that required little work on their part, of which even Jay Chou is an example. The fragile, indie sound of singer-songwriters such as Cheer Chen, Deserts Chang and Soda Green had a huge appeal among young urban audiences in the PRC, whom idealized Taiwan as an advanced, carefree and cute place (in contrast to their direct environment).
The veteran rocker Wu Bai emerged in 1995. For a long time he was rather isolated in his focus on the local Taiwanese market, but in recent years more mainstreams pop stars have recorded songs in Taiwanese, including A Mei, A-Yue (Zhang Zhenyue) and a host of rappers. Whereas Mandarin popular music responds to the loneliness of atomized urban society, this so called Taike rock celebrates loudness and openly longs for the vibrancy of the city.
Music companies control and are involved in every aspect of a star. Already in the 1990s Hong Kong companies signed so called 360 degree deals. Boy and girl bands were successful in the early 2000s, but the investments were also substantial. Currently, South-Korean entertainment companies dominate this model in East and South-East Asia. Although talent shows and soap operas have offered similar grooming opportunities within the Chinese-language pop industry, this model was not widely adopted in Taiwan, Hong Kong or the PRC.
Music companies become publishing houses that outsource much of the labor that goes into creating a pop star back to the artists themselves. These companies favor artists with their own repertoire, star persona and even fan base. This also means that the gap between the band scene and mainstream pop stars decreases. Especially among Taiwan-based artists there are many examples of bands (Mayday, Soda Green), singer-songwriters (Cheer Chen, Deserts Zhang, Tanya Chua, Zhang Zhenyue) and rappers (McHotdog) that have worked themselves up to the top of ‘the pyramid’ (Simon Frith). Even the mainstream pop star Jay Chou composes his own music.
Additionally, both stars and indie bands create their own companies and labels.

These are the income levels in the top of the market:

In 2011 Jay Chou earned around 660 million NTD.
Jolin Tsai around 620 million NTD in the same year.
The mainland Chinese singer Chris Lee reported earnings of 51 million RMB in 2011.

Around 2012, for Taiwanese superstars the income is roughly spread like this:

Endorsements (65%). This includes new forms of collaboration such a product placement in on line content.
Concerts tickets. (5%). In contrast to the West, in Chinese-language pop the record company is often involved. Because of the small margins concerts are seen as a promotional activity.
Private concerts (25%). This includes concerts for which no tickets are sold, such as year-end concerts for employees in Taiwan and government-sponsored appearances in the PRC. Whereas a major star may cost 3 to 4 million NTD for a 4+1 songs, a second tier Taiwanese artist may cost only 500 thousand NTD.
Collectibles (5%). This includes CD sales, but also biographies and other commodities that their fans buy.

Venues

Concerts

Taipei Arena小巨蛋 opened in 2005 and has 15.000 seats.
Taipei WTC Nangang Exhibition Hall opened in 2008 and has hosted a number of concerts by international superstars.

Band Scene

The Wall. With this 600 people venue, Freddy of the metal band ChthoniC introduced Taiwan to the concept of the live house (as opposed to music cantinas and bars), taken inspiration from frequent visits to Japan. The Wall quickly became the center for live performances in a broad range of styles. Smaller venues in Yilan (since 2011, 100 people) and Kaohsiung (closed in 2015) emerged and in 2015 the music company reported a turnover of 80 million NTD, of which 10-15% is gross profit.
Legacy was launched in 2009 in an old beer factory just outside Taipei’s center. It has a capacity of around 1000 people, which can be halved with a curtain for indie band nights.
Taipei hosts a lot of smaller venues, many around its universities. Riverside, Bobwundaye, the coffee shop Kafka by the Shore (run by the lead singer of the band 1979) and the practice space rental APA mini 小地方展演空間 offer folk, singer-songwriter and indie rock shows on weekends. Brown Sugar is the major jazz venue, with Sappho for more experimental jazz shows.
As Taiwan’s second largest city, Kaohsiung (2.7 million, Taipei has 7 million) has a live scene of its own. In 2015 Live Warehouse opened with a 1400 and a 250 people space.

Clubbing

Most EDM clubs are located around Taipei 101, including Baby18, Lava and Spark. Myst boast a view over the city in the top floor of the ATT4Fun building. Dash Berlin and a host of internationally renowned DJs have played at the club next door, Omni, which is The Loop’s new super venue after Luxy closed. Diplo played at Elektro.
Triangle and especially Korner are for techno and edgier DJ sets.

Festivals

Formoz Festival was held in Taipei yearly between 1995 and 2008. The festival was known for inviting foreign headliners.
Spring Scream is Taiwan’s oldest festival. Since 1995 it is held yearly in the most southern tip of the island. In 2007 it invited around 230 artists.
Ho-Hai-Yan is sponsored by the provincial government of Taipei. The free festival is held since 2000 on a beach a few hours outside of the city.
A host of smaller festivals.

Back to Index page Mapping China: Music

Mapping China: Music - Cities & Scenes: Taiwan Scene