Mapping China: Music - Permits

The permit system is the state’s major instrument to control the public domain and the media. For live performances this works in the following way:

State-owned venues such as theaters, operas and stadiums.

• Permit by promotor, which needs to be officially registered as a cultural company with the permission to invite international artists. If the actual promotor does not have this official recognition, it will outsource the permit application to a company that does. The whole process takes several weeks, longer for foreign artists. Upon refusal the whole process might have to be redone.
• Enforcement of rules is relatively strict. Audiences need to remain seated, and one or more government employees will be present to make sure nothing improper happens. Profanities, political statements and even spontaneous interaction with the audience (getting off stage and going into the crowd) may result in fines and other problems for promotors.
• Rent-seeking. The venue and various departments will expect a substantial amount of free tickets, which are usually resold at the black market. This hidden taxation has driven up the price of concert tickets beyond that of neighboring countries.

Festivals

• Permit by promotor, one for the whole event. When applications are rejected, it is without explanation. Through informal channels organizers may find out that a particular artist is the problem, and then the application is resubmitted without that artist.
• Censorship for festivals has been relatively mild. Audiences are allowed to move around freely, no-one checks if shows follow submitted set-lists, Chinese bands have performed politically subversive songs, and occasionally bands use profanities on stage.
• Rent-seeking. Although local governments might require free tickets for locals that end up being resold by scalpers at the festival entrance, a different form of rent-seeking emerged in which the district or city government (depending on where the organization chooses to file) requires an inflated number of security personnel, which can only be hired through a company assigned by the local government, and affiliated with the PSB. As a result, security at most Chinese festivals consist of an over-abundance of bored looking young men in oversized military uniforms.

Live Houses and Clubs

• Permit by venue, usually a cultural company. The venue usually has an ongoing arrangement with local agencies, to which individual concerts are added. This should cost around 5.000 RMB for foreign artists, and includes an invitation letter that can be used to apply for a performance visa (Z-visa). The work-around for venues that have no permission to host foreign artists is to apply through a venue that does. Usually this construction is allowed.

• Relatively lenient. Regulation is often not fully implemented. There are signs, especially in Beijing after the Shanghai stampede, that enforcement of maximum audience numbers and safety rules is becoming stricter.
• Rent-seeking is part of the long-term relation of venues with local authorities. Local police officers occasionally stop by small venues claiming neighboring residents filed noise complaints.

Artists need to prepare the following material. The promotor will arrange for its translation to Chinese.

• Artist or band biographies
• set lists (not always necessarily precisely the songs that actually will be performed)
• lyrics (as above)
• videos of past live performances

Including anything that looks official helps the process, including award nominations, press clippings in major news outlets, and (conservatory) education of band members.

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