Internet consumers wary of free offers still flock to the website MicroMu.com and download albums at no cost. In disbelief, they post comments expressing their doubts. "How can these original songs be free and legal?" they asked. It seems as though music fans, who have long dreamed of a free-music world, cannot believe it when it finally arrives.

And the secret is simple, as the MicroMu label explains it-the idea is to promote local artists to play live, record it, and put it online for consumers to freely take. At the same time, the site has sponsors who pay the company to advertise their brands. Some of the money, in the form of profit sharing that is stipulated in their contracts with the label, goes into the pockets of the artists.

"We want to find a way for both the music companies and artists to survive in the current depressed music industry, without changing the habits of the Internet users who are used to free music downloads," said Shi Lei, Manager of the label.

Make the impossible possible

The Chinese music industry is problematic in many ways, as some business insiders have long worried about-chronic piracy and faltering digital music sales. According to an annual Internet report by iResearch, China's leading online research company, the number of Internet users surpassed 298 million in 2008, and 84.5 percent of them downloaded music from the Internet or listened to it online. A report by Inmusic, one of China's influential music magazines, found that nearly all the free music downloads available on the Internet are illegal. At the same time, the trade in pirated CDs makes up 90 percent of overall CD sales.

"Due to the search engine Baidu.com, there are few independent musicians who can make a living on music sales in the current environment," said Shi. As China's leading search engine, Baidu.com used to take as much as 94.3 percent of the overall market, according to previous iResearch surveys.

However, Shi also noted that consumers' attention and demand for music keeps increasing while music product sales keep declining. "We can use their attention to music to direct them to other consumer products, and thus we find a way to generate profits while providing free music downloads," Shi said. "As far as I know, there's no similar music business modes in foreign countries."

Such a simple idea was brought up by Ed Peto, a Beijing-based British music consultant and promoter, who established the MicroMu label in June 2008. Peto took his idea to the PALM Expo 2008 (17th China International Exhibition on Pro Audio, Light, Music & Technology) and found interested people and his first sponsor. Beyerdynamic, an internationally renowned audio equipment manufacturer whose products are favored by musicians such as Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, offered up recording equipment.

The idea interested Dominic Johnson-Hill, founder of Beijing's Plastered T-shirts, who offered financial support for the fledgling website. "We always wanted to get involved in music, so this seemed like the perfect plan," said Johnson-Hill, who has been involved in China's independent music scene.

So far, the label has cooperated with a number of musicians and made 14 releases, the majority being awarded four or five stars by Internet users on various sites. Zhang Weiwei, one of the folk artists the label worked with, created one of the top 10 independent albums of 2008 as chosen by users of Douban.com, one of China's largest online communities of book, movie and music reviews.

The label's website has reached more than a quarter-million page views just six months after it was launched and traffic continues to grow by roughly 40 percent every month, said Johnson-Hill.

"All the artists who we helped make their releases have seen benefits through our cooperation. It's like musicians contribute their music to the company to become shareholders, and they get their shares according to the popularity of their music," explained Shi, who declined to give the details of the amount of money that goes to musicians.

Zhao Guang, the first folk artist who MicroMu helped release an album, confirmed that he had received payment from the label. "But I don't expect to live on that money," said Zhao.

"All I can say is, compared to contracts with other music labels, our contract is the most favorable to artists," Shi noted.

Some Chinese music industry insiders reserve their views on the unusual operation of the label. "The idea may be innovative, but its influence is limited," said a manager who requested anonymity from the online music sharing website Xiami.com.

"I like that the label is dedicated to discovering original and valuable music, but as for the business part, I think it still needs time to be tested," said Liu Hao, Director of the Music Business Department of

Neocha.com, one of the leading online portals for the discovery of original music, art, events and goods among Chinese creative communities.

Indie music promoter

On the homepage of MicroMu.com, it states that the label "is an experimental, sponsor-driven, free-to-user record label model designed to discover new talent, create original music and reward artists in seemingly impossible conditions."

As the label's manager Shi put it, "We care about discovering new music and meeting the needs of indie music fans more than making money. No business mode can have success without putting the needs of the customers first, and it's the needs of customers for indie music that is the biggest discovery we've made over the past 10 months."

Most of the 14 releases are in the indie/folk genre. They were recorded at unplugged live scenes in different bars and music venues around Beijing. None of them can be considered mainstream music. As the label has made it clear on its website, it is looking for original songs using great passion and imagination in the narration. There is no limit on the subject matter-society, home, history, love, hope, joy, loss or even just two goats.

"These artists are making the best music of the times, however little of their sounds can be heard, and that's a big problem facing China's indie music," said Shi. He noted that in Western countries there are at least 10 people out of every 1,000 who are potential indie music listeners, but in China that figure drops to one person out of every 1,000. But, with a population of 1.3 billion, that low ratio can still mean 1.3 million potential indie music fans.

The folk artist Zhao used to be a little-known local singer based in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. Since he released his album on MicroMu, his songs have been widely circulated on the Internet. "It (MircoMu) does help me to spread my name, and that's a positive thing for many other unknown Chinese indie musicians," said Zhao.

"I believe that indie music is the future of the music industry, and its day is fast approaching," said Neocha.com's Liu.

(Beijing Review, April 9, 2009)