Tuesday, November 13, 2007
With the Beyoncé Experience in the rear view mirror and the Linkin Park Shanghai concert just around the bend, it’s clear that the old attitudes toward Western-minded cultural events in Shanghai, and mainland China in general, have changed drastically. Just two years ago, the announcement of an Ice-T concert at the now defunct Pegasus Club in Shanghai was described as “Breaking News” on the media site Danwei. China has come a long way from those old days of when Ice-T, Richard Marx and Michael Bolton were the major international draws. China-based promoters are now faced with the task of welcoming two of the biggest world tours to Shanghai just 15 days apart. While this may seem like a blessing more than a curse, China’s demand for live international acts may have outgrown the infrastructure in place to support these massive productions.A Washington Post story over the weekend examines the concert market in mainland China and how this new concert industry operates under the connections, corruption and confusion of old China. Here’s an excerpt from the story:Live events in China have been government-controlled since the Communists took power in 1949.Until recently, “the government would select a state-run or related company to organize an event,” says Li Bin, marketing manager at promoter Beijing Gehua Live Nation Entertainment. “If you had connections with the government or that company, you’d get a bunch of tickets for free.”The hangover from that culture means selling tickets to the public can be difficult, while local authorities and others may still expect free ones.“These days,” Li says, “paying for a ticket is like losing face — it means you’re not well connected.”And here’s a bit about how scalpers get their hands on so many tickets for these events.China has a major ticket-scalping problem, mainly because some venue operators and government officials demand “huge” numbers of free tickets in exchange for green-lighting events, says Archie Hamilton, CEO of Beijing-based promoter Split Works, which handled Sonic Youth’s China shows in April.“They give the tickets to the huangniu (scalpers) to sell at whatever they can get,” Hamilton notes.Fake tickets proved a major problem at Avril Lavigne’s August 15 Qi Zhong Tennis Centre show in Shanghai.“We turned away many disappointed fans who had purchased fakes, often unknowingly,” Emma Ticketmaster marketing director Robb Spitzer says.Unlike most major cities where ticket scalping is regulated and undercover police officers weed out fake ticket vendors, in China’s major cities, scalping is part of the game. In a sense, Beijing and Shanghai, in particular, have taken a total Chinese attitude toward managing live music events. Similar to how Hu Jintao describes “democracy with Chinese characteristics,” these concerts featuring Beyoncé and Linkin Park are simply Western shows, aimed at the expats and Chinese elite, with Chinese characteristics. Tickets are delivered by couriers and paid for in cash. The content of the shows is censored carefully by China’s Ministry of Culture. Finally, when it comes to procuring a ticket to one of these shows, like everything else in China, if you don’t know nobody, you’re nobody.
