BMG brings a record deal to China’s live streamers – China’s latest business and technology news
A summary of the top news in Chinese business and technology for June 20, 2017. Part of the daily The China Project newsletter, a convenient package of China’s business, political, and cultural news delivered to your inbox for free. Subscribe here.
BMG, the record label that represents the Rolling Stones and Avril Lavigne, has signed a deal with Momo, a Chinese live-streaming service, to crowdsource a dozen stars from the millions of amateur performers who already upload their performances, according to Bloomberg. Momo will select a group of finalists through an online competition. Then, BMG will groom them over the course of a year — including vocal training and dance lessons in Hollywood — with the hope of making a global debut.
Reuters says that China’s live-streaming industry, which barely existed three years ago, produced revenues of more than 30 billion yuan last year. That number is set to triple by 2020, according to an estimate by investment bank China Renaissance Securities. The rapid growth of live streaming has resulted in a rush of investment from tech giants such as Alibaba and Baidu.
There are more than 200 live-streaming apps in China, serving at least 200 million monthly active users, according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Momo, which started out as a dating network, has garnered 85 million Chinese users. Hundreds of people tune in to watch other people live singing, dancing, or just chitchatting. Performers receive virtual gifts from viewers and get paid based on their popularity. In April, The China Project published a video explainer on live streaming in China.
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Ford chooses China, not Mexico, to build its new Focus / NYT (paywall)
“Ford said it would begin making the Focus in China for global markets in 2019, after production ends at its current location in Michigan.” -
Labor shortage is a chief headache for China’s factory owners, survey finds / SCMP
“[A] Survey of 1,200 manufacturers by China’s Wuhan University found 26 percent of workers in the Pearl River Delta changed jobs over two years.” -
Tesla said close to agreeing on plan for China production plant / Bloomberg
See also: Tesla and China: an unorthodox affair on Bloomberg. - China property tax languishes as vested interests block reform / Financial Times (paywall)
- China’s workers are saying goodbye to double-digit pay raises / Bloomberg
- China’s pork demand hits a peak, shocking producers, as diets get healthier / Reuters
