中國流行音樂人試水衆籌音樂會

On a recent weeknight in Beijing, about 800 people gathered at a club in downtown Beijing to watch a performance by pop singer Li Quan and Li Daimo, a singer made popular by the 'Voice of China' TV show. At home, several hundred more participants were tuning into the concert live from their computers or smartphones.

最近某個週末的晚上，約800名觀衆齊聚北京市中心一傢俱樂部，一同觀看了《中國好聲音》熱門歌手李泉和李代沫的演唱會。與此同時，還有數百名觀衆在家中用電腦和智能手機收看了演唱會的現場直播。

The concert was organized by Xiami, a Hangzhou-based online music portal owned by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, in its first such initiative using crowd-sourced funding via Alibaba's Taobao online shopping platform.

這場演唱會的籌辦方是阿里巴巴集團(Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. ,)設在杭州的在線音樂網站蝦米(Xiami)。這是蝦米首次嘗試藉助阿里巴巴的淘寶(Taobao)在線購物平臺以大衆籌資方式籌辦演唱會。

Xiami first proposed the concert on Taobao in late November, saying it would go forward if organizers could raise at least 100,000 yuan ($16,520) from online ticket sales in about a month. Tickets ranged from 1 yuan to watch the concert live online to 280 yuan to see it in person and 2,999 yuan to request a song in the show.

去年11月，蝦米首次發出號召，稱只要在一個月內籌得人民幣10萬元（約合16,520美元）預購資金，就將展開演唱會舉辦工作。觀衆只需支付1元就可在線觀看演唱會，也可花280元購買門票現場觀看，還可支付2,999元參與歌手點歌環節。

The company said the project reached its fund-raising goal in less than 15 days, with more than half of participants choosing to watch the show online.

蝦米說，該項目不到15天便達到預購資金目標，超過半數參與者選擇在線觀看演唱會。

Crowd funding is a practice by which a project or venture is funded by small amounts of money from a large number of people. The idea for using it in the music industry isn't new: In the U.S. ArtistShare, which launched in 2003, so far has fan-funded recordings that have earned six Grammy awards and 21 nominations. Meanwhile, Kickstarter, the world's leading crowd-funding platform that launched in 2009, has so far received pledges from 5.4 million people worth $933 million to fund 54,000 creative projects in areas like music, film and technology.

大衆籌資是將許多人手中的小筆資金集中起來用於支持某個項目的活動。此次演唱會並非將大衆籌資應用於音樂產業的首次嘗試：2003年創辦的美國ArtistShare網站已經有六首在粉絲資金支持下製作的歌曲贏得了格萊美獎(Grammy)，還有21首歌曲獲得提名。而2009年創辦的世界領先大衆融資平臺Kickstarter迄今已從540萬人手中募集到9.33億美元，用於音樂、電影、科技等領域共5.4萬個項目。

In China, crowd funding for music and other creative projects is gradually catching on. The country's first crowd-funding website, DemoHour, was launched in 2011 and was followed by a dozen other similar sites, most of which fund creative projects. But the entrance of e-commerce giant Alibaba, with its massive audience, is expected to give a boost to such projects in the arts industry.

在中國，專注於音樂和其他創新項目的大衆融資正在逐漸趕上來。2011年，中國首家大衆籌資網站點名時間(DemoHour)宣告成立，隨後十幾家類似網站相繼註冊誕生，其中多數專注於創新項目的籌資。而擁有龐大客戶羣的電商巨頭阿里巴巴的進入料將使藝術領域的創新項目大大向前推進。

'We are happy to see such a giant company start to get involved in crowd funding, as it may help to attract more capital to this market,' said Zhao Hongwei, CEO of , a year-old crowd-funding website for music projects. The company has so far pledged about 1 million yuan, with 110 projects online.

樂童音樂()是一家專注於音樂項目的衆籌網站，創辦至今已有一年時間。樂童音樂首席執行長趙宏偉說：我們很高興看到這樣一家巨頭公司加入到衆籌行業中來，因爲這將吸引更多資金進入這一市場。該公司目前已籌得約100萬元人民幣，擁有110個線上音樂項目。

Xiami's founder said he was inspired to start the venture because problems plaguing China's music industry, including notorious piracy, have made it difficult for local musicians to make a living.

蝦米創始人說，他之所以啓動這個項目，是因爲一些困擾中國音樂產業的問題令本土音樂人難以維持生計，例如臭名昭著的盜版現象。

'When I talked to local musicians, I found they couldn't even earn enough money to cover their transport fee for tours, let alone compensation for their shows,' said Xiami CEO Wang Hao. 'I felt like we needed to do something to help musicians feel less lonely.'

蝦米CEO王皓說：我和本土音樂人聊天后發現，他們甚至都賺不夠巡演的車旅費，更別提舉辦演出的費用了。我覺得我們需要做些什麼，讓音樂人不那麼孤獨。

Mr. Wang, a 36-year-old Hangzhou native who himself played in a band during college, said he hopes Xiami can boost singers just starting out as well as help established musicians do something cool and innovative.

現年36歲、上大學時玩過樂隊的杭州人王皓說，他希望蝦米既能幫助那些剛起步的歌手，也能幫助那些有成就的音樂人做一些炫酷和原創的事情。

Encouraged by the success of their initial project, Mr. Wang said Xiami plans to regularly crowd-fund shows via Taobao, including small-scale shows with fewer than 100 attendees.

受首個項目順利完成的鼓舞，王浩說，蝦米計劃通過淘寶定期舉行大衆籌資形式的演出活動，包括不足100人蔘加的小型演出。

But while most are positive about the prospects for crowd-funding in China, policy uncertainty concerns some pioneers in the field.

雖然多數人對中國大衆籌資的前景充滿信心，但政策上的不確定性還是讓一些行業先行者感到不安。

'One can hardly draw a line between illegal fund-raising and crowd-funding now due to the absence of related regulation,' Mr. Wang said. 'I feel like it is a sword hanging above my head with the potential of dropping at any minute.'

王皓說，因爲缺乏相關的法律法規，很難將非法集資與大衆集資區分開來。他說：我感覺好像有把劍懸在我頭上，隨時都可能掉下來。

Illegal fund raising in China is a vaguely defined term that includes everything from running pyramid and Ponzi schemes to operating an underground bank that falls afoul of local officials. The offense can be punishable with the death penalty if the amounts involved are large enough. Small-scale loan sharking and other informal lending activity are tacitly permitted in China, as long as they are relatively small and low-key.

在中國，非法集資是個模糊的概念，它包括非法傳銷、龐氏騙局，也包括與地方政府官員勾結經營地下錢莊的行爲。如果涉事數額巨大，違法者將被處以死刑。至於小規模高利貸以及其它非正式的借貸活動，只要數額較小且不張揚，中國官方就會採取默許的態度。

Social mentality is another headache. 'The atmosphere in China that encourages innovation and integrity is not as strong as that in the U.S., 'said Mr. Zhao of , adding that investment capital may be less enthusiastic about pouring money into the China crowd-funding market than in other fields like group-buying websites.

社會心理則是另一個難題。樂童音樂CEO趙宏偉說，中國的大環境不像美國那麼鼓勵創新和誠信。大衆籌資市場可能不會像團購網站和其他一些領域那樣吸引那麼大的投資熱情。

'The general consumption mentality of Chinese people is more about how to save money instead of giving money to support others,' Mr. Wang said. 'It will take time for people to get used to this new method and for the market to grow.'

王皓說，大多數中國人在消費心理上更傾向於思考如何省錢，而不是花錢支持別人。要讓人們習慣這種新的方式，要讓這個市場成長起來，這需要時間。