The Economist - USA (20212-12-04)

64 Business TheEconomistDecember4th 2021

Internetcensorship

Cancel culture,

Beijing-style

F

ans ofhuo zunwere dismayed in Au gust when images of the pop star were blurred out during a performance on “Call Me By Fire”, a Chinese reality show. Mr Huo’s hands were visible for some se quences. But when he came into the frame it appeared as if he was standing in a puff of smoke enveloping his body. “Fogging”, as it is known, has become common on the Chi nese internet. Censorship rules require ac tors who have committed crimes to be blurred out, or completely erased. Mr Huo’s offence was a public breakup with his girlfriend. He had violated no law. But that was enough for the government to deem him an unsavoury character. Inter net users are increasingly affected by a spurt of Communist Party cancel culture targeting ever more innocuous behaviour. The broad aim of the campaign, which has been going on for the past six months, is to cleanse Chinese cyberspace of entertain ment at odds with socialist values. There appear to be two targets. The first is a business model with 4.9trn yuan ($769bn) of annual revenues: the fan econ omy, that has sprung up around web celeb rities, fan groups and streaming platforms. In the most recent set of rules, issued in late November, the Cyberspace Adminis tration of China (cac) said that brand cam paigns featuring celebrities would be al lowed to show ads only in designated spac es. From now on, China’s huge fan groups will be monitored by the authorities. To aid the crackdown the cachas been increasing its powers in recent months, even investing in internet firms. Further new regulations suggest that its objective is to stop China’s internet groups using highlystimulating content to ramp up in ternet traffic, which is the driving force be hind internet platforms’ ad revenues and livestreaming ecommerce. The latter was worth 1.2trn yuan last year, an 197% in crease from the year before. The second target of the cac’s campaign is celebrity itself. The new rules create an official blacklist of celebrities that bans all mention of the names included. This will formalise the treatment that Mr Huo and others have received after committing so cial improprieties or wrongdoing such as tax evasion. On November 23rd the China Association of Performing Arts published a list of 88 internet celebrities who had com mitted some transgression. Weibo, a Twit terlike service, was forced to ban 145 celeb

rity accounts in August for infractions such as “insulting and slandering martyrs and inciting illegal gatherings”. The tightening grip is ostensibly part of President Xi Jinping’s “common prosperi ty” initiative. It is an attempt to make the country more equitable after years of growth that created a vast digital economy dominated by several internet platforms, in particular ecommerce giant Alibaba and gaming and socialmedia group Ten cent. Over the past year Mr Xi has made clear his plan to take control of the internet industry. The entertainment crackdown under way stems from the government’s desire to cap the “absurd ﬁnancial gains”

made by internet celebrities, says Enchi Chang, a digital marketing specialist. Chi na’s Communist Party has also grown un comfortable with the ability of huge inter net stars and their fans to communicate beyond the scope of its control. The upending of celebrity culture will have a big impact on China’s internet groups. The country’s fan economy, com bining entertainment and consumption, was expected to be worth about $1trn by

If the new ad rules are strictly en
forced, companies such as Kuaishou and
Bilibili, a videostreaming service, will be
hit. Both groups enjoyed a rapid rise in
their ad revenues last year, when total on

H ONG KONG The Communist Party targets internet celebrities and fan groups T

hebattletobetopofthechartson ChristmasDayhasbeenwoninre centyearsbythelikesofTaylorSwift,Ed SheeranandArianaGrande.Butlately thesesingershavefacedcompetition fromanunexpectedsource:the20th century.Despitethebesteffortsofto day’syoungstars,theDecembercharts havebecomedominatedbymusicians whoarewellintomiddleage,ordead. OnChristmasDayfiveyearsago, everysingleinthetoptenoftheBillboard Hot100,a chartofAmerica’smostpop ularsongs,wasa newrelease.In 2017 MariahCareycreptinatnumbernine withhermassive23yearoldhit,“AllI WantforChristmasisYou”.Sincethen theoldieshaveshuffledrelentlessly forward(seechart).LastChristmashalf ofAmerica’stoptensongsweremore thanhalfa centuryold.IndeedMsCarey, thenaged51,wasoneoftheyounger artists:twoofherfellowcharttoppers weredrawinga pension;threehadjoined theheavenlychorus.

Oldhitshavebeenrevivedbynew technology.Billboard’schartsusedtobe basedpredominantlyonrecordsales,as wellasincorporatingthenumberof radioplays.Butsince 2015 itsevolving formulahastendedtogivethegreatest weighttothenumberoflistenson streamingserviceslikeSpotify.The resultisthatrecordslike“JingleBell Rock”(1957)byAmericancountrysinger BobbyHelms,whichnolongergenerate manyphysicalformatsalesbutwhich stillgetstreamedonrepeatinDecember, havebeencatapulteduptherankings. TheChristmaschartsphenomenon illustrateswhyinvestorsarereevaluat ingmusicians’backcatalogues.Stream erspayrightsholdersa smallsumfor everyplayofa song,sooldfavourites whosephysicalsaleshadlongagodwin dledhavereturnedtoearninga steady income.Artistswithyearroundappeal havebeencashinginontheirnewly soughtafteroeuvres.LastyearBobDylan soldhiscollectiontoUniversalMusic Group,theworld’sbiggestrecordlabel, fora sumreportedlyover$300m.On November30thbmg, anothermusic company,saidit hadboughttheheavy metalcollectionofMötleyCrüe. Streamingmaymeana newpayday forenduringlypopularartists,butit saps someoftheexcitementfromtheChrist mascharts.MsCarey,whoclaimedsec ondplaceinBillboard’srankinglastyear andﬁrstplacetheyearbeforethat,has alreadybegunherfestiveassaultonthis year’scharts:atthetimeofwritingshe hadreachednumber12,andrising. Christmasmaybe“TheMostWonderful TimeoftheYear”(lastyear’snumber sevenhit),butit isalsobecomingthe mostmusicallypredictable.

Themusicbusiness

Ghosts of Christmas past

MariahCarey’sseasonalubiquityillustratestheneweconomicsofstreaming

There’s no one quite like Grandma United States, Billboard Hot 100 Christmas chart positions

Source:Billboard

Mariah Carey, 1994 All I Want For Christmas Is You Chart position

Current Classics

1

5

10 2015 16 17 18 2019

Bobby Helms, 1957 Jingle Bell Rock

Burl Ives, 195 A Holly Jolly Christmas

The Economist - USA (20212-12-04)

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