Miaoju Jianlistened to Dakou CDs (打口帶) (De Kloet 2010), but chose the Internet and English-speaking
social networks instead, to gain a more globalized, modernized, and diverse music palette.
Another special feature of D22 was “Zooming Night” (燥眠夜),^8 the experimental gig
regularly held every Tuesday since 2009. The gig’s organizer, Zhu Wen Bo (朱文博), was a
member of an experimental band and recruited by Pettis to plan a recurring show. Tickets
to Zooming Night were often free, or at a low price of no more than 30 RMB. Zhu and
some foreign musicians largely took charge of the show’s arrangements, reflecting a more
globalized indie/experimental music environment, attracting smaller, and discriminating
audiences.
As Maybe Mars continually succumbed to yearly financial losses, D22 finally yielded a profit
in its last year. Most performances were sold out, the venue continued until the lease expired in
January 2012. Maybe Mars found a new venue in Beijing’s city center in May, near the Drum
Tower (鼓樓). The new live house was called “XP,” and was closer to the South Gong and Drum
Lane (南鑼鼓巷) area, where most emerging live houses were gathering. However, in Pettis’
view, the key to D22’s success was Zooming Night. Therefore, the music style XP presented was
even more experimental and moved beyond the general collective imagination of rock music.
Despite the creative triumphs, XP faced problems of frequently changing staff and disappointing
ticket sales, resulting in more serious financial losses.
At this same time the music scene in China was changing. When D22 closed, the Chinese
culture critic, Mu Qian (穆謙), had made a prophetic comment: D22 was an investment “with-
out a chance to encore.” D22 was not a commercial operation and not a financial success; the
bands it promoted garnered attention in select circles, but were still far from “being famous
around the world.” Moreover, they often reminded the audience of Western artists, whether by
the band’s name, the song lyrics, or their music style. Mu further commented that it seemed like
D22 was a self-satisfying Utopia of a little group of musicians. “But Beijing is not like New York,
if there really is a rock market in China, it should be different from which it is in America...
I hope China’s rock market could be more localized” (Mu 2012). However, Mu’s perspective,
and those alike, can’t dissolve the significance of D22. As China gathers attention from all over
the world, what D22’s and Maybe Mars’ music styles represented was the most ambitious of
China’s indie scene in the twenty-first century. Most young musicians discovered by Maybe
Mars worked with foreign producers and toured abroad. Not only were they welcomed and
praised in the international market (Sheehan 2014; Zaillian 2015), but China’s new generation
of elite music fans also showed their support (Erdong 2014). This made D22 unequivocally
unique and representative.
Moreover, the live music scene in China was no longer considered as a subcultural, under-
ground economy, but rather began to industrialize. The altering environment brought stress to
both D22 and XP. In 2008, Modern Sky had become a major player in the local music industry,
and the biggest indie label in China—holding music festivals and hosting live performances of
up to two hundred times per year. Live music in China was then coming to be distinguished
by three different-scaled industries: performances in small live houses, in mid-sized theaters
with a capacity of 2,000 people, and in large music stadiums and festivals that could hold over
10,000 spectators (Guo 2009). As more foreigners began investing in music festivals and live
venues, China’s government set more regulations to control the industry.
From its inception in 2014, XP had been inspected by the Beijing government. Since it was
not a legal performing venue, ticket sales were banned and monitored by the government. As a
result XP went deeper underground, with their show’s information spreading throughout a
certain group of people. In early 2015, they stopped updating news on their website, and turned
to WeChat to send direct, private messages via these select groups. In June 2015, XP announced