thanks a lot for your post ah oi.

i always think hong kong's condition is very special. it really takes more research on the music industry and yet very few people are really working on the figures...

i can't say the exact figures but one very wried phenomenon is a couple of "famous" composers and writers are occupying the business, i will not say "dominate" as it is not their own will to be so, though it is a fucking important "fact." it is a really strange condition.

or we should view it in a way that the fact that only a few writers and composers are working for pop stars, tells a lot about the hk music industry landscape. i bet if we have the figures of how much lin xi and wong wai man earn, compared to other writers, we will be "shocked."

seems like hk business have to play safe in that way to keep the few famous writers and composers back stage. yet, on stage facing the audience, they try to discover new face and even train a new face to make money. very rare they try new writers. it is very very hard for new musicians and writers to be in the industry. so yes, many of them, like what you mentioned in the article worked on other commercial projects.

and needless to say independent music making can support musicians to make a living as the market is too small.
this is a dilemma as if they insist saying cantonese, the market here, or the population pool can't support it commercially. that's why all the pop stars they have to sing in mandarin and go "big asia." i remember i did an interview with anthony wong and it is their view too, how to struggle between the pop and the creative side. going to the "big asia" market is a must.

to me, pmps is an experiment in hk commercial music industry. people there actually work as musicians for other pop stars. yet, is it possible for another pmps? this is a more important question. if hk can only allow one company like this, and in a way, it is half partnership with music plus, another commercial music production company, there is no really independent music company that working for pop stars.

the problem is:
1) is there any way, except personal connection to be in the pop music industry for new musician and writers.
2) how should we consider the very split and wried practices and ways of thinking of the pop musician industry that on one hand, they try to find, or "train" new faces in the very foreground, to experiment the big commercial success, or as testing ground what will be the "taste" of the mass... and on the other hand, keeping the very few musician and writers doing their music back in the studio.
3) i am not suggesting that pmps is not a good thing. but if only pmps can survive in hk, it means a lot and it is a problem. if you have only one choice, there is no choice at all.
4) i wish i could work more on these issues... anyone here is working on pop music research and try to figure out the datas and figures?
5) EG, as a big "leader" of pop music industry, actually had started different methods to "make" money and shaping the condition of hk pop. keeping a music production company, and as a management company, we can see almost every new song of any EG stars a tv commercial songs. so it is already part of the package. the important thing is, it sets a "good example" for music company to earn money and to survive.

yet, how much musicians, even stars are earning? i wonder...
it must be interesting to study EG, though it is impossible to get the figures...

i wonder...