网络安全检测|网络安全服务|网络安全扫描-香港墨客投资移动版

您的浏览器不支持音频播放。

S: Hello, everyone. Welcome to CBN Friday Special, I’m Stephanie Li.

K: And I’m Kathy Jia. 

S: Hey, Kathy, what have you been listening to the whole morning? I heard you humming a very familiar tune...... Hmm, is it “Childhood” by the pop legend Lo Ta-yu? 

K: Yes! Did you watch his concert on WeChat the other day? Many of my friends shared it on WeChat Moments and sparked a wave of nostalgia, and they are all saying the same thing: the virtual concert really brought back many happy memories in their childhood. 

S: I did. At 8 pm on May 27th, Lo sat in front of his piano and played a piece based on his hit song, Red Dust, which was featured in the popular Chinese movie of the same title in 1990. This opened Lo's first virtual concert. Along with his band members, Lo sang 20 of his songs for nearly two hours, including Childhood, Dream, Love Song 1980 and Love Song 1990. And I remember him saying that "Childhood was not written for children. It was for adults." It really struck me. The veteran singer-songwriter has captured the hearts of Chinese music lovers for decades, gathering a large fan base especially among people born in the 1970s and '80s. He ended the virtual concert with his song, Tomorrow Will Be Better, hoping to provide a sense of comfort and hope to people amid the pandemic.

But I had to switch back and forth between WeChat and the popular short-video platform Douyin, because there’s another concert going on at the very same time! Singaporean singer-songwriter Stefanie Sun also launched her online program via Douyin. The 44-year-old singer rose to fame after releasing her debut self-titled album in 2000. Compared to Lo, Sun's fans are people born in the 1980s and '90s.

K: Oh yeah, it’s indeed a tough choice. It was not the first time that Sun gave an online show. She has been engaging with her fans through online concerts since the pandemic started. And during her online concert on Friday night, which was unlike her live concerts in indoor venues, usually well-choreographed with stage set and a list of songs, Sun asked the viewers to choose their favourite songs of hers and she performed them with a live band. She also talked to the viewers casually, which made the night relaxed and spontaneous. Sun had her online show in a rehearsal room. She performed her hits, such as Believe, Kite and Encounter. 

S: Lo’s virtual concert, which was streamed on Chinese social media platform, WeChat, attracted more than 40 million viewers during the two-hour performance. Nostalgic fans left real-time comments while watching the concert, expressing their excitement and their love for Lo, a cultural icon of their youth. Since the platforms calculated viewing results differently, Douyin counted the total views of Sun's event to be more than 240 million by 9:30pm. WeChat counted that Lo's show has attracted somewhere around 41 million viewers by 11:50 pm. 

K: You’re right, the pandemic has undoubtedly brought enormous interest to virtual concerts, where the audience tries to regain a sense of community, and performers make up for canceled gigs. During the past two years, online concert has grown at a fast pace. According to an online music industry report released in March by iResearch, a leading provider of online audience measurement and consumer insights in China, the number of online concert viewers in March 2020 rose to 150 million, an increase of 30 percent compared to October 2019. In December 2020, the number of online concert viewers rose to 190 million. 

For example, the popular Irish boy band Westlife held their first virtual concert through WeChat on Dec 17th last year, which attracted 27.9 million viewers. On April 15, when Chinese rock legend Cui Jian and his band performed online for the first time, more than 40 million people tuned in, which set a record for online concerts on Chinese social media platforms. 

S: When the pandemic hit in 2020, the sudden necessity of live-streamed performances created a rush of attention from music lovers, who were spending much more time at home. Live-streamed concerts are leading the music scene this year in particular with the fast development of technology supporting online concerts and providing viewers with immersive experiences. Besides new live performances produced for online viewers exclusively, there is also re-screening of past concerts of pop stars, which is receiving warm feedback from fans. 

For instance, on April 1, Hong Kong pop legend Leslie Cheung's last concert of his Passion tour in 2000 was remastered by using artificial intelligence and streamed online by Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME), which attracted about 17 million viewers. On May 20 and 21, two concerts by pop icon Jay Chou－from Chou's 2012 Ferris Wheel tour and 2019 Strongest on the Surface tour－were rescreened through online platforms under TME, attracting over 70 million viewers in total.