Asia: Listen Up, Glow Sticks, Chinese National Anthem

The music public relations firm Listen Up has opened an office in Asia; actually, two offices, one in Shanghai and one in Hong Kong, according to Completemusicupdate.com. Asian business will be handled by Ryan Wilson, the former director of electronic music for the Asia-Pacific region at Sony Music. 

In a statement, co-founder James Mack said, “We are really excited to be partnering up with Ryan in Asia, and for him to be leading Listen Up’s endeavors in that market. We have worked closely with Ryan on many projects over the years and feel that the services we will initially provide in Asia will help build both our current clients and new clients profile in the continent even further.”

For his part, Wilson added, “Listen Up is regarded and respected worldwide as an industry leader, so it makes perfect sense to partner with … the team. Asia has been an exciting and progressive music and cultural hotspot for a long time now, particularly South Korea and Japan. With the undeniable sleeping dragon of China now waking, we are looking at one of the fastest growing music markets in the world. My experience has proven firsthand that dance music is right there at the front of it—and the appetite is fierce.”

Listen Up’s other offices are in London and the U.S.

A self-made internet celebrity has fallen afoul of Chinese authorities for singing the Chinese national anthem in an unseemly manner, according to the South China Morning Post. Yang Kili, 21, who boasts 44 million followers on various Chinese social media platforms, was accused by police in Shanghai’s Jingan district of “insulting” the national anthem while live-streaming on one of those platforms, Huya, on Oct. 7.

Yang was in the process of introducing an “online music festival” and started humming the opening bars of a song called “Athletes March” before singing the words to the national anthem, “March of the Volunteers,” all the while waving her arms as if conducting an orchestra. Some viewers thought she was making light of the national song and expressed their anger in no uncertain terms. 

Alerted to the performance, the police called it “an insult to the dignity of the national anthem which repelled internet users.”

Yang was subsequently charged under a law introduced last year that punishes people who “maliciously modify the lyrics, or play or sing ‘March of the Volunteers’ in a distorted or disrespectful way in public.”

Under the law, Yang could be detained for up to 15 days or even jailed for up to three years. Similar laws will reportedly be implemented in Hong Kong and Macau, where fans at soccer games have been known to boo the anthem before international matches. 

Residents of Hong Kong are particularly concerned, since the authorities could have a wide interpretation of what constitutes “insulting” behavior. In essence, they are afraid the law will dictate that everyone must stand and “act respectfully” when the anthem is played in public. 

Yang was forced to issue two apologies and beg forgiveness for her “stupid mistake.” 

She promised to suspend broadcasts and undergo “patriotic education and activities.” In addition, Huya blocked Yang and removed all her videos, adding in a statement that the company, which was recently listed on the New York Stock Exchange, “respects the anthem and firmly protects its dignity.” Yang’s videos have also been removed from TikTok, an even more popular streaming app and the one that catapulted Yang to fame. 

However, it wasn’t the first time Yang was blocked. Several months ago she was removed from TikTok’s main rival, Kuaishou, for soliciting money from fans who wanted to add her on WeChat, the most popular social platform in China. 

Live streaming has become extremely popular in China lately, thus giving rise to many web celebrities, mostly young women who share their daily lives online. According to Deloitte, live streaming is expected to generate $4.4 billion in revenues this year.

One of the most ubiquitous fixtures of any J-pop concert in Japan is glow sticks, which fans wave around throughout the show while their idols egg them on. But some musicians hate them. According to Animenewsnetwork.com, the composer Susumu Hirasawa has expressly prohibited glow sticks from being wielded at his concerts, and tweeted on October 7, “If you want to wave something cylindrical over your head no matter what, make it an inkan.” Inkan are stamp-seals that Japanese people use in lieu of pens for “signing” official documents. 

Though the tweet was obviously a joke, Hirasawa was not aware that there are inkan that double as glow sticks. A stationery company called Shachihata makes a kind of flashlight-like cylinder that projects the Chinese characters of the name of the owner in a stamp-seal manner. The company is now referencing Hirasawa’s tweet to sell its devices. Taking the reaction in stride, Hirasawa himself has joined in the fun and mentioned the company in subsequent tweets. A new trend may have started.