Hopping across the Hong Kong border to the counterfeit mecca of Shenzhen is enough to strike fear in the hearts of even the most battle-hardened music executives.
Scarlett Li is no exception. The rampant piracy of music and films in China, she fears, will have "scary" implications for the future of the Star-owned youth channel.
But Li is fighting back. Last month, she kicked off a counter-attack with a concert in Shanghai that carried an anti-piracy theme. Top regional acts, including Jay Chou, F4 and Japanese band Chemistry entertained a capacity crowd of 80,000, while underlining the impact of piracy on the future of entertainment.
Says Li: "We want to provide a platform for the record companies and their artistes and the Government to deliver the message that buying fake CDs or downloading music from unauthorised sites is not alright."
Li's grim assessment of the piracy scourge is evident when she describes the current climate as "the dark ages of the music industry both in China and globally".
"It used to be that albums were released once every two months. Now it's every two years. Artistes are releasing albums as a means to promote their shows, which is the only way most can make money.
"We haven't reached a crisis point in China but this trend will one day limit the amount and type of content we can air. So the theme of the concert is: 'If you love music, you have to pay for it'."
Apart from helping protect its future, the anti-piracy effort was created with a branding objective in mind as well. It forms part of an ongoing branding effort to create a community environment, which was launched more than two years ago when the channel relocated its marketing and production departments from Hong Kong to Shanghai to better serve the China market.
The 2003/04 theme is 'Symbolism', showcasing music as the glue that binds families together. It follows the 'Made in China' platform of promoting upcoming local talent and highlighting the country's rising status on the world stage.
"Our positioning is to be more than just a music channel. We want to also be the trendsetter in youth ideology and lifestyle. We started with the anti-piracy project because we want to contribute to building a better society and nourish it to ensure its long-term future."
A native of the Shanghai region, Li started at Channel V as business director in 1997 after a stint selling Chinese programming to overseas stations. Piracy isn't the only issue bedeviling the industry today, according to the graduate of Australia's University of Woollongong. Her other big challenge is in arresting the slide in the TV-viewing habits of young people. "The challenge is that there are so many distractions such as the internet and better entertainment venues. It's easier for people to travel. They are even using the mobile phone to communicate with each other in a different way."
To counter these distractions, Channel V has implemented a raft of new initiatives to sharpen brand loyalty. One such initiative is its programme, Face to Face, a bimonthly mini-concert in which people can suggest via SMS which city the event should be held in and the singers they want to see. "We have to follow the market's lead."
There is also Summer Shake, a Woodstock-style music festival, although the second annual event last year was cancelled because of Sars. One of the high points of the Channel V calendar is the China Music Awards, which pulled in 200 million viewers for the January 2003 event. Events, such as these, Li believes will help Channel V stay in tune with its youth target. "Music is simply the means to attract an audience, but to create a community, you must offer companionship, lifestyle and ideology."
LI: ON THE RECORD
Connectivity - Everything you do has to be connected. That includes external trends. That way people have a stronger impression of you and you are able to deepen the relationship with viewers and advertisers.
Target audience - Our core viewers are 15 to 35, which is older than the norm. This is because those born in the 60s missed out on the chance of being fun and wild when they were in their 20s - a time when China was still conservative.
Piracy woes - People don't understand why it's wrong to buy fakes. Government agencies largely responsible for distribution can also be bureaucratic. The pirated channel in comparison is much more organised.
What youths want - They don't care about collecting CDs. They only want to put their favourite songs onto their MDs.
The way ahead 3G will help deliver music through phones and you can collect money just like that. That will likely come in two years but that will be a diversification of our business.
