ZHANGYE opens up on the rise of electronic music in China, his recent ‘China EDM, Vol. 1’ compilation and more: Interview

In this exclusive interview, ZHANGYE opens up on the rise of electronic music in China, his role within the promotion of dance music in his homeland, and the release of his recent‘China EDM, Vol. 1’ compilation among others.

Continuing his ascendancy within the dance scene in the most immersive of manners, ZHANGYE is the epitome of an act that has dedicated his life into mastering his craft to the utmost of perfection. Hailing from China himself, this artist to watch ensures nothing less than the most infectious of vibes, whilst his ability to cater for a wide range of genres, most certainly helps in him standing out from all the rest. Advocating for the Chinese dance music with every given chance, we could not be any more thrilled to be joined by the man of the moment, as he opens up on the rise of electronic music in his homeland, the measures required in order to put China back into the international market of dance music, releasing a groundbreaking compilation in the form of ‘China EDM, Vol. 1,’ what the future holds and so much more.

Advocating for the Chinese dance music scene on the constant, could you talk us through its current development, the potential witnessed as time progresses, and the overall feel on what can be achieved?

ZHANGYE: “The Chinese electronic music market is still relatively small, but it has great potential. Electronic music started later in China and is not particularly prominent in the ranking among other music genres; the Chinese market is more dominated by Mandarin pop music. Within the realm of pop music, electronic dance music (EDM) is naturally more suited for globalization and internationalization. This is because EDM focuses more on the expression of atmosphere, the arrangement of structure, and the design of sound, which inherently avoids the barriers of language and culture when going global. Therefore, we hope to promote the globalization of Chinese music through electronic dance music and compilations like China EDM. In fact, China has a group of excellent electronic musicians, but they lack stages and are not seen by the public. Most domestic events still rely on internationally renowned DJs to increase their profile, and there is a need to further promote local labels and DJs.”

A clear contrast between pre-Covid China and the decrease in today’s international artist performances, we would like to know the current message perceived by the Chinese dance music industry, and the measures taken in order to put China back into the international market of dance music? 

ZHANGYE: “The overall rise of China’s electronic music market should be around 2010. With the gradual rise of streaming platforms, global commercial music has been increasingly exported to the Chinese market, and China’s young population has also been influenced by overseas electronic music styles. Subsequently, the emergence of various major electronic music festival brands in the Chinese market has also pushed the development of the electronic music market to a small peak in just a few years. During this period, the upsurge of entertainment consumption upgrades and the continuous influx of capital have also driven the development of local electronic musicians, labels, and performances. From 2014 to 2018, the Chinese market successively introduced large-scale electronic music festivals from the European and American markets, also pushing the development of the electronic music market to a small peak in just a few years. During this period, the upsurge of entertainment consumption upgrades and the continuous influx of capital have also driven the development of local electronic musicians, labels, and performances. However, the epidemic has hit China’s electronic music market very hard, with the number of music festivals reduced by 90%, and it did not bring the expected returns. It began to slow down from 2018, causing these audiences to gradually migrate to other content, but the audience for the electronic music market has been cultivated. If we set aside the impact of the epidemic on China’s electronic music market, all previous data expected the domestic electronic music market to usher in a good era of development. But at present, it seems that China’s electronic music still lacks the right timing to break out of its niche. As a synonym for “popularity and avant-garde,” electronic music has more complex cultural characteristics, requiring the support of atmosphere, industry, labels, and leaders. In fact, China is not short of excellent electronic music producers/DJs. Why can Dutch electronic music and DJs occupy such an important position on the world’s top hundred stages, and why can Dutch electronic music do so well? There are two important reasons. One is that Dutch electronic music developed relatively early, but the other more important reason is that there is a lot of communication in Dutch electronic music. The behavior of mutual communication, grouping, and pure support is very common, which has given me a great inspiration. China has so many excellent electronic music producers, so can we communicate and cooperate more with each other, and make the stage of electronic music bigger together? Another question is, why are there so many excellent electronic music producers in China, but their presence and voices are rarely seen and heard on the European and American stages? China may have many excellent producers, but we do not know them, we do not have the opportunity to understand their voices, they are not heard by us, and their performances are not seen by us. So for me, in such a situation, can we play the role of a connector to let the voices of China, the Chinese producers, be heard and seen? Therefore, we have produced the compilation album ‘China EDM’ this year.”

Curating a groundbreaking compilation in the form of ‘China EDM, Vol. 1,’ could you talk us through the main process behind its creation, the overall message it sets out to portray, your own overview on each featured act and their tracks, as well as the impact it will have in the promotion of the Chinese dance music scene? 

ZHANGYE: “The concept for this compilation began in November of last year, and it has been exactly one year since we started planning. We specifically invited four renowned electronic music producers from China and also publicly solicited four tracks from the community, which together form this compilation. I hope this compilation can be a microcosm of the development of Chinese electronic music at this stage, or a snapshot of the state of Chinese producers. Of course, I also hope that this compilation can help Chinese electronic music and its producers to be heard and seen by more international peers and audiences. We publicly solicited and collected submissions from everyone. From the time we received the submissions to selecting these four producers, we received hundreds of tracks, and I listened to each one. It took us a month to select a batch that I believe met the requirements and had excellent quality. At that time, I encountered a difficulty: how to filter them further. At this point, the invited mature producers in our compilation and our peers participated and helped to make a recommendation. When the tracks were collected, and I listened to these hundreds of submissions, I was actually very surprised. In the music field, we could very clearly find a large number of producers who are very talented and have their own personal characteristics. They expressed their understanding of music, electronic music, sound engineering, mixing, and mastering through their works. Our collection and selection process this time was a blind selection process, where we did not look at the background information of the producers, only the music. But what surprised me was that when we selected these four tracks, we found that these four individuals have a certain representativeness. Among the four, two have been working for a while and have a main job with music as a side gig; one is a full-time musician making a living as a producer. There is also a student in college, a junior, for whom school is the main job, and the major is not music, but music is his hobby. So, this composition seems to be a microcosm of current Chinese music practitioners, especially creators, presenting the structure of Chinese musicians. When we saw this background information, we were actually very surprised because it has a strong representativeness, and yet this representative structure was formed through the blind selection of songs.”

On a similar note, a vast array of upcoming Chinese acts emerge on the daily, and in turn, we would like to know your advice towards the new generations of Chinese dance music, and how they can reach an international breakthrough like yourself?

ZHANGYE: “The industry’s voice is currently quiet; we should learn from the Dutch electronic music scene by collaborating and communicating more, which can spark new ideas through these interactions. Additionally, the new generations of Chinese dance music could unite to establish and strengthen connections with the international electronic music community.”

Coming close to yet another impressive year end for ZHANGYE, could you provide us with any hints on what the future holds, always in terms of new music, upcoming collaborations and live performances?

ZHANGYE: “‘China EDM’ has Volume 1, and there will be Volume 2, 3, and so on… Chinese electronic music will create more stories on the international stage. Personally, I also have exciting collaborations coming up next year, so let’s look forward to that together.”

Remarkable in every sense of the word, we will be keeping a close eye on ZHANGYE and all his future endeavours within the dance scene, but for the time being, you can stay fully up to date by following him on Soundcloud, Instagram and Spotify.

Stream ZHANGYE compilation below: