Hong Kong singers are making use of social media to reach fans worldwide. This practice became evident in a recent live show in Hong Kong where Canto-pop singers Jason Chan Pak-yu (photo) and Phil Lan Yik-hong performing in front of about 4,000 people at the Convention and Exhibition Center in Wan Chai.
Although they were already reaching a considerable audience live, Chan and Lam were thinking bigger and broadcasted their show on social media. Therefore, fans from outside Hong Kong were able to watch their idols live. Thanks to technology, Chan and Lam's music reached fans from Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Thailand live that night via a streaming collaboration between Taiwanese music platform KKBOX and social media platform Twitter, broadcasting via tis Periscope app.
"Live streaming can reach a much larger audience compared to traditional television," Chan, 32, says following the show. "Our fans spend much more time on the internet than watching television at home. With live streaming they can watch the show live or a playback of the clip any time they want."
Lam agrees with this view. "It certainly opens the creative mindset of ‘anytime, anywhere'," says the 31-year-old. "Sometimes we might not get the opportunities to perform on the biggest stages. Internet streaming eliminates all those problems and I think audiences would also appreciate the rawness it brings."
Live streaming via social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube or Twitter's Periscope is taking the world by storm and programmed to substitute traditional television to become the main stream for live content on the 21st century.
These feeds allow more interactivity between fans and artists, and fans among themselves. As celebrities reach their fans directly, they are able to circumvent traditional media and avoid getting their messages distorted or take out of context.
This new type of broadcast doesn't only benefit artists but it also welcomed by fans who are happy to see the "genuine" faces of their idols much more than a dolled-up image that has been carefully put together by their managers.
Take Leon Lai Ming, for instance, a fading Canto-pop "heavenly king" from the 1990s who switched his focus to films. But since Lai signed up for Facebook earlier this year, things have taken a turn. Lai often broadcasts funny videos and messages to his 313,000 followers. He even posted a video apologizing for the last-minute cancellation of the first night of his solo concert series at Hong Kong's Central Harborfront. The public and the rest of his fans praised his move and even took part in picnics outside the concert venue to show support.
"Lai strips off all the unnecessary idol packaging in this raw footage," wrote marketing guru and critic Tsui Yuen. "It meets fans' needs to see the ‘genuine' faces of their idols. You don't need a publicist or a manager. You can face your fans and the public on your own. You just say what's on your mind and communicate directly with the public, through social media."
Now content providers are adding to this momentum. Taiwan-based KKBOX has partnered with Twitter to offer live music content worldwide. Catherine Chien, marketing vice-president of KKBOX, stated that the music platform already has over 25 million tracks backed by more than 2,500 artists. "We will co-create content on Twitter for Chinese pop fans and artists to share their music with the world through live communications platform," she says.