Siris-China Rock

This is from a press release I got this morning.

Just in time for the Beijing Olympics, SIRIS announces the release of its brand new “double” Chinese- and English-language album, “8″. The album contains an eclectic mix of 20 original Chinese and English songs. It is the first “double” Chinese-English language album ever released.

I’ve never heard of Siris before. But, that caught my eye. See, I think that an album that’s say, English/Spanish…no big deal. But, English/Chinese, you don’t see that every day. It’s not something every swinging Richard walking around with a gig bag can do; write songs in English and Chinese. And, there are a lot of people speculating about how to find an angle on the huge Chinese music market.

Looking a little further…

The group, formed by brothers Michael and Patrick Maley, was the first Western act to release an original Chinese-language album with its 1997 debut, “Till My Last Breath” (Zhi Dao Wo Zui Hou Yi Xi). In 2005, SIRIS shot to fame with its Mandarin hit single “Xing Fu” (Happiness). Since its release, “Xing Fu” has sold over 500,000 copies and been downloaded over 25 million times.

So, China is not new market for the Maley brothers. Now, those numbers there are interesting. From what I understand, selling a half million in China is rare. From what I understand, nobody really sells music in China but, if you become high profile, there are a lot of opportunities for corporate tie-ins. See, actually, a lot of these music 2.0 guys are saying that the way it’s done in China is the future. A lot of those guys would be far more impressed with the 25 million copies downloaded than the 500,000 sold. The idea, as I understand it is, it’s more important for the music to be heard than it is to sell the music.
It’s that whole develop your brand, music is just a component of your brand, kind of thing.

The Siris website is actually focused more on donating to different charities than it is to selling music.

SIRIS releases a new music tribute dedicated to the Sichuan China earthquake victims. The new song entitled “God Bless Sichuan” was written and recorded by SIRIS and features renowned Erhu solist Qin Qian. The brothers have released the new song in an effort to continue to raise awareness about the on going need for financial aid and disaster relief throughout the region.

You can listen to “God Bless Sichuan” by clicking here. The Erhu parts sound rather haunting.

Anyway, I just found the whole thing kind of interesting.