Recently seen on the big screen for his role in Blood Brothers, singer Jacky Cheung criticised the Chinese music industry for being profit-driven, rather than focusing on building on quality.
Veteran Hong Kong pop superstar Jacky Cheung warned that a cookie-cutter approach that chooses profit over quality has spurred a decline in the Chinese music industry.
Recently seen on the big screen for his role in Blood Brothers, singer Jacky Cheung criticised the Chinese music industry for being profit-driven, rather than focusing on building on quality.
Cheung -- one of the Heavenly Kings of Hong Kong's music scene -- said the younger generation of recording artists is being spread too thin, with commercial and movie commitments overshadowing their singing.
Hong Kong and Taiwanese pop stars -- who are hugely popular in mainland China, Singapore, and overseas Chinese communities -- often juggle singing and acting careers.
'If we don't focus on it (singing), you can't expect the product to be good ... if our own industry doesn't take it seriously, you can't expect others take it seriously,' Cheung, 42, told The Associated Press in a late Tuesday interview.
With the bottom line as the top priority, new singers are only given a short time to prove their profitability -- a sink-or-swim mind-set that Cheung says doesn't produce quality tunes.
Cheung also held the media responsible, reminiscing about the days when his songs would play on radio for a year and a half. Now, songs disappear after they've made a mark on the charts, he said.
He said contemporary music critics pay more attention to packaging, while the previous generation of reviewers 'wrote criticisms with more sincerity'.
Cheung also lamented a lack of creative talent in the music industry saying there is a lack of variety with everyone writing the same type of songs.
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