Culture Minister Cheng Li-chiun joined a press conference held by the Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development (BAMID) on June 15 to unveil the 28th Golden Melody Awards & Festival.
The festival portion of the Golden Melody Awards, the equivalent of the Grammy Awards among the Chinese-speaking community, has become a major platform for players in Taiwan's music industry to connect with their international counterparts in recent years.
Minister Cheng noted that the event will invite music professionals, curators, and buyers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand this year to encourage closer collaboration between Taiwan and Southeast Asian countries.
She added that the Golden Melody Awards & Festival will also expand its scale by inviting professionals from related industries - including video-streaming platforms, games, technology, and TV content production - as well as venture capitalists to facilitate business opportunities this year.
To develop a comprehensive ecosystem for the local pop music industry and implement industry-wide strategies, the Ministry of Culture has incubated several cross-platform media projects and promoted interdisciplinary collaboration.
The Ministry is now building a cultural financing system to bring in more capital and utilizing the latest technological trends to develop blockchain and mobile payments for Taiwan's music industry.
The cultural financing system is expected to support the launch of finance workshops and prompt more interaction between the music industry and capital providers, as well as expand the scale of Taiwan's music industry, protect intellectual property, and strengthen original content.
The Ministry is also planning to upgrade the facilities of pop music venues, cultivate new talents, and organize documents relating to Taiwan's music history.
BAMID noted that the three-day event will host international forums, trade markets, sales meetings, exhibitions, and concerts to promote Taiwan's pop music and introduce the latest music trends, ideas, and technology to Taiwan.
In recent years, the participating companies have increased from 62 companies in 2014 to 341 companies in 2016. The deals made have also increased from NT$250 million to NT$580 million, added BAMID.
Regarding the 2017 program, BAMID noted that the forums this year will explore topics encompassing pop music, interdisciplinary applications of music intellectual property, talent incubation, music market in Southeast Asia, blockchain usage in the music industry, indie music in Asia, electro music trends, and innovative music services.
The forums will be hosted by esteemed guests including Independent Music Conference founder Robin Malau, Moment Factory Creative Director Jesse Lee Stout, STHLM Music City spokesperson Grace McCallum, and Blizzard Entertainment Music Director Russell Brower.
In addition, representatives of international music festivals such as South by Southwest, Canadian Music Week, Liverpool Sound City, Midem, Summer Sonic, Music Matters, and Big Mountain will be invited to interact with Taiwan's professionals through a music matchmaking program.
The trade festival, which will also feature concerts to increase the visibility of Taiwan's musicians and help them gain overseas opportunities, will take place from June 21 through 23 at Le Meridien Taipei.
The Golden Melody Awards ceremony will take place at Taipei Arena on June 24 - live streaming of the event will be available on YouTube.