2010’s explosion of music festivals in China hasn’t gone unnoticed internationally. The NY Times must have sent a reporter to the venerable Midi Festival in Zhenjiang, because in THIS article, they cover the 2010 edition on the ground. Further, they put together a video with some great footage. The words don’t add anything to the article.
A NYTimes article on China’s music festivals
While it is obviously great that China’s youth and the music industry in particular are getting column inches, does the article have to be so inflammatory? Music Festivals in China are in no way a fait accompli – just because the government has been involved increasingly in the last couple of years, a single missive from the centre could put paid to festivals entirely. The first page of the article basically highlights every single anti authoritarian element of Midi in particular and seems to be excessively sensationalist. It strikes us that coverage like this might be a double edged sword for China’s festival industry.
What do you think? Good or bad publicity??