Chinese national music platformisation: A systematic review

Abstract

Chinese national music is unique to China, and in the past, the single means of distribution and the audience led to the fact that knowledge of Chinese culture and history was limited to national musicians and a subset of fans. With the rapid development of the internet, the dissemination of Chinese national music is no longer limited to live performances, but is beginning to shift to media platforms. Social media has had a tremendous impact on Chinese music culture; people can search for any information they need about Chinese music. With the advancement of social media, groups of internet celebrities such as wanghong (网红) have formed on the internet. This study systematically reviews platformisation and the social media in Chinese national music. Past literature and current notions on Chinese national music development under platformisation are examined given the essentiality of smart devices in developing music through digital technology. The study posed three research questions: 1.What is the current state of development of Chinese national music? What opportunities does platformisation bring to Chinese national music? 2.What areas are the focus for research on platformisation and social media? What is the impact on the music field? 3.What is the history of the development of the Chinese wanghong phenomenon? What impact has it made on Chinese national music? A general systematic review of scholarly articles was conducted for this study using multiple publications from reputable databases: Scopus, Web of Science and CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure). The articles were categorised based on scholarly works involving platforms, platformisation, Chinese national music, social media, and wanghong to determine past study profiles in this domain and relevant knowledge gaps.