The Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development, Ministry of Culture (MOC) held a press conference today (26 April) announcing the launch of 2018 Golden Melody Awards & Festival series events. In attendance for this annual celebration of Chinese-language pop music scene were the Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun, Chairman Sunny Chang and Vice-Chairman Denver Chang Keng-Yu of the Recording Industry Foundation in Taiwan (RIT), winner of the 28th GMA best album Sanpuy Katatepan Mavaliyw, winner of the 24th GMA best album Chung Hsing-min, DJ Dela, DJ Didilong, Kowen Ko, and J.Sheon.
In her address, Minister Cheng stated that GMA is renowned internationally for its place in Chinese-language pop music, and also as an expression of the depth and strength of Taiwan's pop music culture and industry. This year's GMA series events breathe a new life into the label, allowing the audience to experience the cross-domain integration between digital technology and audiovisual representation, as well as reinforcing the goal of cultivating a new generation of talents, reinvigorating the Taiwan music scene with our best and brightest of the future, all in all a spectacular and wonderful event.
The minister also announced the five major aspects of MOC's pop music policy, "Currently the most important policy work for the ministry is to develop and complete the ecology of our cultural content industry. The pop music policy of the Ministry of Culture encompasses the five major aspects of cultural finance, cultural technology, hardware upgrades, cultural cultivation, and international branding". Minister Cheng also pointed out that the proposed Cultural Content Institute should be established next year, and the establishment of an advisory committee for promoting pop music will be a priority.
Minister Chen also stated that when it comes to cultural finance, the investment model will be improved upon the ministry have successfully secured a 10-billion dollar national development fund for the cultural content investment project, hoping to attract more funding into the music industry and increase the investment tempo through matchmaking efforts. As for cultural technology, the ministry intends to accelerate the application of blockchain technology, while subsidizing the production of pop music programs on new media, with the goal of marketing Taiwan's music to the international scene through mobile payment options and cross-platform marketing. An audiovisual lab will also be formed at the TAF Innovation Base in Taipei. Hardware upgrades are also expected to be in place in the next two years from south to north, intent on establishing impetus from both nexuses. Local performance venues will also be improved with the budgetary support from the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program, providing artists with a more diverse range of choices.
On the aspect of cultural cultivation, the ministry has initiated the music history project, and unveiled a series of supplementary course materials from elementary to high school on "Understanding Pop Music", along with improvements on experiential learning. For international branding, the ministry has arranged for the upcoming Golden Indie Music Awards (GIMA) to collaborate, for the first time ever, with the Mnet Asian Music Awards. The Awards will have simultaneous live presence in the north and south of the island, endeavor to become the most prominent music festival in all of Asia, and brand Taiwan's pop music as the nation's cultural identity.
According to the Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development, this year's GMA will continue the business to business (B2B) matchmaking orientation, conducting events such as international forum, business exchange sessions, business trade center and GMA concert, in order to facilitate the matchmaking between industry partners and businesses, and encourage the development of innovative business models. As for demonstration activities, the organizer has invited a total of 6 domestic and foreign teams to demonstrate the integration between music and technology, providing more diverse applications for the music industry. Strategic alliances with other international music festivals will also continue, other than Japan and Thailand, this year will also include a partnership with Live at Heart Music Festival from Sweden.
The bureau further elaborated that in terms of enhancing the cultivation for a new generation of talents, this year's GMA has not only invited GMA laureate Khalil Fong to head the "GMA Talk" series lectures, sharing their creative process with students majoring in pop music-related subjects, but will also be holding "New Talent Presentation" and "GMA Heat" series of activities, a total of 6 singers and bands will be participating including Anna, Nightcap, Julia Wu, Lai Tzu-Hong, Vita Chang, Lumi Hsu. As for the lead-in series of activities for the GMA starting on 14 April entitled "GMA on Campus: Industry-University Cooperation", the organizer has invited industry veterans such as Eve Ai, Lala Hsu, Chung Hsing-min, Jonathan Chen, Francis Lee, Europa Huang, Wu-Hsiung, and Tso Kuang Ping, and DJ Dela to personally impart and guide creative techniques for the students, with a final presentation scheduled live on Taiwan Television on 2 June 2018.
The 2018 Golden Melody Awards & Festival will be held from Wednesday 20 June 2018 to Saturday 23rd June 2018 at Le Meridian Taipei, Neo Studio and the Taipei Xiangti Avenue Plaza. The 29th Golden Melody Awards Ceremony will be grandly held on Saturday 23 June 2018 at the Taipei Arena.