A total of 21 international academics, 22 domestic scholars and 4 mainland Chinese experts spoke at the forum, at Huashan 1914 Creative Park in Taipei City.
The awards will coincide with the Global Music Festival, a platform for international exchanges, cooperation and deals. A novel section of this year’s festival will be a commercial development trade center, intended to accelerate flows between the domestic and international pop music industries.
“The Golden Melody Award Silver Jubilee Special Exhibition opened May 20,” bureau Director-General Chang Chung-jen said. “A new series of related activities is beginning, including masterclasses, an international forum, a seminar on investing in the pop music industry and the trade center.”
Guests invited to teach the masterclasses include International Federation of the Phonographic Industry CEO Frances Moore, Turner Broadcasting System’s music division head Noni Ellison Southall and GoDigital Media Group Chairman Jason Peterson.
To help turn domestic Mandopop into an international brand name, the bureau also asked Billboard magazine’s Tokyo bureau chief Rob Schwartz, Music Umbrella CEO Glenn H. Friedman and DTS Business Development Vice President Sho Izaki to speak at the international forum.
“This will be the 25th anniversary of the Golden Melody Awards, but we have been working in Mandopop for more than 40 years,” Chang said.
Chang expressed high hopes for the festival. “Music, for us, is always the best companion and depiction of our lives. We want to put Taiwan’s pop music on the world stage.” (SSC-SDH)
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