Chinese investors are seeking ways to invest in the music industry by cooperating with well-known singers.

"The music industry, which has a very promising market, lags far behind the film industry," said Song Ke, chairman of Evergrande Music, at a forum on investment and the music industry held in Shanghai on Thursday.

The forum, sponsored by Shanghai East Radio Co Ltd and Wu Yuefeng Capital, aimed to provide a platform for investors and musicians to cooperate in developing the music industry,

"The music industry, part of cultural undertakings, has aroused great concern from society with more singers having thrown themselves into it," Song said.

China earned 21.7 billion yuan ($3.5 billion) from box office takings last year, about 40 percent of which went to film producers. But record companies received only 2 percent, about 600 million yuan of last year's 30 billion yuan in recorded music sales.

"It's a really big gap. That's why so many singers turn to personal studios," he said.

Local insiders said they are no longer satisfied with working only for record companies.

Some, including well-known pop singers Li Yuchun and Hu Yanbin, have set up personal music studios. As bosses, they make records and distribute them by their own effort.

"We will have more room than before for creation and self-promotion, though we will be busier and feel more pressure," said Hu, adding that he wants to brainstorm with investors to gain opinions on how to push forward the development of the music industry.

"The music industry is a potential gold mine worthy of being dug by investors in the next round of the investment boom," said Ni Zhengdong，chairman and CEO of Zero2IPO, a leading integrated service provider in the China venture capital and private equity industry.

"But it needs a good business model to stimulate it," he added.

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