Music China retains its position as Asia’s largest music industry event

Mr Evan Sha, Deputy General Manager, Messe Frankfurt (Shanghai) Ltd said: Our show continues to be popular with visitors and exhibitors because of its broad product mix combined with live events and industry seminars. It gives everyone a complete up-to-date music industry experience.

For 2010, we are seeing that exhibitors are more confident in putting together aggressive marketing plans to get back any

business lost during the global economic downturn, Mr Sha added. Already more than 90% of last years exhibitors have reserved space for the 2010 show and some are taking bigger booths.

Confirmed exhibitors include leading brands such as Alhambra, AXL, Conn-Selmer, Korg, Music Sales, PianoDisc, Samick, Schimmel and Warwick. In addition, pavilion organisers for the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, Spain, Taiwan and the Netherlands are planning to return to the show. The UK has already confirmed their national pavilion.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, continued growth in disposable income has contributed to the steady increase in retail sales. In December 2009, the year-on-year growth rate was 17.5%. The Chinese governments stimulation plan was successful in bolstering consumption and economic growth and this was reflected at Music China 2009 with buyers looking for high quality products.

With an improving economy, we expect this trend for quality to continue for Music China 2010 as Chinese buyers are still demanding high quality branded goods to meet the needs of local consumers, Mr Sha commented.

Ms Zuzana Petrof from Petrof Piano and representative for the Musical Instruments Makers of the Czech Republic, also agreed on the trend towards quality as she believes that during the next two years the market will be affected by culture and wealth. The Chinese market is very big and is flooded with many low-cost products, she explains, but as the wealth of the Chinese people grows, it is obvious that they look for high-end products more and more, because now they can actually afford it.

UK Music publisher Mr Ian Morgan, Business Development Director of The Music Sales Group commented: As people begin to earn more they want to own better quality. China has the potential for enormous growth and with that comes higher personal aspirations

which is good for our market. While Canadian guitar strap manufacturer, Mr Harvey Levy of Levys Leathers Ltd commented: If the demand for expensive guitars is on the rise, then ultimately demand for my product will rise. I suspect that those Chinese who are buying expensive guitars already have a nice house or apartment and maybe even a car. Those two commodities will lead the way for demand for expensive consumer products.

Music China 2010 is organised jointly by the China Music Instrument Association (CMIA), INTEX Shanghai and Messe Frankfurt, and runs concurrently with Prolight and Sound Shanghai, an International Exhibition for the Event and Communication Technology, AV-Production and Entertainment industries. For more information, please visit www.musikmesse-china.com