Biography
Changbo Duan is currently pursuing a PhD in Music at the University of Liverpool. Changbo focuses on the cultural and social value of independent musicians and indie music in mainland China. He investigates relationships between independent musicians and streaming services in mainland China. As an independent musician in Liverpool and mainland China, he shares a rich musical experience, and is interested in various aspects in music industry studies, popular music studies and cultural studies.
In 2017, he completed his second MA in Music Industry Studies at the University Of Liverpool; his dissertation focused on fan experience research, and the effect of social media on the live music experience. Prior to this, he was awarded a BA in Broadcasting, followed by an MA in Network Communication from the School of Journalism and Communication, Wuhan University, where his dissertation explored the role of new media in intangible cultural heritage inheritance.
Alongside his research, Changbo has extensive music industry experience. As singer and songwriter, he has produced the albums, Suspendu (凝时) and Luoying 2 (珞樱2), and the singles, Goodbye Liverpool, It’s Liverpool, Several years（几), Song of Luo Jia (珞珈谣) and Once (曾经).
He has performed at several live events, notably, Threshold Festival, Chinese New Year, and the Chinese nostalgia pop music night, 24 Kitchen Street, all in Liverpool; The Flow Theory Concert, Strawberry Music Festival, and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Second Asian High School Athletics Championship at Wuhan; he has been the presenter at the event, Exchange: Liverpool Vs Hong Kong at Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool. Changbo has served as writer and critic for a Chinese music business web-portal in Beijing, and participated in research projects including the Live Music Census and Sound City music festival, Liverpool.
Research Interests
Changbo’s thesis, “Relocating the notion of independent musician to Mainland China: process of cultural and conceptional translation in popular music” examines the process of cultural and conceptual translation in popular music. It focuses on how Chinese musicians who self-identify as 'independent' have adapted and perhaps altered the idea of 'independent music' through their practice. After decades of the process of the translation, transformation and reconstruction, the notion of ‘independence’ in China changed dramatically, making it a problematic and subjective term. By combining international and domestic repertories, the trajectories of its formation have changed from underground to mainstream. Although media organisations and cultural mediators turn their 'experimental' and 'artistic' value into commercial value, independent musicians may share different beliefs, which indicates tensions and conflicts.
This research is being conducted through a qualitative strategy. Changbo studies ‘indie’ as a phenomenon largely associated with Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities (such as Beijing, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Chengdu), to identify the nature and extent of tensions between Chinese interpretations of Indie and prevailing Western contexts, and subsequently, how new formations come about. The aim is to understand where the boundaries between these different groups lie, and how these boundaries are shifting within popular music discursively and practically.