The Renegade Model

This chapter focuses on the renegade model when the Internet emerged and began to play an important role in the Chinese music industry in the late 1990s. The Internet and its relevant digital technologies are regarded as a new opportunity for the music industry to go digital at first, celebrating the decentralised and utopian endowment of the Internet. However, the unauthorised sharing of music (piracy) has also gained momentum accordingly. I first outline the developments and players in a chronological order, and then provide a conceptual analysis on the renegade model in the formation of a barter economy. However, the renegades are not monolithic either. I finally divide my analysis into three categories, namely the economic, the political and the cultural domains for an in-depth analysis.