Chinese government to build music city: You bet!

The Chinese government has announced plans to build a valley of music it hopes will foster the growth of its nascent music industry. Given the Communist Parties penchant for control how do they propose to create the bastion of music making?

In America  music developed independently in various parts of the country giving each genre its distinct sound and flavor.

Memphis Tennessee is the birth place of Rockabilly:

   Rockabilly was born as one of the earlier styles of rock and roll music. Its place in Memphis music history was created from a combination of country, blues, jazz, and rock and roll. It crossed cultures, generations, and nationalities to form its own unique genre in the early to middle 1950’s.In 1956, rockabilly reached its peak with Memphis songs by Elvis Presley and hits from Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins that landed on the charts. However, by the end of the decade the style declined in popularity, likely due to Presley joining the army and other artist returning to their country roots. The deaths of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens are also cited as reasons for the decline. Rockabilly inspired a youth culture following with the emerging teenage demographic. The rebellious nature of the music and of the artists set into motion the rock and roll mindset and attraction that resounds currently in subcultures of the genre.

Mississippi Delta Blues:

The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, Helena, Arkansas in the west to the Yazoo River on the east. The Mississippi Delta area is famous both for its fertile soil and its poverty. Guitar,harmonica and cigar box guitar are the dominant instruments used, with slide guitar (usually on the steel guitar) being a hallmark of the style. The vocal styles range from introspective and soulful to passionate and fiery. Delta blues is also regarded as a regional variation of country blues.
OriginAlthough Delta blues certainly existed in some form or another at the turn of the 20th century, it was first recorded in the late 1920s, when record companies realized the potential African American market in Race records. The ‘major’ labels produced the earliest recordings and consisted mostly of one person singing and playing an instrument; however, the use of a band was more common during live performances. Current belief is that Freddie Spruell is the first Delta blues artist recorded, as he waxed "Milk Cow Blues" in Chicago in June 1926.^[1] Record company talent scouts made some of these early recordings on 'field trips' to the South; however, the labels invited some Delta blues performers to travel to northern cities to record. According to Dixon & Godrich [1981], Tommy Johnson and Ishman Bracey were recorded by Victor on that company's second field trip to Memphis, in 1928. Robert Wilkins was first recorded by Victor in Memphis in 1928, and Big Joe Williams and Garfield Akers also in Memphis (1929) by Brunswick/Vocalion.

Chicago Blues

 is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois, by taking the basic acoustic guitar and harmonica-based Delta blues, making the harmonica louder with a microphone and an instrument amplifier, and adding electrically amplified guitar, amplified bass guitar, drums, piano and sometimes saxophone and trumpet. The music developed in the first half of the twentieth century as a result of the Great Migration, when Black workers moved from the South into the industrial cities of the North such as Chicago.
Originally, the Chicago blues was street corner-based music. But after the music quickly gained popularity, it became a giant commercial enterprise. Soon the new style of music reached out and touched Europe, which led many famous English rock n' roll bands to get their inspiration from the Chicago blues.
At first, the blues clubs in Chicago were filled with black performers, and the music itself was aimed for black audiences. Most of the blues clubs were on the far south side of Chicago, so white people did not visit them. Later, however, more and more white audiences visited the clubs and listened to the music. This caused clubs to open up on the north side. In addition, more white men started playing the blues after it became popular.
Chicago blues has a more extended palette of notes than the standard six-note blues scale; often, notes from the major scale and dominant 9th chords are added, which gives the music a more of a "jazz feel" while remaining in the confines of the blues genre. Chicago blues is also known for its heavy rolling bass.

 From the top of a hillside in Pinggu village, an hour's drive from central Beijing, the future of China's music industry doesn't look like much – just a vista of Mao-era farmhouses and parched cabbage fields.

Yet Beijing officials have announced plans to spend more than 10 years and £1.4bn turning the area into the "China Music Valley", a sprawling compound that will be home to recording studios, instrument makers, music schools, five-star hotels and an arena in the shape of a peach.

Analysts say the music industry's problems are primarily economic. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has said that the country has a piracy rate of "virtually 100%".

Yet many issues can be traced back to the heavy hand of the state. Television and radio stations are tightly regulated, giving artists little room to experiment with edgy content like the offbeat satire that propelled Gangnam Style's singer Psy to international fame.