The band’s label, B’in Music, has since refuted allegations that the quintet had lip-synched during their concerts, telling the Taipei Times they were a “malicious attack and slanderous rumour that has severely harmed the image of the company’s artists”.
Mayday were in Shanghai for an eight-concert stop, which concluded their tour in mainland China that started in May.
In China, according to the Regulations on Administration of Commercial Performances, groups and individuals that hold or participate in commercial performances “are not allowed to deceive the audience by lip-synching”.
Fans rejoice as Blackpink sign new contracts to extend group’s K-pop career
Fans rejoice as Blackpink sign new contracts to extend group’s K-pop career
If a performer is found guilty, the authorities may impose a fine between 50,000 yuan and 100,000 yuan (roughly US$7,000 to US$14,000). If the performer breaks the same law again within two years, their commercial performance licence will be revoked.
The audience also has the right to ask the performance organiser to compensate for losses in accordance with the Consumer Rights Protection Law.
The ban was imposed in 2009, a year after the 2008 Beijing Olympics saw China come under fire for a nine-year-old girl’s lip-synching performance during the opening ceremony, which the country admitted was because of the real singer’s appearance.
The “Self-Discipline Management Measures for Entertainers in the Performance Industry”, issued in 2021, also stipulates that entertainers are not allowed to “deceive the audience through lip-synching, fake playing, etc. during commercial performances”.
In 2009, two mainland Chinese singers, Fang Ziyuan and Yin Youcan, were caught lip-synching at fellow singer Huang Shengyi’s concert and were fined 50,000 yuan each.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korean politician Lee Myung-soo proposed a bill to ban lip-synching in 2011, labelling the practice as “fraudulent”. He suggested that offenders should be jailed for up to one year or fined up to 10 million won. However, the legislation was never passed.
Japan is more relaxed regarding the practice. This may be because most idol groups there lip-synch during performances, and any prohibitive legislation would have a detrimental effect on its developed idol industry.
Singer Akane Osawa publicly expressed her views: “Fans are already very happy to see their idols, so it doesn’t matter even if they lip-synch!”
According to reports, a more recent Mayday concert in Paris on December 8, which was live-streamed globally, saw frontman Ashin at times singing off-key, while fans said afterwards that they could hear him taking breaths – evidence, apparently, that he was singing live.
After the concert, Ashin posted on both Instagram and Weibo a message thanking “every one of you for travelling with me through these years and accompanying me till the dawn”.