Domestic musical producers are being given the opportunity to seek deeper cooperation with each other on a platform built by the China Musical Industry Base. Representatives of domestic musical production companies gathered in Shanghai for a musical industry forum on Wednesday, held to mark the first anniversary of the establishment of the base. It was set up on Shanghai’s Chongming Island at the end of last year by the Chongming District government and the China Association of Performing Arts. It aims to develop a comprehensive industrial chain for China’s musical practitioners with a series of measures that involve professional stage setting and costume factories, storage spaces for stage facilities, production trade fairs, forums and a center to nurture original musicals. The base gathered 12 production companies in its first year. At Wednesday’s event, another eight companies joined the alliance with their representatives signing cooperative contracts. The base welcomed Jiangsu Cultural Investment as a new investor this year. Apart from the base, its production company members will benefit from new support to have their productions introduced to neighboring Jiangsu Province. At the forum, industry experts and company representatives exchanged views on the development of China’s musical industry. “China’s musical industry still faces two mechanism problems,” said Zhu Kening, president of the performing arts association. “The first problem is that most production companies are private companies which lack the ability to gather all resources including performers, creators and other talent." Zhu added: “The second problem is that the market mechanism needs to be better integrated, involving aspects like venues, investment, the merging of travel and performing arts, as well as online resources. The base serves as a great platform for industry practitioners.”