BEIJING, July 29, 2025 -- From radio and television music charts more than a decade ago, to viral singles on domestic and international social media; from a pop music performer and creator, to a hitmaker and entrepreneur……Snow Jiang's journey is rare in China's pop music industry. As a serial entrepreneur, she has repeatedly reinvented herself at turning points of industry upheaval, and founded Cheerful Music, a "hit song-generator" whose distinctive Chinese-style melodies have broken out globally, even reaching out to Harvard Business School's classrooms and being included in its case collection.

In June, Snow was invited to Harvard Business School as a special guest speaker, sharing Cheerful Music's business model and entrepreneurial journey with 137 students from over 80 countries. Her presentation, which vividly included recent international business partnerships and cross-country music collaborations, was met with enthusiastic applause. Students from around the world were impressed by Snow's story—one French student planned to write about it for readers back home, while others praised her role as a young female entrepreneur, calling her an inspiration for future generations.

Behind its tens of billions streaming data lies Cheerful Music's unique methodology of creation, management, and operations. In a recent exclusive interview with the Chinese edition of Harvard Business Review, Snow shared the fast-paced logic of viral music in the social media era, how to build a creativity-driven agile team, and how to keep exploring a unique development path in the global market.

Cheerful Music was founded in 2019 in Shenzhen, China, and in just a few short years has produced a string of viral songs including YI XIAO JIANG HU (Subject Three), TA SHAN HE, BAN SHENG XUE, MO WEN GUI QI, XIAO CHENG XIA TIAN and XIANG SI YAO. These works have not only gone viral on Chinese social media, but have also repeatedly appeared on international short video platforms and dance challenge playlists. Snow admits that her bond with music came purely from passion. In 2010, she used her personal savings to produce and release her first album, which continued to generate steady royalty income for years, giving her a sense of the music market just as China's copyright environment was gradually improving.

In 2014, Snow joined Haikoon Music as a singer, but kept pursuing entrepreneurship: over five years, she tried ventures ranging from cafés to skincare and e-commerce, but each ended in failure. In 2019, the lead of Haikoon Music suggested she return to a field she knew well, and she started her music copyright entrepreneurship.

Cheerful Music's early days were anything but easy. Snow at one point relied on signing distribution deals with platforms to secure cash flow, even selling her only house at a critical moment. She admits that if it weren't for her knowledge of the music industry and her own personality, she might never have dared to take such an all-or-nothing leap. "I like to challenge myself. I'm the type of person who, even after hitting a brick wall, won't turn back — I'll keep going and even try to tear down the wall," she says.

Looking back, Snow believes that her early entrepreneurial failures strengthened her resilience and business skills, making her more pragmatic and cautious when running Cheerful Music later: not blindly chasing speed or scale, not depending on external capital or library acquisitions, but moving forward step by step with original works, maintaining a core competitive advantage.

Today, after seven years, Cheerful Music has steadily grown, and Snow has fully transitioned from a singer to the head of a music publishing company. "I hope there won't be just one Snow Jiang, but that I can cultivate ten or twenty Snow Jiang, truly turning the company from a personal IP into a sustainable enterprise in the music industry chain."

The Underlying Logic of a "Hit-song Generator"

From the outside, it seems like Cheerful Music can generate hit songs endlessly. Snow openly admits that although luck plays a part, it fundamentally depends on the company's content creation and operational methodology. Internally, the company's A&R team concentrates daily on reviewing demos submitted by songwriters and composers. Sometimes they listen to hundreds of songs a day but may not pick a single one. However, if they discover a promising new work going viral on social media in the middle of the night, Cheerful Music will immediately contact the creator and finish signing the contract overnight, ensuring it secures a first-mover advantage.

Cheerful Music's "hit logic" consists of three elements: keen market intuition, rapid execution, and flexible promotion mechanisms. Most potential works will first undergo small-scale, low-cost testing to verify their prospects on social media and spark mass imitation or secondary creation before moving into large-scale, phased investment for promotion. But if there is a work Snow deems a high-potential hit from the outset, she will go "all in" immediately.

Snow requires that the company must produce at least one "viral hit" each year to secure that year's cash flow and brand exposure. In addition, Cheerful Music maintains a diverse layout across instrumental music, traditional-style Chinese music, live performances, and commercial licensing, constructing a sustainable moat through diversified content and business lines.

Managing Creativity with "Magnetism and Flexibility"

Today, the Cheerful Music team has about fifteen members, mostly born after 2000. Snow is keenly aware that music is an industry heavily reliant on emotion and creativity. Traditional management style with young employees would only sap their creativity and motivation. Cheerful Music maintains simple hierarchy, with a large chat group where all employees can report to her directly at any time.

When selecting singers and songwriters, Snow prioritizes personality first, and only then looks at skills and other "hard" factors. If an artist or creator's values do not align with the company's, they will inevitably encounter friction later in project execution. "Only if our values and working styles match can we attract excellent and creative talent. Too much complicated social maneuvering doesn't suit me," she says.

Snow believes women's greatest leadership advantage lies in their acute perception and empathy. For example, in managing her team, she can sense when someone's mindset is wavering even before they formally resign, allowing her to proactively encourage and communicate. If an employee's decision still cannot be changed, she can then adjust and reassign promptly. "Female leaders can switch naturally between rationality and sensitivity, which is especially important in music and the broader entertainment industry — this kind of flexible management is crucial."

A flat structure and flexible leadership have supported Cheerful Music's agile responsiveness in the short video era, becoming an organizational advantage for producing hits.

Building an International Bridge

As an important part of its international strategy, Cheerful Music established a branch office in London in 2023. Unlike focusing on creating viral hits, the UK office was entrusted with the long-term mission of serving as a bridge for cultural exchange between Eastern and Western music.

In Snow's view, shaping pop trends in China is like tossing a pebble into a lake, where you can see visible ripples. But overseas markets are more diverse and fragmented, like throwing a pebble into the sea—even if you throw in ten times as many, it is hard to create large-scale ripples. Therefore, rather than trying to replicate China's hit-generating model overseas, it makes more sense to first build a bridge, so that more global musicians can understand Chinese music, while giving Chinese musicians more opportunities and inspiration for co-creation abroad.

XIANG SI YAO is a classic case. This song initially received a positive response in China, and during its promotion, various versions were tested. A Southeast Asian choreography team created a new dance version and released it on TikTok, triggering massive imitation. Ultimately, it achieved a "re-import" success by returning to China and reaching new heights, becoming a new trend in Chinese-style dance. Snow believes this model may become a sustainable path for Cheerful Music's future internationalization.

Against the backdrop of increasingly integrated global music cultures, Cheerful Music is also exploring new cross-industry collaborations, including with brands, film, games, and cultural IP licensing. She mentions that in the future, while continuing to prioritize good content, Cheerful Music will actively embed its work into more commercial and cooperative scenarios.

Regarding the rise of artificial intelligence in music, Snow remains cautious. AI can provide inspiration or even initial production for melodies and lyrics, but true human vocal emotion and the connection between music and the human spirit are irreplaceable. "Even the same singer's voice will change with different emotions. I once spent three days unable to pull myself out of the emotions of recording a sad love song — AI cannot achieve that kind of authentic investment," she says. "AI tools are more like assistants, it is impossible to rely entirely on them to produce high-quality content."

When talking about the next five years, Snow laughs and says the hot trends in the music industry change so quickly that "I don't even dare make plans for next year." But she is certain that within three years, she hopes Cheerful Music will have broad brand recognition globally: "When people mention Chinese music, they'll think of Cheerful Music first."