Mayday Investigated For Lip-Syncing At Shanghai Concert, Could Face Maximum Fine Of S$19K

Taiwanese rock band Mayday are in the news again for the wrong reasons.

The band, who are on their world tour, are being investigated by Chinese authorities after netizens accused the quintet of lip-syncing at their recent Shanghai concert.

Lip-syncing is not allowed in China as it “deceives the audience” according to a set of regulations imposed on performers by the Chinese government. The band now faces a fine of 50K to 100K yuan (S$9K-S$19K) if found guilty.

It started when Weibo user "Acoustics" uploaded a video from Mayday’s concert claiming that lead singer Ashin's vocals could still be heard even after he had put his mic down. 

You can watch it here.

In his post, he wanted the band to publicly state if there had indeed been any lip-syncing, and if there was, to issue an apology and offer concertgoers a full refund.

Music blogger “Wheatfield farmer” also backed his allegations.

The blogger claimed he had used voice separation analysis to assess 12 live audio recordings from Mayday's concerts and results suggested that there was a mix of live singing and lip-syncing.

He also believed that five songs were lip-synced.

Following the revelation, netizens flooded Mayday’s agency B’in Music’s Weibo account, demanding answers.

Some fans defended the band, saying that from Ashin’s off-key singing in ‘Cheers’, it’s obvious that they were singing live.

“Claiming it's off-key and lip-syncing just because it's too accurate is absurd,” said one fan.

They also questioned the accuracy of this method of assessment as live band performances typically have loud music, which overpowers the vocals.

According to Chinese media reports, the Beijing Cultural Market Comprehensive Law Enforcement Corps is looking into the allegations and that investigations would take some time.

A staff member also stated that officers were present at six of the band’s Beijing concerts earlier this year to ensure the performance is consistent with the approved content.

It added that it “had positions near the central control area”.

While Mayday and B'in Music have not addressed the controversy, the latter announced on Weibo that it will live stream the band’s Paris concert on Dec 7 - which starts on Dec 8, 3am Singapore time - in its entirety.  

The band is scheduled to perform in Singapore on Jan 13 and 14 at the National Stadium.

Photos: Mayday/Weibo, 声理学/Weibo