Before MP3s, before the internet, before rampant music piracy, music distribution was dominated by the record labels Warner Music Group, Sony BMG Entertainment, EMI Group, and Universal Music Group.
'Back in the day the 'big four' record labels had all the power ... whoever they pushed out, that's who everyone was paying attention to,' says Brian Woo Zhi-da, manager of MC Jin and managing director of Catch Music Group Asia.
These record labels invested vast sums of money to market their musicians' albums to the radio, MTV and CD shops.
Anyone not represented by any of these labels, independent musicians, struggled for the spotlight.
Nowadays, thanks to the internet and changing habits of music consumption, non-mainstream musical genres and artists have a chance.
Take Kristina Lao, a British-Chinese singer who returned to Hong Kong this year seeking better opportunities than those in London.