At Harvard Business School’s China Classroom in Chengdu, the future of music wasn’t debated in terms of software upgrades or automation curves. It was debated in terms of relevance.

Snow Jiang (Snow.J), Founder and CEO of Cheerful Music, returned to her alma mater as a featured case-study guest to explore how the industry must adapt as AI pushes music creation toward zero marginal cost.

Her core argument was blunt: when music becomes infinite, value collapses — unless something else takes its place.

“What becomes scarce,” Snow told students, “is the ability to be heard.”

Cheerful Music’s rise offers a case study in that reality. The company’s biggest successes — from Xiang Si Yao to Luo Le Bai — didn’t rely on novelty alone. They fused sound, image, and emotion into participatory cultural moments, engineered for an attention economy dominated by short-form video.

The economics are unforgiving. Snow acknowledged that promotional costs have increased four- to five-fold over the past five years, a reflection of saturation rather than inefficiency. One student cut to the heart of the model: Cheerful Music isn’t selling songs — it’s building emotional networks.

That philosophy informs the company’s technological bets. Instead of outsourcing AI creation to opaque platforms, Cheerful Music is developing a fully proprietary system where every note, vocal, and arrangement is owned outright. It’s a structural answer to the copyright chaos already rippling through the industry.

Virtual artists, meanwhile, are treated less like pop stars and more like cinematic devices — visual systems that give music memory, shape, and longevity in algorithm-driven feeds.

Globally, Cheerful Music is expanding with precision. From a strategic partnership with Sony Music to becoming the only Chinese company hosting an independent stage at Amsterdam Dance Event, the brand has positioned itself as a connector rather than a disruptor. SXSW 2026 looms as the next proving ground.

In the end, the Harvard session wasn’t just about Cheerful Music. It was about a broader reckoning: in an age of infinite content, relevance is no longer about origin or output — it’s about connection.

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