1996–2011：Forward Music Era—The Peak of Taiwan’s Popular Music and Its Transformation Period
In the 1990s, to enter the World Trade Organization, Taiwan opened its markets up to foreign investment. The five major international record companies—Sony, EMI, Warner, Universal, and BMG—all came to Taiwan. Warner bought up the UFO Group, and the core team left to establish the Forward Music Co., Ltd., simultaneously starting a brand-new era.
Once the five major record companies had entered the Taiwan market, Taiwan’s popular music began to flourish. The five international record companies were rich in capital, and the total output value of the popular music record industry grew to NT$12 billion per year. The promotional budget of a record was easily NT$20 million. The record sales of the superstars often exceeded one million copies. Local record companies such as Rock Records Co., Ltd., Linfair Records, Ltd., and What’s Music International Incorporated, besieged by powerful forces, had no choice but to improve over time and keep discovering new stars who could compose, sing, and dance. At this time, the Forward Co., Ltd., headed by those who had left Warner and become independent, needed a bright star that could create miracles and drive sales.
In this era, Chen served as the music director of the Forward Co., Ltd. In addition to having a magical ability to turn good music into gold, he was also able to discover the hidden potential in each new star. Soon after the Forward Co., Ltd. was founded, he discovered A-Mei, who was then singing at the Li Yuan restaurant in eastern Taipei City. After she signed on as a singer with Forward Co., Ltd., he contributed to her albums “My Dearest Hurt Me the Deepest” (a duet with Chang Yu-Sheng), “Dreamer in the Air” (the theme song of UFO Radio), “You Make Me Free,” “You Make Me Feel,” and “I Wanna Fly.” Moreover, he also composed and arranged for various Forward stars, including Stella Chang, Huang Lei, Bowie Tsang, Fan Yi-Chen, Bright Pu, Mickey Huang, Melody Yin, and Amy-my Saya & Raya. Each of these songs continued the quality of the Forward albums.
