The label's website has reached more than a quarter-million page views just six months after it was launched and traffic continues to grow by roughly 40 percent every month, said Johnson-Hill.

"All the artists who we helped make their releases have seen benefits through our cooperation. It's like musicians contribute their music to the company to become shareholders, and they get their shares according to the popularity of their music," explained Shi, who declined to give the details of the amount of money that goes to musicians.

Zhao Guang, the first folk artist who MicroMu helped release an album, confirmed that he had received payment from the label. "But I don't expect to live on that money," said Zhao.

"All I can say is, compared to contracts with other music labels, our contract is the most favorable to artists," Shi noted.

Some Chinese music industry insiders reserve their views on the unusual operation of the label. "The idea may be innovative, but its influence is limited," said a manager who requested anonymity from the online music sharing website Xiami.com.

"I like that the label is dedicated to discovering original and valuable music, but as for the business part, I think it still needs time to be tested," said Liu Hao, Director of the Music Business Department of

Neocha.com, one of the leading online portals for the discovery of original music, art, events and goods among Chinese creative communities.

Indie music promoter

On the homepage of MicroMu.com, it states that the label "is an experimental, sponsor-driven, free-to-user record label model designed to discover new talent, create original music and reward artists in seemingly impossible conditions."

As the label's manager Shi put it, "We care about discovering new music and meeting the needs of indie music fans more than making money. No business mode can have success without putting the needs of the customers first, and it's the needs of customers for indie music that is the biggest discovery we've made over the past 10 months."

Most of the 14 releases are in the indie/folk genre. They were recorded at unplugged live scenes in different bars and music venues around Beijing. None of them can be considered mainstream music. As the label has made it clear on its website, it is looking for original songs using great passion and imagination in the narration. There is no limit on the subject matter-society, home, history, love, hope, joy, loss or even just two goats.

"These artists are making the best music of the times, however little of their sounds can be heard, and that's a big problem facing China's indie music," said Shi. He noted that in Western countries there are at least 10 people out of every 1,000 who are potential indie music listeners, but in China that figure drops to one person out of every 1,000. But, with a population of 1.3 billion, that low ratio can still mean 1.3 million potential indie music fans.

The folk artist Zhao used to be a little-known local singer based in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. Since he released his album on MicroMu, his songs have been widely circulated on the Internet. "It (MircoMu) does help me to spread my name, and that's a positive thing for many other unknown Chinese indie musicians," said Zhao.

"I believe that indie music is the future of the music industry, and its day is fast approaching," said Neocha.com's Liu.