30-07-2025
Silence Wang's team retracts hit song "Ring of Time" over "original performer" debate
30 Jul - Zhang Bichen and Silence Wang's camps found themselves in dispute with one another regarding the copyright of the song "Ring of Time" because of an influencer.
The whole issue sparked after netizens found a video from an influencer who covers songs as her social media content, stating that Zhang Bichen was the original singer of the song, which was a part of the Zanilia Zhao's hit 2015 drama, "The Journey of Flower".
This caused dissatisfaction among Silence Wang's fans, seeing that the singer was the one who wrote and composed the song.
On 25 July, Wang's team posted on Weibo stating that they had no intention of getting involved in the controversy and had immediately tried to communicate and clarify the full story, hoping to reduce negative public opinion.
However, as the situation escalated and they found themselves continually pulled into the centre of the storm, they decided to withdraw authorisation for the song and would temporarily not permit any performances of the song.
Shortly after, Zhang Bichen's studio released an official statement via Weibo, stating that Zhang's is the original song seeing that her version was released on 15 June while Wang's version came after on 30 June, according to China's Copyright Law.
Therefore, Zhang Bichen's version is the first publicly released and widely circulated recording, making her the sole original singer of the song. This fact, they stated, is clear and indisputable.
Following this, Wang's label Elephant Music issued a statement that they would temporarily retract public performance rights for "Ring of Time", and the song would no longer be available for public performance.
They emphasised that the song was intended to have dual original vocalists from the beginning, with both Wang Sulong and Zhang Bichen interpreting it in their own styles. This, they said, reflected artistic collaboration, not a mere copyright dispute.
(Photo Source: Zhang Bichen IG, SINA)
