[originaltext]A: Then in your opinion, how can we exactly describe AnD?B: The

A: Then in your opinion, how can we exactly describe AnD?
B: The closest I can describe it feature-wise is the U.S.-based music service imeem.com with a stronger sense of community between artists and fans and covering a broader diversity of art forms, music, film, visual arts, and more. This means that we provide the typical features for artists and fans such as blogging, photo albums, events, audio/video media, and forums tied together via a social newsfeed.
A: So you mean users can register for free on the site and "become fans" of several of the artists on the site and invite their friends. They then receive updates for these artists, gain access to their latest songs or videos, and discover a plethora of other artists through recommendations or exploration. Is that how it works?
B: Exactly.
A: Operating such an artists-centric community, what challenges do you guys have now?
B: I believe that there are a few challenges unique to building a community centered around artists that make it more challenging but ultimately more rewarding than a traditional SNS. First, artists have greater demands On aesthetics like UI, page design, and customization, which is reflected in the unique designs for many of the artist profiles. Second, many of the artists have a much more stringent need for privacy and security: they want to be able to communicate with fans, but a clear line needs to be drawn so as to protect themselves from malicious or unsafe users. Most important, however, is the fact artists of all levels have a very strong sense of authenticity — they are constantly aware of when their celebrity is being taken advantage of for harmful or selfish effect and we need to be constantly on guard to make sure that we follow our commitment to support artists of all levels, and not just the most famous ones, in everything that we do.
A: Does AnD organize offline activities too?
B: We’ve organized a couple of offline activities in the past, each of which has been done in partnership with a sponsor and in cooperation with some of the artists on our site. This includes our Anniversary Party and a series of art shows/ concerts with Diesel here in Hong Kong. This year, we will be bringing more AnD events including CD release parties, concerts, etc... where we bring together additional sponsors with AnD artists. In the meanwhile, we also act as a media sponsor for a large diversity of events such as concerts, art shows and artist meetups every third or fourth week, mostly here in Hong Kong.
A: That must be exciting. I believe all those events will contribute to the blooming of music and arts in Hong Kong. Is there any future plan you can share with us?
B: We spent the first year of development concentrating on creating a basic platform and testing it with our close artist friends and their fans. Since our first anniversary in May, we’ve been working actively to take this platform and expand the user base and artist base rapidly so that we can reach a critical mass. Since the anniversary two months ago, our efforts have already paid off with a 250% growth in our registered user and traffic statistics and increasing interest from artists around Asia to participate in the community. Speaking of the plan, well, we’ll spend the rest of the year on managing this rapid growth as well as finding new ways such as virtual gifting, profile customizations, and shared media playlists for fans to more directly help promote the artists in the community. Additionally, while the first year was spent " inside the tornado" , meaning that we focused primarily on getting the site built, refined, and ready for broad usage, this year we look forward to working with more partners online and off to help improve the community, so I really look forward to meeting other online partners at the OpenWebAsia conference in October.
A: That sounds a grand occasion.
B: Yes, it is.
A: Thank you, Stephen. It’s nice talking to you. And good luck!
B: Thanks!
This is the end of Part Two of the interview.
Questions 6 to 10 are based on what you have just heard.
Question 6
What art form is NOT covered by AnD?
(Pause: 10 seconds)
Question 7
What challenges does AnD have now?
(Pause: 10 seconds)
Question 8
What is the attitude of AnD towards artists’ sense of authenticity?
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Question 9
How often does AnD sponsor offline art activities?
(Pause: 10 seconds)
Question 10
Which of the following is NOT included in the future plan of AnD?