This article is an ethnographic study of the production of recorded music and popular music culture in Tibet, examining who gets their voice heard and how, and the roles played by the state, the independent realm that has emerged since the late 1980s, and the illegal/pirate sphere that has also resulted from economic liberalisation. While the question of IPR violations in China has become a global issue, it is largely discussed in the context of big, multi‐national business. This article examines the little known implications of China’s IPR and piracy issues for the production of minority culture.

Since the 1950s, the debate on Tibetan culture has centred on issues of political repression. This article aims to open up socio‐economic factors and international legal and trade issues as crucial to the question of cultural expression and identity in Tibet, now China is connected to global capitalism.