Feng Xiaogang performs at a Beijing concert, themed on the movieMr Six, in which he plays the lead role. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The Golden Horse nominees were announced in October, when such procedures as venue rental and official approval for the concert were almost ready.

But the main problem was that no contracts on paper for the participating celebrities had been prepared in advance. Only promises to appear for it were made by Feng to Ma, which meant the celebrated film director wouldn't need to pay a penny if he wanted to go to Taipei instead.

"But we were lucky. Although Feng was initially hesitant as he was too nervous to sing in front of such a big audience, we managed to persuade him," Ma says, smiling.

Tapping into live-music events at the age of 19, Ma, now 31, has organized more than 100 concerts and tours in the country for Andy Lau, Sandy Lam and Alan Tam, among other Chinese superstars.

"But the market for such events is somewhat shrinking on the Chinese mainland," says Ma.

"Only the concerts of top singers can sell well today. We are doomed to fail commercially if we try to hold concerts for musicians who aren't well-known."

Ma sensed the concert business turning fiercely competitive a few years ago, when the trend of top singers in small numbers making the cut started to emerge. He then decided to introduce the idea of theme concerts to adapt to the situation.