China's "Double Reduction" policy, introduced in 2021 to curtail excessive academic tutoring, has redirected millions of families toward extracurricular arts education, particularly music. Yet this surge in demand has exposed longstanding structural weaknesses in China's extracurricular music education system, including an entrenched examination-grading culture, market fragmentation, and a narrow conception of musical learning centered on technical reproduction rather than creative engagement. This paper presents a comparative analysis of extracurricular music education systems in the United States, Germany, and Japan, examining how each country has developed distinct institutional arrangements to support music learning outside the formal school curriculum. The United States relies on a decentralized, community-driven model that privileges creative expression and cultural pluralism. Germany maintains an extensive network of publicly funded music schools (Musikschulen) organized as a complement to general schooling. Japan embeds much of its extracurricular music activity within the school-based club (bukatsu) system, supplemented by well-established industry-education partnerships with corporations such as Yamaha and Suzuki. Drawing on policy documents, institutional data, and existing scholarship in comparative education and music education, we identify both shared principles and irreducible differences across these three models. The analysis suggests that China's current predicament cannot be resolved through market expansion alone; rather, it requires a reconfiguration of institutional design, pedagogical orientation, and the relationship between assessment and musical experience. We conclude by outlining a set of policy directions, including reforming the graded examination system, expanding public provision at the community level, and reorienting teacher education toward broader conceptions of musicianship.