China craves Indie

 As Xeum, my business partner, has been based in Shanghaï for the last 4-5 years, I asked him if he would write a short post about the indie music scene in China as he has an insider's perspective.                       Besides, DJ-ing all over China as a special guest to parties all over the country as well as for fashion shows and high-end brand launches, Xeum successfully started "LOgO" in Shanghaï 4 years ago, where he intensively programmed an eclectic mix of local and international bands until the club had to close last month due to its overwhelming success being a little too much to handle for the neighbours...

"THE EMERGENCE OF AN INDIE MUSIC MARKET IN CHINA

In the course of the last few years, the Chinese indie music market has been growing as locals seek different tastes and tend to be more independant with their choices of entertainment.

As the size and spending power of young Chinese consumers continues to grow, youth marketing has become a key trend for companies looking to grow their brands in China.

As the majors and other top 10 artists/DJ promoters have been around for a while, the youngsters express their personalities via the many youth oriented marketing companies (Split works) and the flourishing communication tools developped by Chinese companies for Chinese people (Douban, Neocha).

IS THE CHINESE MUSIC INDUSTRY REACHING AN INTERANATIONAL LEVEL OF RECOGNITION?

It is barely known that pop stars (Canto-Pop) from Hong-Kong and Taiwan have been ruling the scene in Asia for a long time already and that World Music artist Sa Dingding received a BBC Award.

Or that the GBOB international band competition was won last year in London by Rustic, an original jumping retro rock band from ....Beijing.

The indie rock scene in the capital has always been active and tends to inspire other cities (Shanghaï, Nanjing, Wuhan, Chengdu) to start their own scene.

Nevertheless, the local live music venues are still competing with a very established culture of karaoke and dice games but are programming more and more internationals and local indie bands.

This vitality expresses itself as well through the flourishing music festivals (Midi, Modern Sky), despite the difficulties to obtain permits, licences and authorisations for outdoor event, the local promoters organising tours all around China (Antidote, STD), and the creation of new live music venues (LOgO, Mao Live House)."

MORE ON THE SUBJECT

In the weeks leading to the last days of LOgO Shanghaï, Xeum was interviewed many times. The most complete interview was done by SmartShanghaï.

If you are interested in reading more, here are a couple of links for your information:

- "Getting your music into China" : Max Willens at weallmakemusic recently wrote a 3-part article on the topic (from an American's perspective but what he writes is valid wherever you come from in the world) 

- "Mainstream, On Mass Culture" by Frédéric Martel : a fascinating book on how different parts of the world are gaining steam as solid entertainment industries preparing for world domination, of which Asia and it's complex subtleties.

-"The Many Faces of Chinese Indie Music", a podcast by Music-Dish : it will give you a good listen to the quality and diversity of the indie scene there.