As news of 2012's JUE Festival begins to surface, constant concert goer and music aficionado Rabshakeh breaks down the Shanghai festival scene:

“If you plant the seeds and water it, it’ll grow.” Such are the hopes of Nathaniel Mallon, head of the Three Chord Truth event company. They are just coming off their third year of Booshkabaash, a multi-venue festival week which brought Das EFX, Nova Heart and host of other acts to Shanghai. Mallon is the latest to attempt the juggling act of developing an annual festival in Shanghai.

This year was far and away Shanghai’s best year in regards to music festivals, with MIDI and JZ both putting on fine festivals. But arguably the biggest step up this year came from Splitworks. They hosted the Black Rabbit Festival last fall, which brought the likes of Ludacris and 30 Seconds to Mars to our fair city. Earlier in the year they also put on the JUE Festival, which hosted over 80 art and music events across Beijing and Shanghai. Splitworks is now gearing up to bring the 2012 JUE Festival, which will be held March 9-25.

For Splitworks founder Archie Hamilton, success is all about creating an identity. “It’s all part of the new music industry model. You have to create a brand.” According to Hamilton, nowadays, the smart way to build events that inspire people to get out and support is because they recognize the brand and what it stands for. “There is a science to this,” he tells me.

One part of that is getting fans involved. Last year, for example, JUE encouraged a wide variety of photographers to submit art and chose 15 of them to have their artwork displayed.

He’s hoping that JUE in 2012 builds on previous years, largely because more people will be familiar with the event and the Splitworks brand. This can then feed over into a 2012 Black Rabbit, which is already being discussed in hushed tones.

But when the topic of money is broached, the science is still murky. “We lost money on Black Rabbit,” he tells me. “I personally lost a lot of money when JUE started, and we have never made any real money from the event.” This is especially true when you add in the countless man-hours he’s put in.

It’s a labor of love done with eyes on the horizon. Hamilton is hoping to still be in China hosting events 10 years down the road, and approaches the task pragmatically, balancing music he personally loves and that which brings in the masses. “You want to bring in people but you also want to expand their minds.”

It’ll be interesting to see how 2012 plays out. 2011 saw festivals blossoming across China, yet in many cases, sponsors and promoters lost dough trying to reach the valuable Chinese youth market. For now, though, the show will go on.

What do you think of the local live scene? Which music festivals rocked your socks off in 2011?