Are Shanghai's promoters wisening up to the scene?

The ebb and flow of the Shanghai music scene–the curious queue up, the onlookers crossing their fingers and the media swooning, waiting to announce the long awaited trump to Japan’s monopoly on the market of cool music in Asia. Riding in on the wake of 2007's successes, this year finds Shanghai with its hopes higher than ever.

"I remember at the Linkin Park show [at Hongkou Football Stadium in Dec.] looking out at the 30,000 people there, all singing along, and all getting exactly what they wanted: a band they loved performing live," says Robb Spitzer of Emma Entertainment, the company behind the Linkin Park show and the biggest concert promotion company for Western performers in China. Emma Entertainment plans to increase the number and variety of their shows this year and to begin branching out to other cities in China. Lessons learned have also allowed show organizers to improve on previous issues like fake ticket sales. "People sometimes buy fake tickets, but they are learning to buy tickets early from authorized ticket sellers because many shows will sell out. Better advertising, especially on the Internet, and the local fan clubs have helped a lot," says Spitzer.

For Split Works, the Shanghai based promotion company that organized the Yue Festival last October, adapting marketing techniques have also played a key role in getting potential Chinese music fans to the shows. "You need to find keen people, usually on the Internet, and get them excited about the bands. We want to develop the indie music scene here, so we work hard to find a credible audience that's interested in new bands," says Split Works Marketing Director Tori Widdowson. "Because the scene here is less mature, there is a smaller audience of people who know about indie music."

Choosing bands requires careful market research to determine what kind of music local fans are interested in. "We learn a lot about our audience from web marketing, so we can bring in new bands that we think people will like," says Widdowson. Much of Split Works' success in bringing bands to China has come from their sponsorship-driven business model. This enables Split Works to keep ticket prices lower without limiting the quality of the performances. "We use sponsors to keep our ticket prices low, but we aren’t dictated by sponsor requests. We look for genuinely good music and we work with the sponsors to maximize the opportunity for us both," says Widdowson.

With Bjork, Maroon 5 and Harry Connick, Jr. already booked for March, and Split Works promising another Yue Festival, the question remains: Will Chinese music fans line up in numbers or stay at home behind their computers?

–Caleb March