Australia’s Pulse Global launches fifth APAC office

As the Asia-Pacific electronic dance music (EDM) scene explodes – it was estimated to be worth A$1.32 billion in 2014 and continues to grow at 12% a year – Australian EDM hub Pulse Global continues to cash in.

It has just launched its fifth office in the region, in Jakarta, in the wake of setting up operations in the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and India. Each expansion is with a local partner which understands local tastes and cultural issues.

That’s because, CEO Wade Cawood explains, “Each EDM scene is different in each Asian country. Language differences, cultural and tribal factors play a role in determining personal tastes from region to region.”

The potential for EDM growth in Indonesia is considerable. It is one of the top five streaming areas for Universal Music in the region, alongside Korea, Thailand, Philippines and Malaysia. A festival like Djakarta Warehouse Project draws 75,000 and generates a profit of $3.3 million each time while the first local version of Europe’s Dreamfields, in Bali (pictured), was a sell-out.

Indonesia’s EDM scene additionally has a global appeal because it is heavily influenced by Gamelan. It is a centuries-old, percussion-based style of traditional music from Southeast Asia using bronze metallophones, gongs, flutes and wooden drums. Repetitive and intricately textured, it has international EDM fans as Bjork, British duo Plaid, Nonesuch, Spokes, Four Tet and Dan Deacon, who have either incorporated it into their music or worked with some of its acts.

Pulse Global began in Perth as a 24/7 online radio station in the mid-1990s. But the original model, based around creating revenue from ads and ticketing, just covered costs. In 2005, Cawood, then Editor of clubbing guide magazine Partysan, came on board. Dance club promoter Simon Beckingham joined two years later as COO.

Pulse Global developed into a one-stop hub for the US$7.2 billion global dance music industry. It developed a community by bringing together fans with promoters, artists, venues, labels and media.

This was through covering events & ticketing, track sharing, streaming, community management, content and soon, video production. It has 660,000 visitors a month, growing at roughly 20% a month. It is now based in Los Angeles (the US is its biggest market), with offices in Sydney, New York, London and Ibiza, and joint venture partnerships also in South Africa and Brazil.

Over the last two years, Pulse has been testing its ticketing technology in Australia, during which it sold $4.5 million worth of tickets. With a focus on this, Pulse is outsourcing its streaming.

Earlier this year it announced plans to raise $6 million and list on the Australian Stock Exchange. The funding, to start with $1 million, will be used to expand its staff with a CFO, a Global Territory Manager, and double jobs in its development and marketing divisions.

It recently brought in Matt Adsell, former CEO of Beatport and one time VP of Music Services at Napster, to its board.