Touring Asia: How to avoid the pitfalls and make the most out of your budget – Part 2
This article is presented byThe Appointment Group (TAG), an award-winning global, independenttravel and event management company.
To offer local artists and managers an insight into what to expect and prepare for when looking at touring Asia, TMN chats to music industry veterans Esti Zilber (from music export initiative SOUNDS AUSTRALIA), Stu McCullough (manager of The Jungle Giants and Last Dinosaurs), Max Harman (from Melbourne band The On Fires), and Dan Horton (of travel and event management company The Appointment Group).
EDUCATE YOURSELF ON CULTURAL IDIOSYNCRASIES & FUNDING OPTIONS
Not even Bon Jovi knew he had offended the Chinese government before he applied for his visa. The US rock band were forced to cancel two concerts last September when the Communist Party’s Culture Ministrylearned they had shown imagery in support of the Dalai Lama in their concerts.
Bon Joviconcert in 2011
It’s protocol for authorities in Asia, specifically in China, to censor content they believe to be politically sensitive or salacious. In fact, as part of their visa into China, artists are required to submit the song lyrics for their set lists in advance. In 2014 the Rolling Stones were banned from performing five crowd favourites including Honky Tonk Women and Brown Sugar.
“If there is anything remotely inflammatory in those lyrics, visas get refused,” notes Dan Horton. “Many big name acts have fallen foul to this in the past.”
Local artist Max Harman warns of gender stereotypes in China that differ greatly from the local unoppressive subcultures we take for granted.
“From a gender perspective, the few women who actually perform in bands are demure pop singers who look pretty and don’t move – with rare, wonderful, punky exceptions.
“In China, you can’t talk to your audiences the way you might in Western Europe, the US or Australia,” Harman says of the language barrier. “You have to develop other ways to engage with your audiences. If you can nail that, the audiences will love you.
“It may not be enough to simply get up and play your music – consider how you will entertain the crowd. Will that be through acted self-mockery, catchy sing-along ooh-ahh bits, snazzy dance moves or blistering solos?Once you’ve got a plan, be rehearsed, be confident and be willing to try something else – fast – if it doesn’t work.”
The On Fires. Photo Credit:Long Truong
In many ways, Asian countries like China, Singapore, Korea and Indonesia are still tread carefully by the global music industry. The four markets are testing new business models for their artists and yet they’re still stringent when it comes to visas for international acts.
“We’ve had people have to set up emergency meetings in embassies,” notes Esti Zilber. “You just don’t want it to come to that.”
US singer-songwriter Kina Grannis and 13 members of her touring crew were sentenced to hotel detention for three months, fined and deported from Jakarta late last year when her promoter failed to provide the correct visa papers. The group had planned a six-country Asian tour but played one concert before they had their passports confiscated and were charged with visa fraud, a charge punishable by a five-year prison term.
Kina Grannis blogged about the experiencehere
Zilber encourages artists to choose their visas wisely and to enlist an immigration lawyer to help them file applications.
“Don’t be haphazard about the visa you’re choosing to go in on,” she says. “Be informed and make an informed decision about how you want to go about navigating it and the ramifications of the decision you make.”
Stu McCullough is the Director/Owner of Brisbane artist management firm Amplifire. His roster includes Brisbane indie-rock bands Last Dinosaurs and The Jungle Giants and the latter of which has toured various parts of Asia six times – each tour a profitable venture.
While McCullough’s artists have never run into any visa issues – due in no small part to his promoter contacts in Asia and both bands’ Melbourne and Singapore-based agent MelissaYong (Village Sounds).
“Making sure your promoters have the correct visas is essential because some of the countries don’t necessarily follow the same processes we have in Australia or the States or the UK,” says McCullough.
The Jungle Giants in South East Asia
As previously touched on by Dan Horton, touching down anywhere in Asia without knowing who and where your audiences are, is begging for a false start. In order to define an artist’s market, SOUNDS AUSTRALIA recommends collating press attention and undertaking a marketing plan prior to a tour and while on-ground. Whether that involves servicing singles to local radio stations, targeting areas on social media that have been identified as ‘hot spots’ for followers or engagement, or creating video content especially for a specific region, a strategic plan can be the difference between playing to a sold out crowd of zealots or just your three-member sound crew.
“SOUNDS AUSTRALIA has been fundamentally important for so many artists and so many managers,” notes McCullough.
McCullough offers an unfiltered look inside what it’s like to manage an international artist in Australia. He’s had to pay to have his band’s gear taken through borders in Indonesia before, he’s toured his acts through Jakarta, Thailand, Bali, Manila and Kuala Lumpur and he’s navigated Asia’s vastly different music industries where in some cities, there are only one or two music venues.
Interestingly though, McCullough says he doesn’t apply for the Australian Government’s Export Market Development Grant (EMDG) for his artists, where artists are reimbursed up to 50% of what they spend, including flights. He also doesn’t rely on funding from the Australia Council, which offers over 120 arts grants and funding assistance options each year.
“Anything funding-wise we don’t even bother with. Because [Jungle Giants’] tours make money we can’t even get the Export Market Development Grant rebate, you can only get that rebate if you lose money.
“Australian funding systems are just chaotically bureaucratic and I don’t waste my time with them […] Australia Council is just a waste of time we don’t even bother with it anymore,” he admits. “It’s not based in the real world. It’s not there to really serve a purpose. I think it’s there to say it’s doing something, to appear to be doing the right thing; but when it’s based in the reality of what the industry is and how it works, it’s got no base at all. It’s pretty damning really.”
EMBRACE INEVITABLE CULTURE SHOCK
In 2012, mobile personalisation – essentially ringtones – accounted for more than half of Thailand’s digital music revenues. Now, as the mobile personalisation market flattens, subscription streaming and social media use is on the rise. This shift may not be great for labels, but it’s good news for artists, who can go viral in the country with just 100 million views on YouTube.
It should be noted here that many social media networks are banned in Asian countries, and many of them have their own versions of Western platforms. For example, YouTube has been blocked in China intermittently since 2007 but it has its own version of Twitter, Sina Weibo. Needless to say, after choosing a market, artists are encouraged to sign up to the social networks which are unique to that market.
Screen shot from China’s social network, Sina Weibo
The ingrained lack of formality in Australian culture can also work to an artist’s detriment in Asia. Max Harman (The On Fires) relays an experience in China:
“I was once moaning about losing money on airfares when a festival cancelled due to an earthquake, until someone told me that any form of ‘celebration’ after people had died would be seen as hideously disrespectful,” she recounts. “A minute of silence like we might do in the West just doesn’t cut it.
“Likewise with politics and political history,” she adds. “Chinese youth are not being irreverent when they wear Mao t-shirts.”
FIND YOUR PEOPLE
“If you’ve got good connections you can play to the biggest audiences of your life. To have the opportunity to rouse a crowd of tens of thousands of people is an amazing, wonderful and unforgettable experience.”
Max Harman’s encounters in China are far from unique. While there’s no doubting The On Fires’ loyal fanbase in the country, the band are one of the thousands of local acts finding audiences on the other side of the Pacific who not only sing along to each song verbatimbut hunt down our artists with Beatlemania abandon.
In 2013, after Stu McCullough’s artist The Jungle Giants played the mainstage slot at a Jakarta festival, the band was mobbed at the merch store by hundreds of fans. More recently the band was forced to use security in Manila to chaperone their walk to the bathroom after a show.
“We were kind of blown away by just how many people knew the band and how big the audience was,” says McCullough.
Asian music fans are arguably the most dedicated in the world; from overzealous K-pop fans who sneak into hotel rooms to kiss their idols, or the groups which tap into security cameras to monitor the comings and goings of their favourite artist, each territory may bow to different effigies, but the fever at which they do so is similar.
“In the Philippines, fans are renowned for being particularly obsessed with international bands,” says TAG’s Dan Horton. “Promoters hire armed guards to accompany them wherever they go.”
This article is presented byThe Appointment Group (TAG). TAGis an award-winning global, independent travel and event management companydedicated to clients around the clock from offices in London, Manchester, New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Nashville, Melbourne, Sydney and Singapore.
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