This year has been one of expansion for the mighty Modern Sky Empire. They’ve organized over 20 festivals across the Mainland, introducing the Strawberry Music Festival to cities like Xiamen and Dali, and have infiltrated the mainstream with their artists’ songs covered on popular reality TV singing shows like Super Boy. They are even taking the Modern Sky Festival to New York’s Central Park from October 4-5. No wonder movie star Maggie Cheung (In the Mood for Love) hooked up with them to start her music career.
“In the future, Chinese bands will become like Japanese bands and have a small market internationally. While people say it’s a problem that some bands only sing in Chinese, I don’t care. It’s one world. People will respond to a good record.”
No VPN? Listen to Hedgehog on Xiami.
Sporting Beatles bangs and Raybans, Shen Lihui looks every part the former frontman-turned-creative-connoisseur. He’s the gatekeeper of Modern Sky – the Mainland’s marquee indie label with over 80 record releases and a vast roster stretching from noise-rock (Hedgehog) to urban folk (Song Dongye) to live electronica (CNdy) and even 1980s disco-pop (Zhang Qiang). He’s drawn comparisons to Virgin’s Richard Branson for his ambitious vision that’s redefining what’s possible in the Chinese music industry.
The 45-year-old’s story mirrors the development of Mainland music. He discovered pop when Wham! became the first Western group to perform in Beijing in 1985. Three years later, he started the quintet Sober with classmates from the Beijing Arts and Crafts Institute.
After graduation, he started his own design and printing company, and by 1997 had saved RMB4 million. He decided to take a gamble, and poured the lot into creating Modern Sky. The label’s first release was his group’s sunny debut, Hao Ji Le?
As the only game in town, Modern Sky sold hundreds of thousands of copies of early records like dance-rockers New Pants’ self-titled debut. Their music magazine, complete with CD compilations, were gospels spreading the word of rock across a nation.
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“The China market is very special because everything is still new,” he says. “At the beginning, we were championing tastes. It was great. We then had some tough years because there was a lot of CD copying. And then everything became free with the Internet.”
Despite losing money on their releases, the label soldiered on to its 10th anniversary. To celebrate, they held the first Modern Sky Festival at Beijing’s Haidian Park with American indie rock band the Yeah Yeah Yeahs headlining a bill featuring over 120 of the country’s finest acts.
Over 10,000 people attended and it was a eureka! moment for the company, who is now best known for the Strawberry Music Festival – a May holiday tradition in Beijing and Shanghai that attracts 30,000 people and foreign performers like Justice and Explosions in the Sky.
“A record label and a festival are the same thing: cool,” Shen notes. “Now, we must do everything. We release albums, but festivals are the most important to us and youth culture. While Strawberry has some international bands, it’s still about 80 percent local bands. It’s very important they are given more chances to grow.”
The formula will be tested internationally in Central Park. Modern Sky’s expecting 10,000 people to watch a lineup that mixes established acts like Stars, Blood Brothers and Lenka with label standouts RE:TROS, Secondhand Rose and Omnipotent Youth Society. New York favorites Cat Power and Liars headline, artists that made their Mainland debuts this year with Modern Sky.
“It makes a lot of sense to bring a similar concept to cities with big Chinese communities like New York, San Francisco and Vancouver,” says Michael LoJudice, director of International Affairs at Modern Sky.
“You’re engaging a massive community of kids studying from China and music fans who are curious. All these people there to see Liars will also Queen Sea Big Shark.”
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With previous stints at hip New York indie labels like Grand Royal and SpinART, LoJudice travelled to Beijing in 2006 after reading about Modern Sky. Three months later, he opened their New York office, bringing bands to China and organizing international shows for the label.
“I saw bands like Hedgehog and New Pants and knew this stuff could work overseas,” he says. “Kids are going to like RE:TROS and not just because of curiosity.”
Modern Sky’s first American foray came with the 2009 Sing for China Tour. Three bands packed in a van travelled from coast to coast playing 20 shows in 22 days, an experience LoJudice recalls as “awesome but torture.”
Their acts continue to play overseas. New Pants performed at Coachella in 2011, while post-punk pioneers Gang of Four took RE:TROS with them on their Australian tour last year. With upcoming projects in Sao Paulo to coincide with the Olympics and ongoing talks to bring the Modern Sky Festival to Helsinki next summer, LoJudice is excited about all the possibilities.
“Modern Sky wants to grow internationally. We have a lot to leverage. We do all these big festivals in China and that’s very interesting to bands,” he says, noting that if successful, the Central Park festival will be an annual affair.
“Why shouldn’t there be a company from China on a global stage for music entertainment? Why not create localized versions of Modern Sky all over the world?”
No VPN? Listen to RE:TROS on Xiami.
Meanwhile Shen has big plans at home. He notes, “for Chinese bands, the biggest market is still China.” He’s considering opening Modern Sky centers across the country – part livehouses for their groups to perform and part store peddling the label’s records and its Modern Sky Lab fashion line. He foresees more collaborations with the art and fashion world, with the upcoming Modern Sky Festival in Shanghai a test case.
Scheduled for October 25-26, the indoor festival is a partnership with ELLE’s Style Awards. After years of investing in China’s indie music market, he’s thrilled to see the country catch up.
“While pop is still the biggest, young people want to try different music now and indie is becoming popular,” he says. “Just like artists are different every decade, so are we. In the future, there will be more cool things. For Modern Sky, the only requirment is that the music must be good.”
// Modern Sky Festival Shanghai goes down Oct 24-25. Details are still being finalized so check back at www.thatsmags.com for lineup and price details.
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