88Rising founder Sean Miyashiro has set the scene for the next phase of the company – including plans to expand its Head In The Clouds festival to the UK.
Launched as a platform to spotlight Asian talent in 2015, the multi-faceted business has grown to span records, management and live, plus distribution network Future Of Asian Music (FAM).
Other highlights have included stage takeovers at Coachella 2022 and 2024, as well as a link-up with Marvel on the soundtrack for Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings.
“We’re all re-energised for 88Rising 2.0,” said Miyashiro, speaking in our latest issue. “That’s what we’re calling it. We have all these things planned for 2025 and we just have to execute them now."
He continued: "All the majors love what we’re doing and they look up to it quite a bit because we have this brand that means something. There’s not a lot of labels that have this meaning anymore.
"In the 1990s and 2000s, you can look at how many indie-rock labels there were that were huge, like Sub Pop and Matador. There are still some of course, but it’s not like that anymore. So people look up to us and think it’s really cool that we can have our own community, sign artists from anywhere, develop artists and do all that stuff.”
We’re doing Head In The Clouds in London next year. We’re developing it now and we’re super-excited about it
Sean Miyashiro
88 Rising's inaugural Head In The Clouds festival was held in the US in Los Angeles in 2018, but a proposed Indonesian edition in 2020 was called off due to the pandemic. Nevertheless, the brand debuted in New York last year, while a London edition is in the works for 2025.
“We’re doing Head In The Clouds in London next year," Miyashiro told Music Week. "We’re developing it now and we’re super-excited about it. We have some good outsourcing in terms of digital marketing and PR, but I think there’s nothing better than touching down with the festival. And I would love to do more collaborations with artists from there – and from anywhere. I think that’s going to be a big deal and part of our thinking, if it comes naturally."
Last year, the firm – whose roster includes Niki, Rich Brian, Jackson Wang, Atarashii Gakko! and Higher Brothers inked a new distribution deal with Sony Music Japan and The Orchard.
“Even before getting into these conversations, Rob Stringer really believed in what we’re doing,” said California-born Miyashiro. “He’s a real culture-and-music guy, and [Sony] gave us what we wanted, which was flexibility – not every artist warrants going through a major label, some need an independent distributor.”
Miyashiro also explained the impetus behind 88Rising's FAM distribution network.
“If you’re a young artist from anywhere in the world, you don’t really have a lot of options," he said. "You’ll find a service that gets your music on the platforms, but they don’t do anything else for you. Because our mindset is always to support the culture and the music, we’ve got a built-in infrastructure and operation [so artists] know how to go about this.
"Hopefully, there’ll be all these independent Asian artists distributing their music through FAM and then we’ll be able to layer on very easy support, whether it be a live video or A Day In The Life, and just be able to get these artists in front of people. We’re going to use the 88Rising main channels to promote this stuff. We’re in the initial stages right now, but we will be really opening this up in the near future."
There are certainly some markets that are going crazy – Thailand and Vietnam are popping
Sean Miyashiro
While the company has developed a major presence in Asia, Miyashiro said 88Rising preferred to be "everywhere all at once" rather than focusing on a specific emerging market.
“I don’t think we are most focused on any particular place, to be honest with you," he said. "We’re everywhere all at once, like when we did the Marvel movie soundtrack. It’s just whatever floats our boat.
"The one thing that we are doing is looking at how we approach music [in different countries] – like, ‘Do we have a partner in these countries that knows what the country really wants, that believes in us and our capability to bring their culture to the world?’ That’s really important to us because we’re still not that big a company.”
In closing, Miyashiro shared his excitement at regions with audiences that engage with local music, made by artists from that country.
"That’s happening more and more," he added. "If you go on Spotify and look at the Top 50 in the Philippines, Thailand or Indonesia right now, it would probably tell you that 70% of the songs are coming from the country and 30% is the big pop stuff or TikTok thing. Three or four years ago, that was not the case.
"There are certainly some markets that are going crazy – Thailand and Vietnam are popping.”
Subscribers can read the full interview with Miyashiro here.
