SPLIT WORKS // 2023 REVIEW

新年快乐! Welcome to all the Wood Dragons. Apparently 2024 is going to be an auspicious year...

This is the first end of year review that I have been able to write since COVID provided a mighty fine interruption 4 years ago.? For those of you who know me, they have been some of the toughest times I’ve ever had an entrepreneur.? It’s a testament to my amazing team - their loyalty, grit & determination - that 2023 looked like it did.? Here are some of our proudest moments from the Year of the Rabbit.?

Touring?

2023 was a breath of fresh (and much needed) air.? Touring came back progressively across Asia in 2022, and finally in the first quarter of 2023, China announced that international artists could return.? We rushed to confirm a headline slot for long-term client Honne at the new Qingdao Rock Action Festival, where they played the main stage to over 30,000 fans starved of international music for too long.? Honne also played 2 sideshows to great acclaim – live music in China was back!?

(As an aside, we've just confirmed Honne for a massive 9 city tour of China in April, including 3 festivals!)

The following month, our Scorched Booking agency booked Christopher to headline Seoul Jazz Festival - a huge moment for someone we’ve worked with since small clubs in the region. Christopher came back to play an extended run of Chinese shows in November.

Over the course of the year, we had artists at Playtime Festival in Mongolia, Maho Rasop in Thailand, Bubbling & Boiling in Beijing, Simple Life Shanghai, alongside first year festivals “eel” (Taipei) and DIAGE (Bangkok).

2023 saw the triumphant return of Coucou Chloe. Her tour saw two festival appearances alongside a headline slot at the AVYSS Magazine anniversary in Tokyo. We also welcomed back Footwork legend RP Boo, who played a 7-date run of club shows, including 3 sold out events in Japan.?At the end of the year, Artist Services client Ghostly Kisses came to Asia twice. October for Chinese festivals and November for a 9 city Asian run that took in Taipei, Singapore, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shenzhen.

In total, 2023 saw us taking artists to over 20 cities in 10 countries.??

For 2024 we already have artists on Yoma Festival in Yantai, K-Sound in Guiyang, Bubbling and Boiling in Tianjin, Dream & Future in Hangzhou, plus offers in for Fuji Rock, Asagiri Jam, Maho Rasop, We The Fest plus many more.?

Artist and Label Services?

Since 2018, we’ve been helping international artists make the most of the China market.? In 2023 our model continued to evolve, and we signed a number of Western artists to holistic label and touring representation deals for the Chinese territory. We are now proud to name as clients Australia arena act Lime Cordiale, American industrial legends HEALTH, London avant musicians Quinn Oulton and Tycho Jones and Indonesian superstar Isyana Sarasvati alongside Ghostly Kisses and many others.? We have also continued our work with labels Ninja Tune, Dirty Hit, Partisan, Sony and others with exciting campaigns for artists like the 1975, beabadoobee and Bring Me The Horizon.??

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We’ve added half a million fans and five million views to our artist channels, we’ve seen streaming revenue grow by over 400% for our label clients – we are selling merch, booking festivals and developing partnerships for our artists.??

In 2024 we will be taking our offering Asia-wide.?

If you have an artist that you think might work for the China or Asia market, we’d be happy to hear from you.?

Commercial Partnerships?

YEG?

In March 2023, we took on a new and very exciting partner. YEG are a group of record labels out of SE Asia, home to some of the biggest artists in the region.?

We were tasked to help these artists grow their global fanbases and we spent the year working on management, agency and label relationships in key international territories. The most fun we had was taking 13 of their top Indonesian, Malay and Korean artists to the inaugural SXSW Sydney to play a Concrete & Grass Festival showcase.? You can read more about that HERE.???

?In 2024, we will deepen and widen the relationship.? More on that soon.?

?ENDEAVOR CHINA?

We also spent the year working alongside Endeavor China, providing strategy, insight and executional resources for their clients. We worked together to build a touring roster for China plus we consulted for clients as far ranging as global FX trading apps, Macau casinos and Chinese mobile game studios. It’s been a pleasure to work alongside their talented team and as we move into 2024, expect more deep dives into the Web3 space.?

TRON?

We have a hugely exciting announcement to come in the next few months. A two-year mission to find common ground between a Chinese tech entrepreneur and the world’s most prominent composer will finally be launched into the world. More on that as it comes.

MOMENT FACTORY?

For the duration of COVID, we were involved helping renowned creative studio Moment Factory with their first LUMINA install in China. With the intense travel restrictions (it all seems like a bit of a bad dream now), this became the first time Moment Factory had ever produced an install remotely. Alongside Creative Technologies, we picked up all the local production and client management. In Q2 2023, the first LUMINA in China successfully opened at the Fengxian Nine Trees Art Centre outside of Shanghai. We are now working on a sales and marketing strategy to increase awareness and drive ticket sales into the New Year.??

2024 and beyond?

A couple of announcements for the upcoming year.? Firstly, after 4 years on the sidelines, we will be promoting in China again in collaboration with one of the biggest music companies in the Middle Kingdom. We have a number of tours in the planning and we will be booking all the up to arena level. You can follow our progress over at www.spli-t.com.??

Secondly, 2024 will be the first year that the full Concrete & Grass Festival experience will happen overseas.? We’ve been working on this since COVID became a thing. Venue is booked and we have started working on the artist list. We also have a big partner for this which is exciting – www.concreteandgrass.cn if you want to follow this too.?

If you got this far, then thanks friend. Hope the Year of the Wood Dragon is a good one for you too.