Taking Chinese music to the world

Shen Lihui's Modern Sky music label is one of the largest of its kind in China having released over 200 records for Chinese indie musicians

Growing up in Beijing during the 1970s as an art student, Shen Lihui listened to Western bands from cassettes. He formed his own band, Sober, in 1988, with a group of like-minded friends.

But one of Shen's dreams then was to release a full-length album. However, no record company wanted to do it. So, in 1997, he started his own label, Modern Sky, and fulfilled his dream by releasing an album for Sober, titled Hao Ji Le, or Super Good.

Later, he signed two more bands - New Pants and Supermarket.

Twenty years on, the label is the largest of its kind in China, having released over 200 records for Chinese indie musicians.

Since 2007, it has also held the annual Strawberry Music Festival in Beijing and now the outdoor music festival is held in around 20 cities in China every year attracting tens of thousands of music lovers.

Besides, it holds the smaller Modern Sky Festival in New York, Seattle and Helsinki, showcasing Chinese talent, such as rock band Queen Sea Big Shark and folk-rock band Second Hand Rose.

Shen also expanded into online music live streaming with Modern Sky NOW, which has several million subscribers, and also has a host of other assets, including radio stations, venues and art and fashion brands.

The UK venture

Recently, Shen announced the launch of Modern Sky UK in Liverpool in collaboration with David Pichilingi, who has over 25 years experience in the international music business and is the founder of Sound City, an annual music festival and industry conference in Liverpool, which has been held since 2008.

The UK venture is the second overseas office of Modern Sky. In 2006, the label opened its first overseas office in New York.

"Though the record business is facing a decline now, we want to run the UK operation like what we did with Modern Sky in the beginning, such as signing bands, releasing albums and launching tours as well as music festivals," says Shen, 49.

As of now, Modern Sky UK has signed four UK bands, Catholic Action, which was founded by four young men from Glasgow in 2014; English singer-songwriter Victoria Louise "Pixie" Lott; a five-piece band Fuss and Violet Youth, which has four young men from Blackburn.

Even before launching its overseas offices, Modern Sky had started signing foreign bands and musicians, such as Australian singer-songwriter Lenka Kripac, who is known for her songs Trouble Is A Friend and The Show.

After performing at the Modern Sky Music Festival in Beijing and the Strawberry Music Festival in Shanghai, in 2011 and 2013, respectively, Kripac signed a contract with Modern Sky and launched her first tour of China in 2014.

Meanwhile, from May 25 to 28, Modern Sky will collaborate with Sound City to present a music festival in Liverpool, which will see performances by the four UK bands signed by Modern Sky.

Speaking about the festival, Shen says: "Liverpool is the birthplace of the music that influenced my growing years. Liverpool Sound City is a hugely interesting and very diverse music festival. So, going in partnership with Sound City is a great first step for Modern Sky venturing overseas. Pichilingi has a great deal of experience and we can learn a lot from him and his team.

"We are very lucky to become Sound City's strategic partner. We also believe that Sound City will be a new platform to open the European market up for Chinese music talents."

Quiet charisma

Pichilingi first met Shen in Helsinki when the Modern Sky Music Festival was held there in 2015.

"The first time I met Shen I was blown away by his quiet charisma and approach. He is an inspirational man with clear vision, a straight talker," says Pichilingi.

From their first meeting, both Shen and Pichilingi recognized that they had a lot in common.

Like Shen, Pichilingi started his career as an artist signed to RCA Records, an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment.

Then, Pichilingi worked in many parts of the music industry, including artist management, live music and the event environment.

In 2008, he set up Sound City, which is now one of the largest and most important music festivals and business conferences in UK. And Sound City also delivers festivals and conferences globally, including in Norway, New York and Seoul.

On the plans for Modern Sky in the UK, Pichilingi says: "Our aim is to develop Modern Sky in the UK and build knowledge and trust in the name and the brand within this territory.

"Initially this will be within the environment of records and publishing.

But we will be working with artists at different levels - brand-new artists and established artists - to build them within the UK and European marketplace with the aim to pipeline them into the Chinese market.

"China is recognized as a massive opportunity for artists in the UK and Europe and everyone we speak to is very excited about connecting their art and culture to this market.

"Modern Sky UK also aims to be the first company to break a Chinese artist in the West to a crossover audience. And so far the signs are very positive."

Pichilingi also adds that over a period of time, he will work with other art forms.

"We do not see Modern Sky UK limited to just music. We want to work with art, artists and pop culture across a range of styles and formats," he says.

Strong diversity

Pichilingi, who was very impressed by the Chinese artists at the Modern Sky and Strawberry Music festivals in Beijing in 2016, says: "The diversity is strong. And I am a big fan of Re: TROS and Big Wave as well as Miserable Faith, which we had at Sound City last year.

"A few months ago we were introduced to Maggie Cheung (the Hong Kong award-winning actress, who signed at Modern Sky in 2015 and performed at the Strawberry Music Festival that year) and I thought she was great to work with. Her music is amazing."

Meanwhile, Re: TROS, will perform at the Sound City Festival in May. And, the post-punk band, whose name stands for Rebuilding The Rights of Statues, is touring over 20 Chinese cities through April, its first national tour in eight years.

Re: TROS, which was founded by vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Hua Dong in 2003, signed with Modern Sky in 2005 and released their debut EP, Cut Off!, later that year.

Besides China, the band has toured the United States and Europe.

Speaking of the band's links with Modern Sky and Shen, Hua says:" We have witnessed each other's growth and changes over the years.

"The international expansion of Modern Sky is proof of Shen's ambition of introducing Chinese indie bands to the world. And it is great to see that Shen is making this happen.

"The overseas events are massive opportunities for Chinese bands to link up with the world."

chennan@chinadaily.com.cn