Record distributor Paul Yan Kin-wa has to be touched by the music he listens to.
'I have to like it very much and it has to be music that really touches me,' he says from his office in Mui Wo on Lantau.
'I remember the first time I listened to Leonard Cohen; it is an experience I'll never forget. I have all 16 of his albums. His music has universal appeal.'
Mr Yan, 36, worked for major record labels in Hong Kong, including Warner, Polygram and EMI, before deciding to go it alone to bring his kind of music to the city. 'A lot of music is really boring these days,' he says. It's all about marketing. Take the band Coldplay, for example. Personally I don't think their music is exciting at all and independent labels have released a thousand records like that in the past. But for some reason they're popular.
'Then there's Russian duo Tatu, which is all about image. Schoolgirls pretending to be lesbians. The music is rubbish, but the record labels don't care about the music. There's many good bands out there that deserve a lot more attention.'
Mr Yan uses the internet to find the music he wants to sell. 'The first one I've been looking at is a Portuguese band called Dwelling. Their music is neo-classical, although there's nothing traditional about them. Then there's Tanga, which is an electronic pop band based in Germany. They really pour their heart into the music. The female singer Natalie Lee Hahn is originally from Hong Kong but has a German father. They use synthesizers and keyboard. I reckon you could listen to it for the next 20 years and still find something new in it.'
