Indie Music Scene: Promoters and Event Organisers

Dashiell Nagata

The business director of live events company Untitled Entertainment, Dashiell Nagata is behind bringing independent bands and acts to Hong Kong.

The idea for Untitled came about three to four years before it actually came to fruition. The company was started in 2009 by brothers Ronald and Teddy Lo, longtime friends of mine. We have always loved great live music, and always dreamed of bringing our favorite acts to our hometown.

When we first started three years ago, the scene was very niche and there weren’t very many options. Now there are a lot more promoters bringing in more bands, the music scene is growing organically and the future looks good. There are some new venues opening up, which is great—and I hope this trend will continue, as bands need places to play.

It’s not a very big market in Hong Kong [in terms of sales of independent music records] and the physical outlets are limited, but we are optimistic. We just started our own record label, Untitled Records, and have released three albums to date. There are some great indie shops like White Noise and Zoo Records, and HMV has been supportive as well. Also, iTunes recently launched, which is exciting and offers another outlet for artists.

I’ve enjoyed putting on shows and working with amazing artists and, at the same time, trying to help to grow the music scene. We are very proud of our initial releases—we have released the local acts 9 Maps and Sun Eskimos, as well as the very popular Australian act, The Jezabels. The Flaming Lips was by far the most memorable performance for me [put on by Untitled]. I didn’t know what to expect and I hadn’t seen them before, so I was completely blown away. It was also great to see 3,500 people out for a band like MGMT—that was an amazing show as well. We hope to be able to continue to bring in quality acts with amazing live shows into the region.

Kap Liu

Concert promoter Kap Liu is back with a bang and bringing mainland acts to the city.