Asia News: Strawberry Music Festival, Japan Jam, Avex Group & More

Various media in China report that “thousands” of people attended the first day of the Strawberry Music Festival in Wuhan, which is famous as the city where the novel coronavirus first appeared. 

May 1 was the first day of the five-day extended national holiday in China called Golden Week and the festival marked a return to full-fledged concert-going for the area, which a year ago was under severe lockdown. Last year’s Strawberry Festival was online only.

Nevertheless, Reuters reports that the organizers still restricted entrance to the festival. About 11,000 people were on the grounds on May 1, with barriers set up in front of each stage and security personnel limiting the number of people in designated areas. 

Though some people still wore masks, many did not. According to local officials, Wuhan has been virtually virus-free since the end of last year. On April 30, the government reported only 13 new infections for the whole country, all of which supposedly originated overseas. On the same day about 11.6 million people were vaccinated.

Strawberry Music Festival, which takes place at various locations throughout China, including the main festival in Beijing, is a two or three-day event, depending on the location. The one in Wuhan was held at Garden Expo Park and featured three stages. 

All of the artists this year were from China and included both famous acts and fairly unknown ones. According to reports, attendees came from all over the country to attend, highlighting the fact that, following the pandemic, the number of people traveling during Golden Week was higher than ever. 

In Japan, an annual outdoor rock festival took place for the first time in two years, though the current COVID-19 situation in Japan is anything but stable at the moment. 

The four-day Japan Jam 2021 opened on May 2 at the Soga Sports Park in Chiba, a city to the east of Tokyo, with a full lineup of top-drawer domestic artists. Since Chiba is designated as a “priority” area to prevent the spread of the virus, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, only 5,000 people should have been allowed to attend the festival on each day, but since more than that number of tickets had been sold before the limitation guidelines had gone into effect, the city allowed all ticketholders to attend. 

Nevertheless, the park’s capacity is 37,000 and far fewer showed up, so there didn’t seem to be any problems.

Still, in neighboring Tokyo a state of emergency is in effect owing to a spike in infections caused by variants spreading in the larger cities. Consequently, festivalgoers were prohibited from yelling and talking loudly and had to wear masks. 

In addition, contact was limited between individuals (posters expressly forbade “high-fives”) and large sections near the stages were kept clear, since crowds tend to become denser the closer people get to the stage. 

The Yomiuri reported, however, that fairly dense clusters of people could be seen throughout the grounds. In addition, during brief rain squalls people assembled in sheltered areas in tightly packed groups. At the end of day’s festivities, security teams made sure to break up large groups as they headed to train stations. 

Meanwhile in South Korea, while classical concerts and stage musicals are slowly returning to normal, K-Pop concerts are still subject to harsh restrictions, according to the Korea Times. 

The problem seems to be categorization, since K-Pop concerts are, legally speaking, not “performances” but rather “gatherings,” and thus must follow certain social distancing measures as dictated by the government’s guidelines for reducing COVID infections. 

That means any K-Pop concert can admit no more than 100 persons. With those numbers, no promoter can possibly make enough money to break even. Real concerts, on the other hand, as well as stage plays and musicals, are allowed to admit up to 75 percent of a venue’s available seating. 

The newspaper says that Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare is claiming that K-pop concerts are different from other performances in that attendants sing along with the performers, which is a known means of spreading the virus. However, this explanation does not sit well with the industry nor with K-pop fans, who believe the rule is merely discriminatory. After all, the government could easily just ban singing at K-pop concerts and fans would comply. This was proven at the handful of K-pop concerts held during those times when social distancing guidelines were lifted temporarily. 

Consequently, 38 concert production companies have formed an association to demand that the government eliminate discrimination on the basis of type of performance and compensate them for damages they have already suffered under the current policy. In a statement, the association said, “We request the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and local authorities discuss the issue together and come up with measures for us.” 

As one professor told the newspaper, the main problem seems to be a lack of communication among different public bodies. Rules have been set without close discussions between central ministries and local governments, who must enforce such guidelines. 

The professor also points out that K-Pop is, for all intents and purposes, one of the country’s most vital industries and thus its well-being is in the national interest. However, there still seems to be a prejudice against certain kinds of entertainment that leads to discrimination. For instance, important classical musicians and athletes are allowed to forego mandatory military service if it interferes with their careers, but not K-Pop stars, despite the fact that their success does more for the Korean economy, not to mention Korea’s international prestige, than any other profession.

Japan’s largest Japan-based record label Avex Group announced on April 28 that it was expanding into North America with the launch of Avex USA, which will be headed by the company’s president, Naoki Osada. 

Avex USA will contain three core business divisions: Avex USA Publishing, the record label Selene and the Future of Music Investment Fund. The headquarters will be in a 6,500-square foot space comprising four studios and production facilities located in the West Hollywood section of Los Angeles. 

The Future of Music Fund has been set up to invest in what the company said in a statement is “cutting edge music related tech startups that are creating new IP, music experiences and revenue models.” 

The fund has already invested in WaveXR, which has attracted the attention of industry giant Scooter Braun and his superstar charge Justin Bieber, and which has already hosted virtual concert streams for The Weeknd. The new record label, Selene, will be led by Lucas Thomashow, former head of music at Brat TV and before that an employee of Google. The label has signed at least two artists so far, including 18-year-old singer-songwriter Sophie Holohan, whose debut will come out this month. Avex’s publishing arm already has stake in songs by Bieber, Cardi B and Ariana Grande.

In a statement, Osada said, “We think Avex can bring a fresh perspective to the U.S. market and deliver real value for our partners. Avex USA’s new team and structure uniquely places music, tech and financial thinking under one roof.”