Country Profile: Taiwan

The grand opening of the multi-purpose Taipei Dome last winter – able to adjust its capacity from 40,000 to a maximum of 50,000 for music concerts – should prove to be a massive boost for Taiwan’s live events market in the near future, despite the island continuing to be a predominantly one-city territory for large-scale events.

Despite the gargantuan presence of the newly unveiled “Big Egg” and the Taipei Arena in the capital, the festival industry in Taiwan remains a popular alternative to stadium shows. Megaport, which took place in March, is heralded as Taiwan’s largest outdoor festival, and EDM-centric multi-day showcases Eden Hill (which mostly features local DJs and musicians) and Ultra are scheduled to take place later this year, though no lineup has been announced for the latter as of yet.

Meanwhile, Wonderful Asia’s So Wonderful Festival is yet to announce its 2024 schedule – though event organiser and company co-founder Steven Lin aims to put the island on the map as a viable destination for international performers in a mostly domestic market. “Compared to other festivals here, we want to stand out more by adding a Western flavour into this year’s lineup,” he says. “Japan has Fuji Rock, Hong Kong has Clockenflap, and California has Coachella. We want the So Wonderful festival to be an IP that’s internationally recognisable.”

“Superstars like Usher and Taylor Swift will sell out, but others in the tier below don’t have much of a presence here even if they have massive profiles on a global scale.”

However, Lin admits that the landscape is pretty polarised, with domestic artists able to sell out quicker than their more famed international counterparts due to a strong local fanbase. “Superstars like Usher and Taylor Swift will sell out, but others in the tier below don’t have much of a presence here even if they have massive profiles on a global scale.”

That outlook hasn’t stopped Live Nation from booking pop acts such as Dua Lipa, LANY, Stray Kids, Take That, and Charlie Puth for this year’s calendar. AEG Presents Asia have adopted a different approach for the rest of their 2024 schedule, with shows by South Korean rapper I.M and Japanese boyband Official Huge Dandism on the books before the end of the year.

ULC Presents, another player in the market, who brought Slowdive over in March to a sold-out Zepp New Taipei, has adopted a different approach when it comes to overcoming certain challenges. “We’re currently focusing more on boutique festivals and independent artists,” explains founder Orbis Fu. “By staying small and developing our own talent locally, we can contend with giants such as Live Nation.”