What’s next for international artists in China?
Spilt Works managing director Archie Hamilton has spoken to IQ about the future of international acts performing in China.
Founded in 2006, Split Works has enjoyed a long-standing reputation as a pioneer in importing international performers to China, organising tours for Sonic Youth, Death Cab for Cutie, Grimes and Ghostface Killah.
Nowadays, Hamilton’s focus is on artist development in order to “build bridges between Asia and the West” via his booking agency Scorched – no easy task given China’s strict policies for international artists.
Chinese authorities will often require foreign artists to submit set lists and song lyrics before getting approval to tour – and even then acts are often unsuccessful.
However, this looked set to change last month when infamous rapper Kanye West was granted rare approval for two “listening parties” at the Wuyuanhe Stadium in Haikou.
The sold-out stadium gigs, which drew 70,000 people, marked Ye’s first performances in the East Asian country in 16 years – in which time the government’s tolerance for Western artists less divisive than him rapidly diminished.
“China likes stable, bankable stuff that’s not going to upset the apple cart and Kanye is about as firebrand as you could be”
In 2017, Justin Bieber was barred from China because of his reputation as a “badly behaved entertainer” while, in 2016, Lady Gaga’s entire repertoire was reportedly forbidden after she met the Dalai Lama.
More recently, Chinese authorities clamped down on hip-hop, blacklisting songs and dropping rappers from shows. Its media regulator banned Chinese television from featuring “actors with tattoos or depictions of hip-hop culture, subculture and immoral culture”.
“China likes stable, bankable stuff that’s not going to upset the apple cart and Kanye is about as firebrand as you could be,” Hamilton tells IQ.
“There was some excitement about the concert happening because it’s the first time in a while there’s been a big international stadium show – one of the last [successful] ones I can remember is Linkin Park in 2016. Plus there wasn’t a lot of preamble [ahead of the concert]. It just sort of happened. And no one knows who promoted the show. It was just really obscure.”
The show reportedly took in 51 million yuan ($7.3 million) in ticket sales and generated close to 373 million yuan (€47.2m) in total tourism revenue for the city. But its success doesn’t necessarily mean all Chinese cities will follow in the footsteps of Haikou.
As Hamilton points out, Haikou, the capital of the island province of Hainan, is somewhat of an outlier in China.
The island is one of seven Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in the country, which benefits from a separate administration, liberal economic laws and enhanced infrastructure support among other things.
“Kanye’s show was a bit of a shot in the arm after a pretty bleak year for the Chinese live market”
“The local government seems to be willing to support [concerts] from a financial standpoint and also from a permitting standpoint,” he explains. “Permits are obviously difficult to obtain in China and always have been. Given Hainan’s status as a SEZ, I think it wants to try and flex a bit of muscle and show that it can be different to the rest of the mainland.”
With its tropical climate, beach resorts and five-star hotels, Hainan also benefits from a reputation as the ‘Hawaii of China’ and a healthy influx of tourists.
“Given the challenges of travel for a lot of Chinese people who don’t necessarily have passports and money, it’s a huge destination,” Hamilton adds.
The downside of Hainan is the absence of a local audience, continues Hamilton, which perhaps explains why 95% of attendees at Ye’s show travelled from outside the island.
“It’ll be interesting to see if there’s any kind of follow-through,” he muses. “Often in China, when there’s a big moment, everyone jumps in and gets excited. But after that, people will get hopelessly over-invested and then kind of implode or explode, or just wither on the vine.”
Though Hamilton is doubtful that Ye’s concert in Hainan will kickstart a trend with international artists flocking to China, there’s no denying it’s piqued interest.
“I’ve already had three or four requests from Hainan since the concert – there is definitely more attention,” he reveals. “Kanye’s show was a bit of a shot in the arm after a pretty bleak year for the Chinese live market.
“As with any market, if artists are willing and available to put the time in, they’ll reap what they sow”
“There was a push for international artists in early ’24 but it was all really disappointing because the internet just isn’t set up for those artists,” he explains.
Indeed, the Communist Party is known to control the flow of art and content from foreign producers, and strictly censor domestic publications, performances and social media postings.
“There’s been a requirement for TV and platforms and stuff to focus on promoting and investing in domestic talent predominantly so the international stuff just gets marginalised,” Hamilton adds.
“An artist that can sell 500 tickets in China can probably sell 1,500 tickets in the West or anywhere else,” the Split Works co-founder adds. “Artists that can sell 5,000 tickets in China could probably sell 20,000 tickets anywhere else.”
However, international artists who have consistently invested in the market have reaped the rewards.
“We’ve got three arena shows with Cigarettes After Sex in March of next year that are just about to go on sale,” he continues. “That’s a band that we built from 500 capacity to arena level right in seven years – though it would have been shorter without Covid. They worked hard on coming early and coming regularly.
“We also brought Honne through twice in the last two years. They played nine cities, three festivals, six hard ticket shows and the money is pretty good, I would argue. But again, Honne started working in the market in 2017. So it’s been an eight-year cycle of investment in platforms and channels, and speaking to fans and doing collaborations and coming to the market regularly.”
Other Western stars that have recently visited the market – or are planning to visit soon – include Mariah Carey, John Legend and Charlie Puth.
Hamilton concludes: “As with any market, if artists are willing and available to put the time in, they’ll reap what they sow.”
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