The short answer: it depends on one thing, and it’s not your music. We’ve placed two artists — Totemo and I Wear* Experiment — on the Music Matters Live lineup in Singapore, so this isn’t a guess. It’s based on actually doing it. What Music Matters Live actually is Music Matters Live runs as the…
Most cold pitches sent to promoters never get a response, and it’s rarely because the music wasn’t good enough. It’s because the pitch was generic, arrived with no clear ask, or landed through a channel the promoter doesn’t actually check. This is the companion piece to our guide on finding the right promoter in the…
The honest first answer to “how do I find an Asian promoter” is that you’re asking the wrong-shaped question. There’s no central directory, no LinkedIn-for-Asia-promoters, and no single gatekeeper — because there’s no single Asian market. A promoter who’s right for a shoegaze band in Yogyakarta has nothing to do with the one who’ll book…
The single biggest thing that determines whether a first Indonesia show is worth the money isn’t in any of the obvious line items — it’s whether anyone actually knows the show is happening. Budget everything else perfectly and skip pre-tour promotion, and you can still end up playing to an empty room. Before the full…
Touring in Indonesia, here’s the part almost nobody explains before an artist books a flight to Indonesia: the most common visa problem isn’t a fake visa. It’s a real one, built on a sponsor that was never legitimate — and it can be cancelled instantly, even after you’ve already landed, because the sponsorship it depended…
Quick summaryBest for: artists whose genre has a natural niche fit (metal and hardcore have a real scene; pop needs a Bahasa Indonesia strategy to compete) — less suited to acts expecting a single national strategy to work everywhereFirst visit expectation: building presence in Jakarta specifically first, not the country as a whole — the…
Both cities show up on every “easy entry point into Southeast Asia” list, and both get recommended for roughly the same reason: English is widely spoken, the infrastructure works, and the flights are manageable. That’s about where the similarity ends. I’ve placed artists in both markets — Totemo and I Wear* Experiment at Music Matters…
I’ve placed Totemo at Baybeats in 2018 and again, alongside I Wear* Experiment, at Music Matters Live in 2019. The question I hear from artists before a Singapore trip is always some version of: “How much is this actually going to cost?“ The honest answer depends on one crucial distinction: are you coming for a…
Every artist who asks me about a Bangkok trip eventually asks the same question in a different shape: is this actually affordable, or does it just look affordable from outside? The honest answer is that Thailand is genuinely one of the more accessible entry points into Southeast Asia — cheaper flights, cheaper accommodation, cheaper backline…
Twenty five years ago, if you wanted to play a show in Bangkok, your options were essentially Impact Arena, Thunderdome, or a backpacker bar on Khaosan Road. That’s not the city anymore. Bangkok’s small-venue scene has genuinely diversified over the past few years — new rooms, a real electronic underground beyond the tourist-strip mega-clubs, and…
