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How 88rising Took a Music Industry Hub for Asian Artists From ‘Far-Off Dream’ to Singular Reality


88rising founders Sean Miyashiro and Ollie Zhang have built a music industry hub for Asian artists including NIKI, Joji and Jackson Wang.

88rising launched with a small roster of clients Miyashiro was independently managing at the time, including choreographer-singer Brian Puspos, rappers Keith Ape and Dumbfoundead and dance artist josh pan. In 2018, it held its inaugural Head in the Clouds festival at Los Angeles State Historic Park, and the event has since expanded to New York; Jakarta, Indonesia; Manila, the Philippines; and Guangzhou, China. Seeing [Japanese girl group] Atarashii Gakko!, for instance, use every single Head in the Clouds festival over the last couple of years, moving them slowly up and up the lineup and introducing them to different markets around the world — that is something that people definitely notice.

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