Description

Panel 2 — Asians in Music – In Search of Asian Rockstars in North America

At the moment, the most promising path for Asian Canadian/American singers and songwriters to “make it big” is to seek opportunities in Asia, such are the likes of K-pop, J-pop, C-pop, etc., but is that the only option for North America’s Asian and Hapa musical sensations and producers?  In this panel, speakers will share their personal encounters on trying to break into the North American music scene, the barriers they have faced, and how the internet has changed the way modern musicians are being discovered and marketed today. VAFF will look at strategies and ways to advocate for Asian Canadian/American musicians in this rapidly changing global music industry.

Speaker 1 & 2:

SA TrackWorks is the partnership of Steve Smith and Anthony Anderson.  They have co-written and produced songs for acts signed to the world’s leading labels, including J Records, Universal, Sony, Atlantic, Warner, Jive, Capitol/EMI, and Avex. With albums sales over 17 million world wide, their songs have been recorded by such international artists as Stacie Orrico (USA), Rouge (Brasil), Tohoshinki (Japan) and Namie Amuro(Asia) as well as having multiple top 10 hits in Canada.

Their award winning  #1 song “Surrender” by Altantic Recording Artist, Laura Pausini was at the time the most radio played song written by Canadians and performed by a foreign artist and reached U.S. Billboard Number One.  They have had their songs featured in films and TV including: YTV – The Next Star, Disney’s – Austin And Ally, and American Idol.  SA Trackworks also wrote and produced a single for the mega U.S. group Smash Mouth of “All Star” fame and most recently, their co-written song was recorded by Meghan Patrick, with guest vocals by the legend Vince Gill.

Speaker 3:

Troy Samson is a songwriter and music producer based in Vancouver, Canada.  Troy has written and produced songs for premier artists and companies such as Kelly Rowland, Andrew Allen, Smash Mouth, Eleven Past One, Victoria Duffield ft. Cody Simpson, Dj Antoine, Mischa Daniels, Craig Smart, Kreesha Turner, soulDecision, Delerium, Mika Nakashima (Japan), Sarah Connor (Germany), Nikon, Reebok, and CKOne to name a few. From 2002 to 2011, he co founded and co owned Hipjoint Music Group with former production partner Mike James discovering and developing Canadian talents Stef Lang, Kreesha Turner, and Shiloh, writing and producing many radio hits, generating film and TV placements along with other great opportunities. In 2012, Troy has launched his new production company, Madlucky Music. Works Featured:  http://troysamson.com/#youtube Website: http://troysamson.com

Speaker 4:

 Vancouver born soprano, and doctorate of music, Gina Oh was honored as one of the most influential Korean Women Of The World of 2008 after her invitation to North Korea. Representing Canada, she stands out as a cultural ambassador through music and song. Gina sits on the board for the Pacific Rim Initiative with Vancouver Opera co-producing a sell-out concert series showcasing and diversifying talent from the multi-cultures in Canada. She has been recognized for her good work by the Korean Consulate in Canada, Elite Canadian Politicians, the Canadian National Press and the Vancouver Music Communities.  As a member of the Vancouver Opera OIS Ensemble, she débuted the world premiere of the role Obasan opera based on Joy Kogawa’s book, Naomi’s Road. She received the Joe Boxer Memorial Award with a career development scholarship as most promising artist from Vancouver Opera.  Gina spends her valuable time teaching at her Willingdon Studio, performing and being a Mom.

Speaker 5:  

 Alfa Garcia was born in the Philippines to a family of music-lovers and got an early start in classical piano and violin growing up in suburban New Jersey. After teaching herself guitar, she cut her first demo at 15 and was hooked on songwriting ever since. Alfa signed with Pacific Records and landed an international distribution deal with Ivory Music in Asia. Alfa is now recording her self-produced album “Spark & Fury” with Grammy-winning engineer Alan Sanderson (Switchfoot, Fiona Apple, Jewel), mix engineer Kenji Nakai (Tom Petty, Red Hot Chili Peppers), and Hollywood boutique studio Block of Joy.  In addition to Sam Smith, she has shared the stage with Us the Duo, Howie Day, The Rembrandts, and YouTube stars David Choi, AJ Rafael, and Clara C.

Speaker 6:   

David Quan is the Senior Director of Publishing at Angry Mob Music where his duties including Business Affairs, Licensing, and Administration. Some of his current clients include Knox Hamilton, Pepper, and The Monophonics. David has over 20 years of Music Publishing and Music Supervision experience and has work for such notable companies as BMG, Universal Music, PeerMusic, Leiber & Stoller, Sony Pictures and NBCUniversal. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of the California Copyright Conference, and is a member of the Association of Independent Music Publishers, National Music Publishers Association, Guild of Music Supervisors, and National Academy Of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Speaker 7:

Jane Shin is former Senior Artist Relations Manager at SoundCloud who has helped build SoundCloud’s reputation as an artist-friendly platform over the past five years. She led community engagement programs as SoundCloud’s first US Community Manager from 2011-2013. From 2014-2016, she joined the Music Content team to lead and advocate for independent artists within SoundCloud’s revenue-sharing offering, On SoundCloud Premier, to help them monetize and grow their careers. She has been at the forefront of seeing independent artists’ progression over the years. You can learn more about her SoundCloud experience at https://medium.com/personal-growth/five-years-at-soundcloud-90eb7ddfe9ef#.m5dedclgq

With her passion for establishing relationships with artists, she is helping them formulate their digital marketing and creative strategies and ultimately build and sustain their careers.  She has also returned to writing via her newsletter JANEWAVE – tinyletter.com/janewave.

 Speaker 8:

Music BC is a non-profit society serving the British Columbia music industry through providing essential information, education, funding, advocacy, showcasing, and networking opportunities. Music BC is dedicated to developing the spirit, growth and sustainability of the BC music community by supporting artists of all genres and music professionals throughout the industry.

Music BC is the voice of the BC Music industry provincially and nationally, lobbying for funding support, tax credits and creator’s rights. Through CCD(link) funding, Music BC has worked in partnership with broadcasters to create programs such as the PEAK Performance Project and the K96.3 Emerging Artist Program.

Lindsay MacPherson – Program Manager

Becky Wosk – Membership & Communications Coordinator

Moderator:

 Andrea Gin is a writer, producer and podcaster based in Vancouver, B.C. She is the producer of the weekly pop culture podcast Pop This! as well as CBC Radio 3’s monthly music podcast for CBC Music. Her work has appeared in the Vancouver Sun, the Georgia Straight and Exclaim! Magazine. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors at DOXA Documentary Film Festival.

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