Orbis is in the Taiwan music industry. He manages a venue, among other things. We talked about what the Asian music business actually looks like from where he’s standing.
K-pop runs the mainstream. Western trends still shape what gets commercial backing. That’s the surface. Underneath it, indie scenes in Japan and Taiwan are growing and starting to cross-pollinate, which is where Orbis pays attention.
The part I found most interesting was the capital question. Big companies moving into music spaces tend to crowd out the things that make a scene worth having — artist development, experimentation, decisions that aren’t purely about what sells this quarter. Orbis deals with that directly in how he books his venue. Popular versus worth doing. He doesn’t always get to choose one.
We also talked about his upcoming projects and where TV and entertainment in Asia are going.
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