香港六合彩资料网

Undercurrents is an ongoing column on 香港六合彩资料网 in which we profile Shanghai-based promoters and music makers living and putting on music events in this city, specifically within the context of the larger cultural, economic, and arts landscape in Shanghai. These are your manufacturers of cultural capital, Shanghai. This is the business of art and music.


From right to left, promoters Jason "Selecta" Tsunano, Lamia, Luce of 1LVSH

In less than four years, 1LoveShanghai (1LVSH), a crew headed by 26 year-old Canadian David "Diaosi" Luce and 22 year-old Taiwanese DJ Jason "Selecta" Tsunano, have become some of the biggest party promoters in the city, packing out venues like with 900 up-for-it partiers. For reference, an underground act like Bok Bok or The Bug is lucky to get 400 people. 1LVSH have succeeded by appealing to the middle ground and using old school methods like hitting the streets, flyering, postering, and posting meme-ish stickers of their faces.

Most admirably, they鈥檙e getting a bigger local turnout at parties [not counting festivals here] than probably any other foreign / underground promoter in Shanghai in the last seven years, except perhaps The Ice Cream Truck (TICT). But are they really changing the culture, or just riding trends? The music is similar to what you might hear at a spring break or EDM festival in America. And while they claim to promote alternative culture both Tsunano and Luce worked for Storm, a corporate EDM festival built by big money to increase brand awareness for companies like Budweiser. Either way, these are some of the most optimistic kids in this scene, and they have changed the promotion game in Shanghai.

Ahead of their show with , I sat down with Luce, Tsunano, and Laymeah, to talk about their strategy, the promo game, and the problems of trap and racy promotion.

[Full Disclosure: Luce is a close friend and I have DJed at several 1LVSH parties over the years]

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Tsunano: Like, a formal one? Official one? 1LoveSH is established in鈥�

Luce: My soul. So, yo yo, what鈥檚 up, it鈥檚 Luce Diaosi, a.k.a. Xiao Xian Rou, a.k.a. Xiaobailian. So 1LVSH, we started [in] October 2011. I came to Shanghai [then] and linked up with some really cool people that were doing cool things in the city and had been here for a while. I was showing up to parties with like fifty people, and Skinny Brown (Popasuda) was like 鈥渄ude, throw your own party鈥�.

All these university students were blinded by the 100rmb all-you-can-drink clubs; kids were going out to like , ...We weren鈥檛 into that at all, so we basically started doing our party series [at places like Dada, Lune, and Node] to help introduce students and newcomers into shanghai to these other venues 鈥� the alternative venues, rather than the 100 kuai all you can drink poison and like, passwords to get in.


Tsunano: We鈥檙e trying to do the music which is not that underground and not that commercial. In between.

Luce: I find ourselves to be very middle ground. It鈥檚 not like a Shelter booking, where these kids won鈥檛 know anything about this techno act or whatever act. What I鈥檓 trying to say is that we鈥檙e pulling kids that go to these underground events, and we鈥檙e pulling the kids who go to these Top100 DJ acts.

Tsunano: Everyone knows [Luce] did guerilla marketing for Storm Festival before, and we use the same way for our own party -- Postering, WeChat鈥�online and offline.




Luce: When our social media wasn鈥檛 so big, we depended solely on our street team, and just postering, flyering, and getting out there鈥�me trying to [speak] Chinese to cool local people that I see walking by.


Tsunano: I think it works pretty well, because we saw some people on the street who came to us like 鈥渙h I saw you promoting so that鈥檚 why I come to the party鈥�.

Luce:Our guerilla marketing and offline promotion is introducing a lot of people that wouldn鈥檛 otherwise know that these kind of shows are going on, or that places like Arkham / Shelter / Dada even exist. I feel that a lot of younger local people, they have no clue that this scene exists.


Luce: I find that the energy at the shows is different. When they do the bookings, I feel like they focus on these bookings to sell tables and bring credibility to their clubs. I know that there鈥檚 not way that you can book DJ Snake or Nicky Romero or Martin Garrix for over 40,000 USD and break even on ticket sales. So a lot of these bookings are more for selling tables to people who don鈥檛 even know who these artists are, but they know it鈥檚 going to be a big exciting night.

The people coming to our shows are listeners. There鈥檚 more fans. That鈥檚 why the energy is better. The artists we bring, these are just artists that we love. A lot of the artists we bring, local people won鈥檛 know them, but we spend a month educating people through social media and guerilla marketing . Four months away from the event, we鈥檒l start posting interviews, their tracks鈥� Soft introduction to the artists. And then once people start knowing who they are, we kinda go in with a little bit heavy promotion.

Thank god for platforms like Xiami, which is bringing international and local sounds and making them so much more accessible. Platforms [like this] are really building the music scene. People鈥檚 ears are more easily connected.


Lamia: Yeah, more and more the students from college want to go to places like Shelter and Arkham鈥�The festival[s]. Even if they don鈥檛 know about the DJ, they want to go there to feel that vibe.


Luce: People keep saying trap is on the way out, I don鈥檛 see it going down, you can call it trap, 808 bass, shit [that's] 70 or 140 beats per minute and a heavy bassline. People are gonna call that trap, and that鈥檚 not gonna go away. Girls like that too, which is important. Especially in the west, girls didn鈥檛 like brostep and dubstep that much. But girls do like trap, and they do like twerk shit, and it鈥檚 way more important to play for鈥�


Lamia: In the beginning, I really liked drum and bass, now I really like trap too. Even those kids who don鈥檛 like electronic music, they like trap. You can feel the beats.

Luce: You can see trap is a hybrid of hip hop and electronic, and it hits a bit more 鈥渉igh鈥�, like how the Chinese would say 鈥減lay high EDM鈥�, and trap is that 鈥渉igh鈥� with the hip hop. And the people that 2-3 years ago were huge hip hop heads, all these cats are into trap. We see lots of young kids at our shows but also older hip hop heads too.




Luce: We鈥檙e working with awesome people in Beijing. One鈥檚 by the name of Sasha, who runs a party crew called NB Noise, and the other one is the Internet鈥檚 saddest boy, Bloodz Boi, who鈥檚 a really cool young local cat. We鈥檙e bringing him next month to Dada. The thing is, these people in other cities, they want these artists.

Tsunano: Some of them even fly to Shanghai [for these shows].

Lamia: Hangzhou, Wuxi鈥�


Luce: Marketing is marketing. People like booty. People like muscular men in tommy boxers, in Shanghai, on massive billboards, and I don鈥檛 say 鈥測o how could they do that to Justin Bieber鈥�.


Luce:Busy Gang are my boys and we love them dearly, and we鈥檙e trying to push them because we believe in them. Marketing is just marketing, man, and pushing the line is good marketing. It鈥檚 like Eminem. One of the reasons he sold millions鈥�he was doing shit that was crazy outrageous about women, homosexuality, and that sold, and got him massive amounts of attention.

The line is very low right now. It鈥檚 not hard to put [out] something like what Busy gang did, and I鈥檓 sure nothing has been on a Chinese hip hop mixtape before that鈥檚 that controversial. Those girls are super cool with Busy Gang, they鈥檙e Busy Gang鈥檚 best friends.


Busy Gang performing at Arkham for 1LVSH


Luce: Back in the day, it was to bring people together for good music, good times 鈥� showing students the alternative Shanghai. Togetherness. Now, I don鈥檛 think the message has changed, but it鈥檚 grown because we鈥檙e not students anymore. I would say that 80-90% of the people that are coming to our shows now are local.

Tsunano: Nowadays we are trying to shift the culture. That鈥檚 why we got the name SHFT. Right now the culture is quite separate in the music industry. Underground people just care about underground people. Maybe their target audience is more expat. And some commercial, Top 100 DJs thing, they鈥檙e just targeting Chinese table buyers. We are trying to shift this culture because we want people to know this kind of cool music that we like.


Luce: One goal is to build a bigger circuit. Right now Beijing is going really well. It looks like we might be heading to Chengdu next month. We鈥檙e not shy with brands. Like any entity, if you don鈥檛 have the corporate brands, there鈥檚 no way you can earn a living. So we鈥檝e been working with brands like Urban Ears and Red Bull, and we need brands to support us.




Luce: They just called us in. Basically it seems the question of the year is 鈥渉ow do we attach our brand name to EDM?鈥� It just goes back to the bread and butter story of earning the trust of the people. I really respect Red Bull, they have RBMA, they tour artists around China that otherwise these cities would never get to see these acts. That鈥檚 the way I see branding and these events. The brand brings in an act that the people would never otherwise see, so the people are happy with the show and stoked, and then they start trusting the brand and that turns into brand loyalty. I feel like that鈥檚 the equation to what鈥檚 going on with so much branding over events in China.


Luce: It seems like it. The textbook EDM, the raging Martin Garrix EDM, that kind of music is blowing up massively in China. One of the reasons is, the big corporate billionaire brands are pouring money into this. There鈥檚 so much awareness from Storm and Great Wall Festival.

The EDM industry in China, I respect a lot because it鈥檚 really about the artists and the music, it鈥檚 not about the drinking and the drugs, to the local people, which is really cool to see because I feel like that鈥檚 the opposite of other parts of the world..


Luce: In terms of 1LVSH, I don鈥檛 think it really affected us much except helping us broaden our connections outside of Shanghai. And just cause I say I don鈥檛 like EDM, 鈥�.I understand EDM, the industry, it鈥檚 a money-maker and I don鈥檛 frown upon that. In the end it鈥檚 business.




Luce: My biggest complaint is -- and I鈥檓 not bashing anybody, because I respect everybdy鈥檚 grind -- a lot of the bigger PR companies, they make it a lot harder for smaller people that are trying to do cool shit. For example, I鈥檓 a student, and UZ or an act I know is playing, so I have the option to see this act and pay 100 kuai and all my drinks, or I can go with this dude that lives down the hall in my dorm that鈥檚 offering free drinks, free entrance, free sofa, champagne poppin', all the girls from my dorm are going鈥�it鈥檚 hard to compete against that.

Tsunano: Maybe I agree with that, but Shanghai nightlife is one of the only reasons I stay in Shanghai. Some people say Tokyo doesn鈥檛 have the vibe that shanghai does. And Taipei also. I feel comfy, but I can鈥檛 find any big bookings or DJ event.

Luce: In one night you can go see Martin Garrix, or you can see UZ at arkham, or The Horrorist at Shelter鈥�it鈥檚 crazy. Every end of the spectrum. You have choices, there鈥檚 something for everybody.



Luce: One was at Geisha, we had Conrank, and the management were basically like crying. I was trying to block them from getting in the booth to stop Conrank from playing trap. But also later that night, I threw a hat into the crowd, these Raised in china hats. One hit a girl in the eye and she tried to get money out of the whole situation鈥�[it] went on for like four months. Nothing ended up happening though.


Luce: Don鈥檛 look for a lot of handouts. When you first start out as a younger promoter, you don鈥檛 have any social media following, any following at all. You have to hit the streets with flyers, posters, go to universities鈥�That鈥檚 the only way you can start to build. Other than that, maybe don鈥檛 do it at all because you鈥檙e gonna lose money for the first two-three years. Or more. You might lose money until you decide to stop doing it [laughs].

Tsunano: I think they should do it. It actually brings up the culture. We are all shifting the culture.


Luce: Don鈥檛 trust a venue owner who says [there won't be problems] because they have guanxi. 90% of the time they鈥檙e just saying that, and you are gonna get fucked. Second -- don鈥檛 expect to make money. Three -- make sure that you鈥檙e well rounded in both English and local promotion.


Luce: Massive shout out to the whole crew.



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1LVSH's plans for the next few months are...

Friday April 18 @
Saturday April 19 @ Arkham w/Grandtheft
May 2 @ Dada Shanghai w/Bloodzboi
May 9 @ Bar Rouge w/Four Color Zack
May 14 @ NASA Chengdu w/Troyboi
May 15 @ Arkham w/Troiboi
May 16 @ Dada Beijing w/Troyboi

Then launching a summer rooftop series the first weekend of June. They're also part of Red 8, a studio with Devan Fioozi (Raised In Shanghai), Al Rocco's music and recording studio, and the 1LVSH office, with plans to open a new space new Suzhou Creek in May.