May marks Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, celebrating Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. Among many achievements made by the Asian/Pacific American community this year, one recent highlight was the large presence of Asian artists at Coachella Festival in April. In partnership with 88rising, Coachella featured the 88rising Futures showcase, an hour-long set by some of the label’s emerging Asian artists such as J-Pop girl group ATARASHII GAKKO!, Japanese Hip-Hop artist Awich and K-Rock group The Rose.
The week leading up to the festival saw significant spikes in streams due to music releases by artists such as AP Dhillon, Peggy Gou and The Rose. Even with the music releases, almost all acts saw a jump in streams during the first Coachella weekend (week ending 4/18), with AP Dhillon (+44.4%), The Rose (+43.7%), ATEEZ (+35.8%) and ATARASHII GAKKO! (+31.5%) outpacing the streams of the Coachella headliners* (+28.8%) when compared to the second week before Coachella (week ending 4/04).
An act who saw consistent growth during both Coachella weekends is ATARASHII GAKKO!, a J-pop girl group showcased as part of the 88rising Futures set. The chart above analyzes the group’s streaming share by region. At the top of the year, over two-thirds of the group’s streams were from Asia. In March, Ghostbusters: Frozen Summer — the group’s Japanese twist on the Ghostbusters theme song for the film of the same name — was released, resulting in huge growth in U.S./CA and Europe streaming share. By the time of its Coachella performance, approximately ~60% of the group’s streams were coming from outside of Asia, with ~33% of streams coming from the U.S./CA. According to Luminate’s Artist & Genre Tracker, 41% of Millennial Asian Music Listeners discover music through movies and movie soundtracks, which demonstrates how collaborations and syncs can help artists build international awareness and propel them to the next level.
This year is going to be a huge year for Asian music in the live space, as Stray Kids is set to be one of the headliners for Lollapalooza while 88rising’s Head in the Clouds festival is returning to New York City for the second year in a row. As we kick off Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, we will continue to bring to light trends that we see in Asian music.
Source:
Luminate Music Connect
Wave 11 AGT Dashboard
*Coachella Headliners – No Doubt, Lana Del Rey, Tyler, The Creator, Doja Cat
