Ollie Zhang oversaw the campus’ annual music festival and dozens of concerts throughout the year. Post-graduation, he co-founded the dance music brand Space Yacht in 2015. But he aspired to have a bigger, different kind of impact on the music business. “This idea of finding a place within the music industry for Asian artists to thrive always felt like a faraway concept to me,” he says. “A lot of the folks that I worked with and came up with in the music industry were Asian Americans.
“Sean creating 88rising from just an idea in his head to what it has become today is incredible,” Wang says. “The thing I immediately knew about Sean is his vibe was so real from day one. He cares about art deeply before anything else, which is so rare in this music game or entertainment industry. I knew I could trust him, and he immediately began guiding me into decisions not only about my music, but how I see myself as an artist and human being.”has never, and will never, change.
The 88rising Coachella set always features a variety of talent across countries and genres, including Japanese acts like Number_i this year. Considering that the label launched as a predominately hip-hop platform, what is now drawing a wider range of artists to the company?Fundamentally, we’re not business-driven or very good at business. Business is something that we have to learn by nature of, like, being able to make payroll. We’re inherently artist- and creative-driven.