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How 88rising is centering Asian artists in mainstream culture

The media brand brought its Head in the Clouds music festival to New York City this past weekend. Fast Company caught up with CEO Sean Miyashiro.

How 88rising is centering Asian artists in mainstream culture

Rich Brian performs at 88rising’s Head in the Clouds in New York on May 20, 2023. [Photo: Dillon Matthew]

BY Laya Neelakandan3 minute read

Not too long ago, it seemed unlikely that Japanese alt-pop group Atarashii Gakko! or Indonesian-born rapper Rich Brian would’ve been able to establish die-hard fan bases stateside. But over the years, the music industry in the U.S. has seen a massive expansion in representation with artists charting hits across K-pop, reggaeton, Afrobeats, and beyond—or artists simply existing in genres that hadn’t reflected them before.

One of the key drivers in globalizing the music scene, particularly for Asian artists, has been Sean Miyashiro, founder and CEO of 88rising

Founded in 2015, 88rising has gone from a scrappy management company to a noted media brand. In addition to being the home of buzzy artists including Atarashii Gakko!, Rich Brian, Joji, Niki, and more, 88rising has expanded into film and live events, all while maintaining its core mission of centering Asian artists in mainstream culture.

“We think about how we [can] celebrate really great Asian creatives, especially in music,” Miyashiro says. “That’s our DNA still, and we’re just always trying to evolve what that means.”

Part of that evolution has been expanding the label’s music festival, Head in the Clouds (HITC), to New York City for the first time. Inaugurated in 2018, Head in the Clouds initially went up in Los Angeles, later bouncing to Jakarta and Manila, before touching base at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens this past weekend. Over two days, more than 20 of 88rising’s artists packed the 13,000-capacity venue, which was a “surreal moment” for Miyashiro, who’s already making plans to move the festival to a bigger location in the city next year.

Atarashii Gakko!, known for their high-octane performances replete with acrobatics and crowd surfing—all the while in schoolgirl uniforms—released their first single in Japan in 2017 but made their worldwide debut in 2021 after signing with 88rising. The four-member group—Mizyu, Rin, Suzuka, and Kanon—spoke with Fast Company through a translator at HITC NYC and explained that they were excited to bring their particular brand of Japanese culture and J-pop music to America, with their sights set on a European tour as well. 

Atarashii Gakko! fan Sashua Nguyen, who traveled across states to see the group perform in New York City, says she likes how experimental the group is and that they’re not afraid to be as creative as they want in both their music and choreography. Nguyen also noted just how unapologetically Asian HITC NYC was overall.

“It’s amazing how they were able to get so many artists,” Nguyen says. “It shows, in a way, how such a big community is underrepresented. It’s amazing being here.”

And that’s exactly why Miyashiro started 88rising and is pushing to grow the company—within reason. 

“I’ve probably tried to do too many things. And if we start doing too much, we kind of lose the reason why we got here,” Miyashiro says. “We need to really be focused on, at the crux of everything, executing and servicing our artists, really coming through for them, and then I feel like everything will just fall into place.”

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Last year, 88rising became the first label to curate a set at Coachella (they were originally slated for 2020 but the festival was postponed due to the pandemic). From 2020 to 2022, the label partnered with Sirius XM for a 24-hour channel aimed at amplifying Asian artists. Miyashiro served as the executive producer of Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings soundtrack in 2021. And earlier this year, 88rising’s first film project, Jamojaya, starring label artist Rich Brian, debuted at Sundance.

Modest gains for a music company, to be sure, especially when compared to other Asian-focused labels such as Hybe and YG Entertainment, home to BTS and Blackpink, respectively, which have become juggernauts in South Korean media. 

But Miyashiro still sees 88rising holding court among titans of industry with his focus on truly developing artists (and not just pumping out records), and doubling down on the company’s broader approach of showcasing Asian artists across the diaspora. 

“We’re still a smaller music company, so now that we’re kind of swinging with the bigger boys, it’s become pretty interesting,” Miyashiro says. “These are all good problems to have, good challenges. It’s all growth. And the good thing about it is we’re growing versus going the opposite way.”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Laya Neelakandan was an editorial intern for Fast Company, covering topics ranging from artificial intelligence to Gen Z in the workplace to breaking news. You can connect with Laya on Twitter/X and LinkedIn More


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