The independent music movement was rampant and spreading in the 80s and early 90s in British and American markets. Musicians and artists started discovering this in Taiwan and Canada, which inspired them to create their own style and voice. From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, countries all over the world were facing the impact of globalization. Individuals that originally developed independently and regionally are now thrusted into a single global competitive market. Over the past 20 years, the music market and industries have gradually developed into an unimaginable appearance; musicians are using their creations to express themselves for social movements and sparking global trends and activism. Artists are now finding themselves in a tug-of-war of what constitutes success and driving their creativity. Through the transformation of capital markets, liberalism, and Internet data, can music maintain the characteristics of cultural public goods instead of becoming a commodity and tool?
Jang Dal Im, known as a pioneer of independent music in Taiwan as founder of Crystal Records, is joined by Michael Hollett, co-founder of NOW magazine, founder of the internationally renowned NXNE music and gaming festival and NEXT magazine, a national magazine of music, arts and fun. Join us in reflecting, reminiscing and looking ahead at the independent music scene in Taiwan and Canada. This is a cross-border dialogue between two giants in music, separated by the Pacific, who have walked very similar paths in their quest to raise the voices of artists.
Two music lovers with the same experience will uphold the rule-breaking spirit of rock and roll, analyze the fundamental problems faced by music development after globalization, and explore the “third path” to return music to its essence!
The independent music movement was rampant and spreading in the 80s and early 90s in British and American markets. Musicians and artists started discovering this in Taiwan and Canada, which inspired them to create their own style and voice. From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, countries all over the world were facing the impact of globalization. Individuals that originally developed independently and regionally are now thrusted into a single global competitive market. Over the past 20 years, the music market and industries have gradually developed into an unimaginable appearance; musicians are using their creations to express themselves for social movements and sparking global trends and activism. Artists are now finding themselves in a tug-of-war of what constitutes success and driving their creativity. Through the transformation of capital markets, liberalism, and Internet data, can music maintain the characteristics of cultural public goods instead of becoming a commodity and tool?
Jang Dal Im, known as a pioneer of independent music in Taiwan as founder of Crystal Records, is joined by Michael Hollett, co-founder of NOW magazine, founder of the internationally renowned NXNE music and gaming festival and NEXT magazine, a national magazine of music, arts and fun. Join us in reflecting, reminiscing and looking ahead at the independent music scene in Taiwan and Canada. This is a cross-border dialogue between two giants in music, separated by the Pacific, who have walked very similar paths in their quest to raise the voices of artists.
Two music lovers with the same experience will uphold the rule-breaking spirit of rock and roll, analyze the fundamental problems faced by music development after globalization, and explore the “third path” to return music to its essence!
The independent music movement was rampant and spreading in the 80s and early 90s in British and American markets. Musicians and artists started discovering this in Taiwan and Canada which inspired them and created their own style and voice. From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, countries all over the world were facing the impact of globalization. Individuals that originally developed independently and regionally are now thrusted into a single global competitive market. Over the past 20 years, the music market and industries have gradually developed into an unimaginable appearance; musicians are using their creation to express themselves, for social movements, and sparking global trends and activism. Artists are now finding themselves in a tug-of-war of what constitutes success and driving their creativity. Through the transformation of capital markets, liberalism, and Internet data, can music maintain the characteristics of cultural public goods instead of becoming a commodity and tool?
Jang Dal Im, known as a pioneer of independent music in Taiwan, founder of Crystal records is joined by Michael Hollett, co-founder of NOW magazine, founder of internationally renowned NXNE music and gaming festival and NEXT magazine, a national magazine of music, arts and fun. Join us in reflecting, reminiscing and looking ahead at the independent music scene in Taiwan and Canada. This cross-border dialogue between two giants in music, separated by the Pacific, have walked very similar paths in their quest to raise the voices of artists.
Two music lovers with the same experience will uphold the rule-breaking spirit of rock and roll, analyze the fundamental problems faced by music development after globalization, and explore the “third path” to return music to its essence!
NXNE Founder, NEXT Founder, Journalist
Michael Hollett is president/managing director of the North by Northeast (NXNE) music and gaming festival. Hollett co-founded Toronto’s alternative newsweekly, NOW Magazine in 1981 and has attended music festivals and live music events around the world including dozens in the US and Canada as well as many in Asia and Europe. In 2020, Michael started NEXT magazine, a print and online magazine of music, arts and fun available in Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto. Some of his memorable trips include touring Japan, travelling to China to cover the 2008 Olympics, and scouring Taiwan looking for emerging bands in 2011.
Founder of Crystal Records
Jang Dal Im was born in Keelung, Taiwan and is a second-generation Korean expatriate. His father is Korean, who moved to Taiwan working as a fishery engineer, and his mother is Japanese. In 1986, at age thirty, Jang Dal Im founded Crystal Records, which began as a publisher for Rocker (one of the very first Taiwanese magazines on Western music), and later acted as an agent for well-known British Indie music brands such as Rough Trade and Factory, gradually becoming a legendary brand among Taiwanese music fans. Crystal Records plays a significant role in introducing Western music into Taiwan, allowing locals to get a glimpse of what the outside music world sounded like back in the days.
Aside from acting as an agent of Western music brands, Crystal Records is also devoted to producing Taiwanese local music and hosting the so-called Taipei New Music Seminar for several years. Many well-known musicians of today, such as Wu Bai (伍佰), Ming-chang Chen (陳明章), Blacklist Studio (黑名單工作室), Jutoupi (sometimes Jutopi) (朱約信 aka 豬頭皮), Summer Lei (雷光夏), Kay Huang (黃韻玲), Will Lin (林暐哲) and many others were either discovered by Crystal Records or took part in concerts hosted by them. Jang Dal Im, along with his associates in Crystal Records, even used their civic power to help create Taiwan Audio Database, Taiwan Underground Voices, The Series of Roles and many other music or audio recordings. These invaluable audio works documented and preserved many beautiful sounds of Taiwan. Always striving to stay true to their own motto, “Finding your crystal heart despite the world’s profanity,” despite going through bankruptcy multiple times, Crystal Records never gave up, using all their power and funds to help establish a different yet better path for Taiwan’s local music industry.
Jang Dal Im is fluent in Korean and Japanese and familiar with Korea’s political and socio-cultural status. He established TEAMS Project (Trans East Asia Music Society Project) and has been invited to Gwangju, South Korea (a city known for its civil rights movements) for seminars and talks, discussing and sharing thoughts on how Korea can work and cooperate with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and how to build up Asian pop music culture and create platforms for audio databases. In recent years, TEAMS Project mainly focuses on research and application of blockchain technology. By using this innovative technology on digitized data transactions, the team hopes to recreate and redefine the market of the music industry and also return to the diverse essence of music, art and cultural creation.
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