Label Networks encountered Neocha, a first-of-its kind social network in Shanghai for designers, musicians, and artists, when tipped-off by our researchers in Guangzhou and Shanghai who told us that Neocha was a new movement that was capturing the attention of young creatives from China and other parts of Asia. Neocha has made headlines in various subcultures on YouTube, Danwei TV, and other media outlets not only for their network, but the events they’ve hosted for up-and-coming musicians and artists.
We caught up with the members of Neocha for this exclusive interview, specifically with the co-founder Sean Leow, and asked them how they got started and where they’re headed next, plus what’s the status of creativity in their city but also China in general. Sean gave us the scoop, including who’s hot within the burgeoning scenes of young Chinese designers in fashion, top musicians, and the arts.
What does Neocha mean?
Neocha means “new tea” in Chinese. The name combines new and traditional Chinese culture %u2013 the young creative generation and the traditional cultural symbol of tea.
When did you start it and what was the main inspiration for getting it started?
The idea for Neocha was borne in early 2006 and we ended up launching the website in April of 2007. The chief inspiration for Neocha was the great original content coming out of Chinese creative communities and the fact that we could not find a place online which aggregated the content and listed upcoming events. That frustration ultimately created Neocha.
We believe creative communities will continue to grow and exert more influence over mainstream culture in China in the near future, and we’d like to be part of that process.
People say you are the MySpace of Shanghai. What do you think of this?
It is natural for people to define us in the context of something that everybody can quickly understand %u2013 the MySpace of China for example. Our origins %u2013 both sites offer social networking tools with an emphasis on music %u2013 are similar but that is probably our only commonality. MySpace is now mainstream %u2013 you really cannot stay niche with over 120 million registered users.
With respect to users, there are also specific differences. One, over half of our users are active content creators %u2013 they regularly upload original music, visual art, plays, events, etc. This level of participation is typically only present on niche sites where people have more defined passions which they are looking to connect over. Two, the content and topics on Neocha are unique in that they largely eschew mainstream Chinese culture %u2013 which is the focus of the big, well-known Chinese SNS. Neocha users are independent thinkers and opinion leaders who are not terribly interested in mainstream trends.
Describe for people who can’t read Chinese but can check out your network’s visuals, the different types of content that you have on Neocha and the types of users you attract?
Our users include musicians of every genre, photographers, graphic designers, graffiti artists, skateboarders, playwrights, comic book artists, event organizers, music venues, illustrators, clothing designers, independent magazine editors, dancers, producers, etc.
Our content is about as diverse as our user base. Previously, we have organized photography, theatre, graphic design, video game, and music contests, among others. Basically, everybody who visits Neocha is either creating original content or interested in meeting or learning more about people that create original content.
What percentage is your own content vs. aggregated content from users? Or is it all aggregated content?
95% of our content is upload by users. We do publish our own interviews, pictures and videos, but that usually only happens when we organize or participate in an event. Neocha is a platform for our users, so they are the focus.
We also periodically release an issue of our webzine You can check out an issue from last year here.
Describe the sections%u2014music, visual arts, fashion%u2026right?
Broadly speaking, Neocha consists of 2 major sections – music and visual arts.
China has the largest population online now, however is the online community in terms of young people all that creative yet?
There is no question that creative communities are still small and that most internet users consume, not create. Our guess is that the vast majority of Chinese “netizens” are online play games or IM. However, there is also no question that creative communities are only growing bigger and that Neocha is representative of that trend.
I saw an interview where B6 was talking about the lack of creativity among Chinese because of the monopoly on China media. Tell what it’s like to live in a society where this is the case.
Creativity is not constrained by a lack of “freedom” as you often read in Western media. Chinese can create any type of original content with one obvious exception %u2013 they cannot openly oppose government rule or hot-button political issues.
The bigger constraint is the homogenous nature of Chinese media itself, which is state-run and broadcasts only safe and vanilla shows, music or ideas. This limits the mainstream platforms available to creative folks to reap the economic benefits of their work. Without the infrastructure to support emerging creativity, naturally you don’t see as much creative investment. The internet is one of the only mass media that offers creativity a home to breed and grow. Fortunately, it also happens to be the one mass media that all young people use daily.
Since you provide “freedom” are you worried about getting shut down?
The Chinese government is remarkably supportive of creative industries in China and for good reason %u2013 it needs to continue creating jobs for its constituents. That process requires it to nurture innovation and creativity. This is important as China tries to transition from manufacturing other countries’ ideas to creating and manufacturing its own ideas’. Neocha also supports that movement, so I doubt that we are at risk.
How are social networks viewed in China in general?
Social networks are very popular in China — they offer young people an arena to express their opinions and meet people. However, BBS (bulletin board systems) are still the dominant form of social networking here. They allow users to express and read opinions, but still offer anonymity online.
Can people outside of China join? Do you have people from other Asian countries onboard?
Anyone can join Neocha %u2013 you just have to be able to read Chinese. And we do have users from other Chinese-speaking countries like Taiwan and Hong Kong, but 95% of our users are from Mainland China.
Do you have any “break-out” band stories from Neocha like how My Chemical Romance in the States took off thanks to their MySpace page?
There are not yet any “break-out” bands like the ones you hear about through MySpace since the fan bases are much smaller in China.Banana Monkey from Shanghai is a good example (http://www.neocha.com/banana_monkey).
Tell us about some of the more obscure subcultures of users on NeoCha that perhaps aren’t as common in the States, such as the Cosplay section. Do you have a J-rock section?
Some of the more interesting subcultures on Neocha that we have helped spawn and support include lomography, pixel art, (Chinese comics), Cosplay and some very niche electronic and experimental musical genres.
Given that you are super tied to music, do you think your network has helped spawn new subcultures in music, or art, or fashion?
I don’t think that we can take any credit for spawning sub-cultures. The subcultures spawn themselves. What we try to do is highlight any new subcultures on Neocha and expose them to a larger audience.
You mentioned that you do events and the importance of having that physical event offering with online. Can you expand on this?
We definitely try to support events whenever possible by promoting, organizing or sponsoring them. We like the idea of linking the online and offline when possible.
Our launch event, NeoSpring Creative Festival,held on April 14, 2007 in Shanghai. We were fortunate enough to host over 80 groups, musicians, and exhibitions. The location was also especially cool %u2013 we were able to rent out a great, 150 year old warehouse on Suzhou Creek. Roughly 10,000 people attended what many consider the largest independently organized creative community event in recent Shanghai history. There is a video here.
We also help organize the mini MIDI experimental music stage at the 2007 MIDI festival. This cooperation included setting up a dedicated area on Neocha for all the news and music, along with event day support. It was a great weekend with over 100,000 Chinese youth attended what is China’s largest music festival.
Another cool event that we organized was our . We organized an online photo competition and offline photo exhibition. Users uploaded photos to our website and then the winners were determined by Neocha website votes, SMS votes sent by mobile phone along with a panel of well-known photographers and artists.
How many users would you say you have?
We currently have over 10,000 registered users.
Are you guys considered part of the %u201880’s group or %u201890’s group?
We would be considered part of the after 80s group.
Tell us a bit about the components that you have%u2014features of the site that are cool.
Technologically speaking, many of our features are similar to those found on any social networking site – blog, pictures, music, friends, etc. We have been more innovative developing widgets %u2013 we have music and slideshow widgets designed especially for music and visual art.
We actually just released a music widget called NEXT. NEXT is a free music player that allows you to easily discover independent Chinese music and is accessible to non-Chinese readers.
Youth Culture / Trendsetter Consulting.Content Licensing. Recently we started licensing some of the best content to mobile valued added service (MVAS) distributors and sharing revenue with the distributor and the artist.
Advertising.
At Label Networks, we have done many stories on cool new designers coming from China and the stores in various cities which are changing the concept in America of “Made in China.” Not to be disrespectful or anything, but there’s a new “awareness” among people here that China has a strong, burgeoning music scene and fashion scene of its own. What do you think about this? Can you name-drop some new street or contemporary street fashion designers or brands we should be aware of?
