In November 2023, the Asian Music Industry Festival (AMIF) lit up Boston with a powerful showcase of Asian creativity. The festival is set to return to Boston on November 15–16, 2025, with greater scale, sharper focus, and an even more powerful lineup, reaffirming its mission to amplify Asian voices on the global stage.
The inaugural AMIF embraced the theme from 2023, “Harmonizing Cultures, Bridging Industries: Music as the Universal Language,” and will continue to bring together leaders from Asia, North America, and beyond in music and the creative arts. Over two days, the festival wove concerts, panels, recruitment fairs, and the closing gala into one immersive experience. Its impact was acknowledged by the governor of Massachusetts, the mayor, and the city council president of Boston, cementing AMIF as one of Boston’s most influential Asian cultural events of the year.
Asian Music Night at AMIF Ignites Boston as Shan Yichun’s Headlines House of Blues
The highlight of the 2023 Asian Music Industry Festival was a genre-blending concert at Citizens House of Blues Boston, a historical venue that has hosted icons such as Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, John Mayer, and B.B. King, and has long stood as a cornerstone of Boston’s music and cultural scene.
That evening, Chinese pop star Shan Yichun closed the night as the headliner, making her first appearance on an overseas stage and sparking an enthusiastic response from Western audiences. The program also featured more than 100 artists from countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, India, China, and more.
The concert lineup underscored a journey from timeless classics to modern pop, embracing diversity through traditional instrumentation, pop reinterpretations, and electronic fusion. Together, the performances created a dialogue between Asia’s musical heritage and its contemporary innovations, highlighting music’s enduring role in connecting cultures, emotions, and eras.
Beyond the Stage: Careers and Conversations at the Industry’s Forefront
AMIF didn’t just celebrate music onstage; it also opened doors behind the scenes. One of the festival’s standout initiatives was the Asian Music Industry Recruitment Event, with over a dozen top companies joined from, including Sony Music (China), MIDI Music Group, Bymoon Entertainment, Huayun Cultural Technology, Shenzhen Jiayin King Technology, Hiby Music, Beijing Guoyin Alliance Cultural Industry Development Center, and the Music Industry Promotion Committee, offering nearly 40 job openings in production, live events, publishing, education, artist management, marketing, and more. Students and young professionals gained career insights through one-on-one conversations with industry leaders, bridging the gap between classroom learning and real-world opportunities.
Eight Programs: From Creativity to Opportunity
Building on its behind-the-scenes initiatives, AMIF also fostered dialogue and collaboration through three special events and five music-themed panels dedicated to “Music and Cross-Industry Innovation”. At “The Sound of Film,” Grammy and Emmy Award–winning composer Claudio Ragazzi, composer Tim Huling, producer Zhang Yuming, “The Wandering Earth” assistant director Ke Ke, and director Su Lei explored the creative and collaborative mechanisms behind film music, showing how cross-disciplinary teams bring stories to life.
The special event, “Journey of Music,” brought together marketing expert Christopher Wares, who has guided multiple Grammy winners, along with artist Shan Yichun and a diverse group of young entrepreneurs. The session covered topics including AI technologies, distribution platforms, international market penetration, and how artists navigate the balance between creativity and visibility.
The “Highlight Forum: Music Venture” spotlighted technologies of NFTs, Web3, and the Metaverse with its impact on the global music market. The speakers include George Howard, co-founder of Dequency and TuneCore, and Gracy Chen, Managing Director at Bitget. The conversation explored how emerging technologies are influencing areas such as distribution, rights management, and new revenue models, and what these shifts could mean for the future of the music industry.
Meanwhile, the five panels expanded the conversation into areas ranging from digital art, pop music, music education, Asian folk music, and cross-disciplinary. Speakers considered the impact of VR/AR on artistic experience, traced the globalization of pop music, and discussed the blending of Eastern and Western teaching methods. Other sessions highlighted experimental projects combining folk traditions with electronic sound and examined new models of artistic collaboration.
AMIF 2025: A New Chapter, I AM IFs
AMIF’s successful 2023 launch was only the foundation for what is still to come.
In 2025, the Asian Music Industry Festival will return to Boston on November 15 – 16 with an expanded vision and refreshed programming, unveiling its new brand concept and slogan of “I AM IFs,” representing I as an individual, Am full of InFinities. Over the course of two days, AMIF 2025 will unfold as a multi-layered experience: industry panels tackling the future of music and technology, a recruitment event connecting leading companies with young professionals, and award presentations spotlighting prominent and emerging talent. The program will also feature genre-spanning performances, an international gala, and immersive showcases that invite audiences to experience music in brand new ways. Among the highlights, the workshop between MIT Immersion Lab will collaborate with the Traditional Folk Music and Dance Group, merging cutting-edge innovation with centuries-old tradition to advance AMIF’s vision of “culture without borders.
AMIF will continue to serve as a stage for every individual who speaks through art, while carrying the diverse and imaginative voices of Asia to audiences around the world, where they can be heard, shared, and reimagined.
