Brace Yourself for Sound of the Xity Music Festival, Apr 27-May 2

While the poster might look like a photo straight out of a Hannibal Lecter cookbook, Sound of the Xity (Apr 27-May 2) is one of the biggest city-wide music festivals and meetings of music industry types that has taken place in Beijing annually since 2012. This year, they are making it even more prominent by collaborating with Modern Sky, who will give Xity their very own stage at this year’s Strawberry Fest.

You can expect a lengthy lineup of homegrown artists that on the verge of hitting the mainstream here in China or soon-to-be exported out into international music markets around the globe. Bands like Re-Tros (see video below), The Big Wave, the solo electronic wizardry of SHAO, and many many more will take over stages around the city to celebrate the growing influence of modern music on Beijing’s culture scene. As the folks behind this massive endeavor like to point out, this is one of the few Chinese platforms with a longterm commitment to the joint development of both Chinese and Western music industries.

Along with live music, there will be meet and greets for music business types at the SOTX Conference (Apr 28-29), along with keynote speeches from industry insiders (if you think watching people talking about music is also cool), panel discussions, presentations, and live streaming showcases (we're not quite sure yet what these will entail).

This year will also be the first time that SOTX joins forces with GMIC (Global Mobile Internet Conference), a tech conference that hosts mobile executives, entrepreneurs, developers, and investors from around the globe to build partnerships and to shed light on how mobile technology is changing the way we consume music. Music festival trends have changed a lot since the Lollapaloozas of the 90s, and we no doubt have technology to thank for this. This will all go down at venues around the Olympic Park.

Tickets for the event are RMB 480 before April 11, and RMB 580 after. Students can bag tickets for RMB 480.

If you are interested in learning more about modern trends in the music industry, along with experiencing some of the best bands that Beijing has to offer, then find more info on Sound of the Xity via our Events page here or on their official website here. If you couldn't care less about the industry hullabaloo, then stay strong – the complete live schedule should be released in the very near future.

More stories by this author here.

Email: danielkippwhittaker@thebeijinger.com

Photos from the organizers