A China music festival out to raise the bar, Douban’s Wetware Festival is an event staged by music fans for music fans

There hasn’t been a proper festival here for ages, says Douban Music’s Zhao Yue ahead of four-day, multisensory event in Beijing the social networking site intends as independent, cool, and different

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Low are appearing at Douban's Wetware Festival.

Published: 8:01am, 17 May 2017Updated: 1:45pm, 17 May 2017

Chinese audiences have been inundated with music festivals in recent years. Dozens of new festival brands have joined the fight for attention in established markets such as Shanghai, while relatively long-running events such as Midi and Modern Sky’s Strawberry have increasingly gone in search of new markets, heading into second- and third tier-cities such as Changchun in China’s northeast and Mianyang in the southwest, and in the case of Midi even into a cave complex in Hubei province.

This proliferation of events has led to inconsistent experiences for audiences and artists alike, as poor planning, overly ambitious announcements, market saturation, or a combination of all of these factors has led to a number of substandard festivals. An eventual thinning of the crowd of competitors seems inevitable, but for the moment the new entrants keep coming – and this week brings a notable upstart, as arts-focused social networking website Douban launches its first music festival in Beijing.

An indoor event taking place over four days from May 18, Douban’s Wetware Festival is partly borne of frustration with the current festival scene in the country.

“Right now there are lots of music festivals in China,” says Xu Bo, general manager at Douban Music, “but the quality and mode of operation is roughly the same and we think people deserve a diversity in music festivals.”

Mouse on Mars are appearing at Douban's Wetware Festival