Beats, Breaks, and Belonging: A Vision for Asian DJs and the EDM Community

Although Asian American youth and adults flock to electronic dance music (EDM) festivals, there is very little representation on stage. While Asian fans pack major music festivals like Tomorrowland, Electric Daisy Carnival, and Ultra, very few Asian artists have broken through to mainstream success on the festival circuit or as touring acts. 

“Go to any major music festival, you’d see [that] 50-60% of people are Asian there,” notes Michael Tam, co-founder of new dance music label and creative collective Hidden Horizon. “But as for the artist side of things, the demographics are extremely low.”

Arguably the most famous Asian American DJ artist who comes to mind is Steve Aoki. Recognized by Gold House in 2024 as one of the Most Impactful Asians, the Grammy-nominated artist was the highest grossing EDM artist of 2012 and has a net worth of $120 million, marking him the third richest artist in the genre in 2023. 

However, in a genre with minimal to zero lyrics, does it matter who is making the music? Why is there a need for Asian American artists in EDM? Is there an Asian American EDM aesthetic? And do people even care about that distinction?

Inspiring the Next Wave of Asian American EDM Artists 

For Tam, it absolutely matters who is making the music. 

With a decade of experience in the music industry, he has cultivated a deep expertise in spotlighting and elevating Asian talent within the genre. Tam’s current career at SiriusXM allows him to directly platform Asian musicians through roles such as the creative lead for the 88rising radio channel and hosting his own House of Jade show dedicated to highlighting the top dance tracks each week by Asian artists. He is also a music journalist and chief editor at EDMTunes.

The Hidden Horizon co-founder has plumbed the depths of SoundCloud and YouTube and discovered a wellspring of skilled Asian producers creating talented mashups and remixes. However, he’s also witnessed firsthand the disparity in representation for Asian artists transitioning from underground talent to mainstream success and visibility. 

Despite the presence of many gifted Asian American EDM artists in online spaces, Tam has seen very few Asian names manage to break through and establish sustainable careers as touring acts and festival performers. “Throughout these 10 years, there’s been, maybe, 10 notable [Asian] artists that have actually made it ‘big,’” the co-founder explains, recognizing the challenges Asian artists face in gaining traction and belonging in a space dominated by white acts. 

Galvanized by this gap in Asian representation between fans and performers, Tam was determined to use his experience to help provide guidance and boost the voices of up-and-coming Asian artists. Together with two old friends, Asian DJs Elephante and SABAI, he created Hidden Horizon. 

Part music label, part artist collective, Tam envisions Hidden Horizon as “a platform for these artists to showcase their music and give them an opportunity to perform.” But beyond that, the co-founder hopes to build a community of artists and fans “where everybody’s energy is just driving off of each other,” imagining inclusive events where artists are walking amongst the fans during shows. 

Not Just Paving the Way; Bringing Along New Asian Artists

For those not familiar with the EDM scene, both SABAI and Elephante are some of the top Asian artists in the field alongside the likes of Steve Aoki and Peggy Gou. 

Vancouver-based SABAI, who also goes by his real name Gene Takviriyanan, debuted in 2019 and specializes in future bass and house, along with pop and R&B. With 30.4 million views on YouTube, a Spotify following of around 685,000, and over 46.9 million streams of his top song, “Million Days,” SABAI has just finished touring and has a headline show in Vancouver planned for September.

Hidden Horizon’s other partner, Elephante, is a Taiwanese American DJ whose real name is Tim Heng Wu. A Harvard University economics grad, his stage name is a nod to the phrase “the elephant in the room,” which references his incredible unhappiness with working a corporate job after graduation. He started to pursue music full-time in 2013 and first worked on remixing other artists’ music before releasing his own original works. 

As one of the rare Asian American EDM acts to achieve mainstream success, Elephante’s journey was a lonely one without role models or a clear roadmap to follow. Tam recounts how when Elephante was starting out, he had no guidance to help him prosper in his career. “He was just kind of like, ‘Whatever, I’ll do whatever. And then whatever works, I’ll just run with it kind of situation.’”

Despite this lack of representation, Elephante persevered and has now played on the biggest stages like Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas and Ultra Music Festival. He’s remixed songs for artists such as Calvin Harris, Galantis, The Chainsmokers, and worked with artists like former K-pop girl group f(x) member Amber Liu, and K-pop boy band Got7’s Mark Tuan. In 2022, he took other budding Asian American talents like Hoang and Shiznad under his wing for his Heavy Glow North American tour, providing the touring experience they needed.

“For him to be able to build up these artists and help these artists establish [themselves] into actual touring artists, we just added a few more to this very small roster of Asian artists within the space,” said Tam.

Hidden Horizon and Their Proof of Concept

At their official label launch party this past March during Miami Music Week in Florida, Tam, Elephante, and SABAI used the occasion to test an event with an all-Asian line-up. Elephante and SABAI headlined, and they also featured top global talents like DJ Mandy, Win&Woo, and Hoang, as well as provided an opportunity for up-and-coming artists like Dreamdriver and Ana V. 

Attracting approximately 500 attendees, the successful debut was quite a feat considering Hidden Horizon was competing with more than 20 other parties taking place at the same time. Tam says many industry folks attended their event — including local industry folks from the influential Miami EDM space — and they mentioned it was the most Asians they’d seen gathered together in Miami like that. 

“That excited us a little bit,” he raves, explaining that it goes without saying that areas like New York, Los Angeles, and Texas would be their strongest markets. However, they felt like it was a good place to experiment during Miami Music Week to see if it was a concept that would be attractive to people. “That’s cool to hear because Miami is definitely not our market. For us to get the same excitement in Miami, it was a good sign this is something that we could probably use as a community in the dance music space.” 

Creating Safe Spaces for Asian Artists

In 2020 during the pandemic, when anti-Asian hate was still reaching new heights and EDM fans were shut inside their homes, sheltering in place and unable to attend festivals, Tam reached out to all his contacts and organized JadeTopia, a worldwide, virtual music festival showcasing global Asian artists and talent such as Elephante, Raiden, DJ Soda, YETEP, and DJ Bose. Hoping to counter the fear and negativity, JadeTopia captured over a half-million viewers and raised $10,000 for COVID relief. 

Witnessing the community and feedback surrounding JadeTopia sparked the first inklings of Hidden Horizon to life. It is this sense of Asian pride and joy that drives Tam, Elephante, and SABAI to find and nurture the next upcoming Asian artists. 

“We want to give the platform to more Asian artists that are extremely talented and want a platform to actually perform,” Tam says. “We always felt like Asian artists in general in this space have had many challenges of becoming successful and becoming touring artists.”

Hidden Horizon hopes to put on more live events like their Miami launch, and more recently, the label put out a global call for demos, hoping to shine the spotlight on underrepresented — not just Asian — artists. 

And as for whether or not there is an Asian American EDM aesthetic, apparently there is, and it’s melodic bass. Known for its emotional, melodic underpinnings contrasted with heavy basslines, the sound has cultivated an 80% Asian crowd at shows helmed by non-Asian artists like Illenium. No one knows why exactly Asians are drawn to melodic bass. It’s our hope that thanks to agencies like Hidden Horizon, not only will the fans of melodic bass be mostly Asian, but so will the artists who create it.

Cover: Hidden Horizon Founders at their Launch Party in Miami Florida, March 2024. (SABAI, Elephante, Michael Tam), Photo provided by Michael Tam