How 1214 Entertainment is bringing the first Asian music festival to Texas

When I made my annual trip to SXSW in March, representation of music from Asian artists seemed to be at its peak – in fact, there were so many that we decided to create a zine for it. Showcases like Jaded, Friends from the Far East, South Asian House Speakeasy, and the usual suspects – Taiwan Beats, Inspired by Tokyo, and Tokyo Calling, among others – turned this year’s edition into an unofficial magnet for Asian indie music discovery. At her set during Jaded’s FRIENDS:FOREVER, the largest showcase of its kind, Alice Longyu Gao ad-libbed that SX was the “Asian Coachella”… and she was right. It felt like there were teeth to that statement. But though that may have been the case for eight all too brief days in March, would that beacon of Asian music discovery continue to flourish during Austin’s low season?

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Enter the 1214 YAR Fest & Night Market, a new music festival focused on uplifting Asian musicians in Round Rock, Texas — a suburb a mere 20 minutes away from Downtown Austin. YAR, which stands for “Young Asians Represent,” is run by 1214 Entertainment, a relatively new event organizer that first cut its teeth throwing parties in Austin, Los Angeles, and New York. From the looks of it, the 1214 YAR Music Festival is the company’s biggest venture yet.

Billing itself as “Texas’s first Asian music festival,” 1214 YAR Fest will take place at the Round Rock Amp on November 2-3, 2024. The lineup for the festival fulfills the promise of promoting a wide swath of Asian representation, boasting a curated group of pop and R&B-leaning artists like Indonesian singer AGNEZ MO, Korean American musician Justin Park, Taiwanese vocalist KIRE, Asian American content group-turned-boy band North Star Boys, aggressive pop artist REI AMI, Chinese-American crooner sunkis, and alt-pop star Tiffany Day, as well as a yet unannounced musical guest for its inaugural event. But what makes the festival even more special is its impressive undercard lineup, which features numerous Texan artists like francene rouelle, promqueen, Minh, and many more. And for those who are self-proclaimed foodies, a festival ticket also includes access to a local Night Market on site that promises to bring the goods as well as the vibes.

My initial reaction to the YAR lineup is that it’s very closely aligned with the type of festival that Head in the Clouds is on the West and East Coasts every year, but with an extra focus on local talent. Will it live up to the hype? We’ll have to wait and see.

Ahead of the festival, I took the time to talk to 1214 Entertainment co-founder Echo Yan to learn about what she’s planning for the festival, why Round Rock is the perfect location for such an event, and what she’s most looking forward to come November.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

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Could you tell me a little bit about who you are and what 1214 Entertainment is?

I am the co-founder for 1214 Entertainment, and we started off more as an event organizer here in ATX. We have been doing a lot of live house events across different cities in New York, in LA, and obviously in our home base, Austin. And these events that we hosted had this central value, which is highlighting Asian independent artists and showcasing their talents to the broader community. What we really found is that oftentimes, we have a lot of amazing talent [here in Austin]. We came across many, many amazing talents who are really young — they’re 18, 19, and just getting started with their music career. They have a full-time job [and] at night, they write and produce music. We were really inspired. I think it’s a part of the Asian culture where you hustle, you have your day [job] whether you’re a student, you’re a full-time employee… you’re still hustling for that dream, for your ambition in music.

We really wanted to create a platform for these people to shine. It came to our mind that we had to do a music festival for Asian artists. It’s very surprising in Texas, [but] there has never, ever been an Asian music festival here, even though [Austin is] the live music capital. After a couple rounds of shows here in Austin, we found that every one had a community building feeling and experience. A lot of attendees, not just the artists, were asking, “Oh, I hope you guys have more of this.” We really see this as an event that’s not just a music festival, but also [a place where] we have people come together. It’s a celebration of Asian culture through live music, live experience, and the diverse stories that people tell.

I’m a little bit curious about choosing the location that you guys have chosen, which is Round Rock, Texas. Can you tell me a little bit more about why you’ve chosen to host it there?

Round Rock is kind of like a residential area, so we have a surge – a bunch of [tech] people are moving to Texas, and the Asian population has been doubling, tripling. Round Rock is not super far away from Austin. It’s like a 20 minute drive from downtown Austin. But this particular location has a very unique aspect because it’s residential. Anything north of Austin is more where other people can afford houses… single-family houses, and they have a family there. I think another element of this music festival is that it will have a night market featured there. In LA, you have the 626 Night Market, which is great. Sometimes, they partner up with music festivals. It’s kind of a similar model. 

But here in Austin, we found that it’s not just the Asian families [attending these events]. Surprisingly, for all of our past events, there are a lot of local families that happen to be super curious about culture. This particular location, I think, is perfect because we were able to draw the attention to the [families] and it’s not too busy in the downtown area where the transportation is difficult. It’s a perfect fit. In fact, it’s right next to IKEA and a shopping area. It kind of gives you a vibe. It’s so Texas. It’s so Austin, where you will go to a park or an outdoor venue for events and people will just enjoy the lawn area but also have some fun activities and market stuff to do.

In the past when I’ve been to Austin, it has always been for SXSW. Over the years, I’ve seen quite a few event organizers there, like Jaded, who throw their own showcases featuring Asian musicians. Does 1214 Entertainment have any affiliation with them? 

We’re not connected with Jaded; we know of Jaded. One of our event producers… she works very closely with SX events, so we are aware of there being a lot of East Asian and Asian music scenes happening at SX. There’s also another company, I think it’s called Friends from the East. They also hosted a special event during SX. I think it’s really interesting, and we also like how right now a lot of different companies highlighting Asian showcase talent are rising. We definitely need more. It’s nice to have that in SX and then people come up for those showcases.

But in November when the weather is nicer, it’s really nice for outdoor venues. SX is more indoors and it’s more in the downtown area and [it spans across] different venues. It also creates some barriers because the passes are very expensive. We also wanted to make it very accessible for families. We love the concept that Jaded has and the fact that they invite a lot of local artists to their showcase. We’re seeing this movement happening in Texas where it’s not just the international stars they’re bringing in, but at the same time, they are passing it forward to the local artists for them to showcase their talents. It is also about nurturing rising talents here, and we really love that that happens. But the short answer is, there is no connection.

There are quite a few very local artists that you have on your lineup. Did you have a certain curation process to decide who was the best fit for your festival? What was the submission process like? 

In August, we opened the application to all local talent, including to people from Dallas, Houston, San Antonio… so the Texas area in general. Free application, no charge at all. As long as they submitted the application, they’re being taken into consideration. We have a review committee that consists of our members and also some event producers who have worked closely curating shows before. We internally review all of their applications. I think in the application, we have some criteria – it’s about the representation of music and then the culture or festival fit. So it’s kind of like listening to whether their music [has] a music festival vibe, but also, “Is it a great or unique representation?”

I think we got a really broad range of different types of music all the way from rock and indie, funk, soul, and even R&B and hip-hop. We actually ended up with so many applications, and 22 local artists – that includes independent artists and also bands – stood out. We just hosted a press day with them. They talk about their passion about music and their life story and I think it’s so inspiring. We didn’t know there are so many musicians – talented ones – in Texas! Most of them have been doing this by themselves. They’re not signed. They’re independent. It’s very surprising to us.

Could you tell me more about how the headliners for the festival were picked? Did you have specific genres in mind when you were deciding who would be playing the festival? 

I think it’s a mixture of both. We were working very closely with our booking agents. First of all, we see who is interested and who is available. It changed quite a lot from the original vision that we had for the lineup. It is also by the music genre, because it has to be a music festival fit, but keep in mind that we have [families as a demographic]. We curated the headliner based on a broad range of different age types. There are the younger boy band groups — they are [what] the younger crowds may like. But we also have the OG like AGNEZ MO. She is really well known especially in the Indonesian community and better caters to [us] and older audiences. In Austin, we love the outdoor vibes, and when people go to ACL (Austin City Limits), we really value if the music can be chill and you can listen to it while talking to friends [as an] immersive experience.

When we curated the headliners and tier two artists, we kept in mind their music genre and what type of audiences listen to them. Also, some of the artists have never performed in Texas, so it would be interesting to bring them out. Or, some of them might have performed in Texas before and people want to see them more.

What are you most looking forward to at the festival?

I personally put in a lot of effort in terms of creating the experience side for the audience, but also for the artists. We have a really exciting, cute, Texas-vibes camping talent tent. I want it to be a space where the artists don’t just come here and perform and go. If they come here, they can find their community, find connections, and make music together. I’m really excited to see what’s going to happen at the talent tent. I want to see some music exchange and music creation. Some songwriting will happen here, hopefully. But I’m also really excited about a lot of general experience that we give to the public because I don’t want to just ask for their money, they get a ticket, and they [just] come to see the talent. I want more. I want them to go home with very full stomachs from the delicious food, but also with a great experience and something they can take home with — whether they came here with a group of friends, new friendships, or something that we’ve established.

We have a lot of mini activities, games and activations. It’s kind of like breaking them into different groups but making sure they can make friends or talk to each other. We have a lot of activations and games implemented. We also have different community booths. A lot of people are new Austinites. They just moved there, and they usually work in a company – so 9-5 life without social lives. I want there to be a safe zone for them to meet people, to make friends, and also maybe they can find out where they belong in the community or find their own bubble. I really hope that this could be a life experience and an immersive experience for the attendees and for the artists as well.

The first ever 1214 YAR Music Festival & Night Market will occur on November 2-3, in Round Rock, TX at the Round Rock Amp. You can purchase tickets here.

This interview was conducted via Zoom by Li-Wei Chu on September 17th, 2024.

1214 YAR Festival: Instagram | Website

1214 Entertainment: Instagram | Website