Wang Tian Tian of 0093 has announced that he's going to set up two CD shops in Shanghai. Called Indievox, the shops will be on the second floor of the Channel One Mall on Changshou Lu (where this all took place) and at the new MAO Live House Shanghai at Red Town. Lisa Movius confirmed the announcement in English on Twitter this afternoon stating that the two would be Soma shops. The third corner of this music shop love triangle is, as the shop names suggest, music website Indievox.com where you'll be able to listen to tracks and buy CDs too. Tian Tian's excellent Taobao shop, previously under the name of 0093, has now been renamed to Indievox. In the announcement on Douban, he lists Soma first as among the labels he'll be stocking together with Modern Sky, Miniless and most other indie/alternative labels that you've heard of in China (though he doesn't name Maybe Mars, perhaps just an oversight?).
Tian Tian has been here before of course. The short-lived CD shop that set up in Yuyintang (where the seating area is now directly in front of where you come in) was his and it was great to have it there, but unfortunately the sales didn't cover the rent and he shifted it all online after just a few months. Perhaps with backing from Soma and Indievox, he can make a success of it this time around.
Speaking of Soma and MAO Shanghai, Dan Shapiro recently revealed more details on that opening show here. The date will now be September 25th, the band will still be Hong Kong "twee rock" outfit My Little Airport and they'll be charging a whopping 200 kuai on the door for the privilege. Just in case you're wondering if that's a typo, I'll repeat: 200 kuai. Ouch. I know My Little Airport are fairly well known and all, but still. By way of a comparison (I don't mean to favour anyone here, it's just because it's coming up in a few days), Splitworks have got Handsome Furs in town on Saturday at YYT with Boys Climbing Ropes in support for 80 kuai on the door. Hmm. Apparently the new MAO will put on a Casio-sponsored showcase of local bands the following night for free, but let's hope 200 kuai for twee rock isn't a statement of intent eh? I at least hope they put Momo or someone on in support to give them some exposure.
We talked about this before. Tiantian told me he was opening the channel one mall store when we were rehearsing at 0093 two months ago.
As for partnering with Soma and putting them first on his label list of stocked CDs ... of course he should, Soma's catalogue of releases is the most impressive and will take up a large section of any CD shop. Also, their track record at the Dream Factory shows us that their new venue will be the place to put a shop with all the traffic that'll be there.
Well. Seems like everyone is getting excited about Mao anyway. Also, in the absence of any distribution or true record stores in Shanghai, it makes sense to open one yourselves, I suppose.
Talking of Mao. Swung by there today and did my own tour, infiltration style. Well, the door was open and no one was there and I'm from Liverpool. It's a cultural problem.
Ok, from the perspective of someone who lives on the other side of the world from you guys in Shanghai, do you think this means I'll be able to buy more mainland indie albums at indievox.com? Did Tiantian say he'll be stocking Taiwan indie artists from indievox.com? I guess I'm just wondering what indievox.com gains from the deal and if it will benefit me in some way... tee hee.
Also, someone I know has an aunt who'll be in Shanghai this weekend and they're trying to steer her to a place she can buy Yu Guo's cds. Is there such a place? (I could only find the taobao source on Yu Guo's douban page.)
Soma's catalogue of releases "will take up a large section of any CD shop" ok, that was funny.
Any idea when the indievox shops will be opening (particular the Channel 1 shop)? Kind of hoping they'll be open for the first Mao show though I'm not sure I'll pay RMB200 to see My Little Airport. Handsome Furs for RMB80 on the other hand...
Ha ha! How was the "tour" Andy? How's it looking?
Suzy - Apparently the shops will gradually add records from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Europe and the States. Given that Indievox is Taiwanese, I'd expect plenty of Taiwan stuff in the shops, whether it'll work the other way around I'm not sure.
For Yu Guo, I'd say Taobao is your best source, but don't know how easy that is internationally. 0093 may have some and perhaps 2046 up at Wujiaochang (though I've not been there in ages, does it still exist?) but I wouldn't bank on it. Sorry, that's not much help... anyone got any better ideas?
JG - As you can see above, Andy first mentioned this to me a couple of months ago but there's still no dates confirmed, just "opening soon" so don't hold your breath. You'd kind of expect the one at MAO to be open when the venue does, but I wouldn't be overly surprised if it's not. Either way, though I'm curious about the new space, I'm not 200 kuai curious even if there is a CD shop there.
The indievox.com is very helpful fo us in Shanghai indeed...:(
Gigs in Taibei, Taiwanese stars, etc... What does it have to do with 0093, Wang Tiantian and local PRC bands?
I'm confused.
Tiantian said September when he mentioned it to me that time.
This was never a problem for me though cos I always was hanging out somewhere that had the CDs and going to 0093, before, to check them out was fun and easy.
Thanks Jake. I figured it would be next to impossible to buy the Yu Guo cds. It's pretty sad my friend's aunt will be right there in Shanghai and unable to buy cds from local indie bands. But that's where the Indievox store will come in handy. Hope it works out. Thanks again!
I've fiddled with the comments settings and yet... there's still problems. Here's a comment from Lisa:
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Suzy, your friend could always go to 0093 to get a copy of the Yuguo CD - I expect Wang Tiantian keeps it on stock, although you might want to make an appointment with him before stopping by.
YLK, the plan as I understand it is to put up a simplified character version of Indievox.com with more Mainland content. It may be a little while, though. The guys also inform that while they hope to have the store open at the same time as the live house, it might be a bit later. We have to accept that things happen at their own pace here, given the limited resources and multiple obstacles - a good example is 0093 compilation CD.
Another aspect of all this co-branding madness is that there will also be one or two rehearsal rooms at Mao - run by and named 0093, making it a third branch of that institution.
It's cool, I think, that different corners of Shanghai - and Japan and Taiwan - are communicating and cooperating. Given the insularity and how much reinventing of the wheel that goes on in China's music scene, I think it's a big step towards scene maturity.
Well,200 kuai is actually a little expensive!
and 0093 is very cool~ hope WangTiantian and Tomato(fanqiechaodan) will be successful!
hey guys! wang tian tian from 0093 asked me to comment back.
he said he's not good at english, but thanks for all your attention to the 0093 cd shop. n it needs your support in the future!
Hi there! Was yesterday at the channel 1 mall, but I could not find the 0093 cd shop. Any clues?
Regards,
Hi kikujiro0208,
Basically, because the shop is going to be in collaboration with Soma I think things have been delayed while they focus on MAO and getting that going. There's also a whole load of licensing issues when opening a CD shop here, especially somewhere as high profile as Channel One, and it's not going to be as straightforward as they originally though.
Unfortunately, I think it could be a while before we see an actual shop. For the moment, I think the thing is to stick to the Taobao site or pick CDs up at the gigs. If/when an actual shop opens, I'll post about it, but I wouldn't hold your breath!
Hi Jake,
Thank you for your info. I used to purchase my cds at Yuyintang and TianTian was a kind help in selecting the cd's for me. Any idea whether cd's can be bought at Mao LiveHouse directly instead of ordering them online?
Thanks in advance, regards,
I don't think the MAO shop will be ready for a while to be honest. You could try heading down to 0093 and asking there, depends on what you're after, but they might have a copy there. If not, they can sort something out for you I'm sure. They're closing next month though for refurbishment, so best to get down there fairly soon.