The Asian Music Industry Festival (AMIF 2025), hosted by the Global Center for Arts & Culture (GCAC), a nonprofit organization, concluded in Boston following two days of performances, industry dialogue, and cultural exchange. Returning to the city where AMIF debuted in 2023, the 2025 edition spanned three venues: industry forums at the Sheraton Boston Hotel, a flagship concert at the historic Citizens House of Blues, and the AM/IF Awards at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) in the Shapiro Family Courtyard. In this world-class cultural context, Asian music was not only heard, but seen.
The theme “I AM IFs” framed AMIF’s dual trajectory. Co-founders Jiaying Qian (Nicol) and Yang explained that AM represents artistic work already shaping the present, while IF points to possibilities just beginning to emerge. AMIF’s mission is to bring together these two forces, what has been seen and what is being seen, on the same stage.
Hosted at the Sheraton Boston Hotel, AMIF’s forum program served as its intellectual backbone. The discussions spanned six strands: Keynotes, Screen & Scoring, Artist Development, Live & Variety, Breakthrough Strategies, and AI & Music.
Keynotes featured Jaco Zhang (Production Director, Sony Music China), Bernie Cho (President, DFSB Kollective), and Christopher Wares (Assistant Chair, Music Business/Management, Berklee College of Music), bringing perspectives from the Chinese, Korean, and U.S. markets
The Screen & Scoring strand convened Yi Zhao (CEO, HS Entertainment Group), Peng Li (Producer, The Heart of Genius, Where Are We Going, Dad?), Jiacheng Wang (Music Producer, The Three-Body Problem, The Captain), Shelly Yu (Chair, Australia China International Film Festival (ACIFF)), Yuming Zhang (Vice Chair, ACIFF), Joyce Lin (Creative Ad Sync Director, Warner Chappell Music), and Esthy (Founder, Accidental Entertainment; Senior Content Producer, Sony Music). The session concluded with the signing of an MOU launching a year-round sync initiative for emerging composers across North America, Asia, and Australia.
Artist Development sessions brought together Shaugnessy Elsroth (A&R Manager, Sony Music Publishing), Benjamin Ezaki (VP, Artist Development & Management, 88rising), Adam Moseley (Co-founder & Partner, Accidental Entertainment), Gabi Kochlani (Founder & Head of A&R, The Grey Administration), Zuo Ye (Founder & CEO, OMNI Music), and Kesong (Artist Manager, Worry-Free Media).
The Live & Variety strand featured Shan Wei (Co-founder, Midi Group Companies), Ren Zhong (Founder, Muhuo Tongming), Xiaoxiao Wang (CEO, Buyi Culture), Zuo Ye (OMNI Music), and producer Dikui Xie (Where Are We Going, Dad?, 50KM Taohuawu).
Breakthrough Strategies addressed cross-border growth, featuring Christine Su (A&R & Client Development Lead, Symphonic Distribution), Jaco Zhang, Jiacheng Wang, and Christopher Wares, alongside Hye Rim (Leslie) Cho (Marketing & PR Lead, Project Asteri Korea), Ralph Jaccodine (Assistant Professor, Berklee College of Music), acclaimed producer Jae Chong, and Valerie Orth (Assistant Professor, Songwriting Department, Berklee College of Music).
The AI & Music strand featured Sherri Hendrickson (Global Partnerships Director, AutoTune), Coco Mao (CEO & Co-founder, OpenArt), Rafael Valle (Research Scientist, Meta Superintelligence Lab), Helena Zhang (CEO & Co-founder, Fish Audio), Gil Weinberg (Founding Director, Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology), and emerging researchers Xinyu Yang, Ziyu Wang, and Evelyne Li, addressing creativity, authorship, and ethics in the generative era.
Evenings culminated at Citizens House of Blues, where six cross-cultural artists, Akini Jing, Nina Wang, Himang Chadola Park, Amiya Gahan Chowdhury, Ranger Liu, and Alexis Cao, translated discussion into sound.
The AM/IF Awards were held in MFA’s Shapiro Family Courtyard. Massachusetts State Auditor Diana DiZoglio presented an official Recognition on behalf of the Commonwealth, and AMIF also received a separate Recognition issued by the Governor of Massachusetts, acknowledging its contribution to cross-cultural exchange. Presenters from Berklee, Warner Chappell, Sony Music, and Georgia Tech joined the co-founders to honor achievements across AM and IF.
Reflecting on the festival, the co-founders shared: “AM stands for the voices that already illuminate our cultural moment; IF belongs to those still forming. AMIF exists to hold space for both.”