ESEA Music — 
Every Sound Every Action

ESEA Music’s three key goals for 2025

1 - Advance ESEA representation in the UK Music Industry:

To advance greater representation of ESEA professionals across the UK music industry, surpassing the diversity benchmarks outlined in the 2024 UK Music Diversity Report. The focus will be twofold: first, better ESEA representation at board levels within industry trade bodies and the BRITs Voting Academy; and second, increasing participation of ESEA professionals on music industry panels.

2 - Uplift British ESEA talent:

To continue uplifting ESEA individuals in the UK music industry by expanding the Sesame mentorship programme through dedicated workshops which help support career pathways for ESEA artists and professionals. Additionally, through the ESEA Sounds writing camp releases and showcase, we aim to create collaborative opportunities for artists, producers and songwriters, offering exposure for ESEA talent.

3 - To Ensure Organisational Sustainability:

To ensure the long-term sustainability of ESEA Music as a non-profit organisation by focusing on fundraising efforts and establishing a solid governance structure to guide the organisation's growth and future direction.

ESEA Music initiatives have been funded by WeTransfer, Universal Music, Arts Council England, Beatport, Downtown Publishing as well as partnered with multiple organisations across the industry to host our biannual meet ups at Sony Music, Warner Music, Universal Music, Spotify, Secretly Canadian, PIAS, Southbank and more…

Artists who are members include Rina Sawayama, Jax Jones, Congee, Yunè Pinku, Lucy Tun, Lucinda Chua, Andrew Hung, Emmy The Great, Matt Tong, Miso Extra, Meyy and more. Professionals who are members span the industry including Spotify, Sony Music, Universal Music, 6music, Radio 1, PIAS, Warp, 4AD, AWAL, Ninja Tune, TaP Music and many more.

ESEA is a diverse community, and we respect the differences between our regional culture and are here to foster better understanding of different forms of experience and discriminations that have been faced. Whilst creating space for ourselves we also stand alongside other POC communities in solidarity.

Inspired by the work, discourse and the actions of grassroot and established groups such as Eastern Margins, Dialled In, Asian American Collective, Black Artist Database, Black Music Coalition, ESEA Sisters, Ladies Music Pub, Shesaid.so, Daytimers, besea.n and many more, we offer a voice and community for UK based ESEA music industry professionals and artists now, and in the future.

In May 2023, we conducted a first of its kind survey of our members in conjunction with product research and strategy studio 100kicks, probing their experiences in the UK music industry in relation to their cultural identity and heritage. Over 80 members participated in the survey, sharing thoughtful and generous reflections, which we published in Sept 2023.

In sharing these results from our membership survey, ESEA Music invites you to get “(re) orientated” with us. The concept of “orientating”, as used here, derives from Orientalism, the academic theory coined by Edward Said. In a nutshell, the theory describes a particular lens through which Asian countries and people have been viewed by Western authors and creators. This “(Re) Orientated” survey invites readers to see our community on our terms, through the voices of ESEA Music and our members. Full report here.

This report was funded by The Supporting Act Foundation’s inaugural Community Grant program from WeTransfer.