ESEA Music is a community-led, non-profit, established in September 2021 by and for East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) professionals and artists in the UK music industry. The group was founded by artist managers, Tiger Hagino Reid and Hiroki Shirasuka in the wake of and in response to the ‘Black Lives Matter’ and ‘Stop Asian Hate’ movements.

From an initial meet up consisting of 10 attendees, the group now boasts an impressive 500+ members across the UK and the diaspora.

Our mission is to advance greater representation for ESEA professionals across the UK music industry and uplift British ESEA talent. This has included providing opportunities for collaboration at writing camps, partnering with organisations to host bi-annual meetups, as well as advocating for representation on industry boards such as the MMF, The Brits and FAC. We have also successfully lobbied bodies such as UK Music, resulting in the creation of two new ESEA categories in their Workforce Diversity Survey in 2024. Historically, the ‘Asian’ category in the UK mainly represented the South Asian community.

Read more on the Downtown Journal.