David is first and foremost a music export professional. With his company Steady State Records he organises Singapore showcases in festivals such as SONIK Philippines, Taiwan’s Golden Indie Music Awards and ZAshare, Bangkok Music City, and is a co-founder of ASEAN Music Showcase Festival. He also curates and programs conferences and local developmental projects such as SCAPE’s Music Day Out and ALT Residency. David also does one-off lectures and speaks in music conferences all over Asia, covering topics such as market penetration and touring strategies for artists and developments across the various Asian music scenes.
In SGMUSO, in his former role as President – conceptualizing, managing and operating the projects, such as Singapore: Inside Out in Sydney, the Music Matters Academies, Singapore showcases in festivals in Asia such as Golden Melody Awards, Singapore Matters Networking sessions, ASEAN Music Showcase Festival and any export-related programs. He has also produced small-scale (200-1,000 pax) Singapore music festivals such as Aliwal Urban Art Festival, Music for a Cause/YouthX, and SGMUSO’s bare. and The Outer Limits. David was focused on revamping SGMUSO’s business model with fundraising, skills development, music export and membership at its core.
In music, David’s 15 year experience varies widely, from artist management, tour management, bookings, to producing, sessioning and recording. His own indie-pop band M1LDL1FE has built up their presence in Asia, opening for Travis, Walk the Moon, Death Cab for Cutie, headlining festivals in Singapore like Baybeats, IGNITE, Music Matters, securing spots in festivals all over Asia, got their original song featured in NDP 2018 and bagging awards such as COMPASS’ Young Artiste of the Year award and the Best English Pop song award. As a producer (DSML), he is currently working with many artists across South-East Asia. Additionally, David is a preferred host for Airbnb – arranging, producing and recording tracks for Airbnb guests. The experience has become one of the most successful Airbnb experiences to date in Asia with over 100 tracks thus far.
Steady State Records is a music consultancy that specialises in music export, local developmental programs and music festival curation/programming. Although the company is fairly fresh on the scene, its founder David Siow has worked on countless projects as President of SGMUSO, such as the Music Matters Academies, STB’s Inside Out:Sydney, bare. festival, Aliwal Urban Art Festival and Noise Music Mentorship.
The company started by running the Where Are The Fruits label showcase @ SONIK Philippines 2020 and the Singapore leg of ASEAN Music Showcase Festival 2020 and 2021 as a co-founder, as well as Singapore showcases at Taiwan’s Golden Indie Music Awards/Asia Rolling Music Festival 2021 and ZAshare 2021, and Thailand’s Bangkok Music City 2021.
We had also partnered up with SCAPE to present Music Day Out 2021 and ALT Residency 2021.
I’m just really excited to see what Canadian Asian artists bring to the table, and to better connect Canada with industry in Asia.
Former president of Singapore’s music export office, David brings in a number of different skill sets, as a musician, a producer, a festival organizer, and someone who has had a look behind the scenes in how all the funding works.
David, being a Chinese language and English speaker can really give us a good idea of what it’s like to be on the stage and behind the curtain in South East Asia’s music industry.
