Meet Sungchun Lee, the CEO & Founder of SOUNDPUZZLE!
The 2023 World Music Festival @ Taiwan will be held from Oct 12 to 15. The International connection is expect to be the highlight of this edition of the event. With this opportunity, we are honored to interview one of the delegates invited, Sungchun Lee, the CEO & Founder of SOUNDPUZZLE, to share his extensive experiences in international artists management, agency, and industry insight.
WIND MUSIC has encountered Sungchun in numerous global events, including WOMEX, Seoul Music Week, and Global Toronto. We are not unfamiliar with his capability of promoting his artists, but this is the first time we hear some of his sharing the know-how and perspective on the music industry trend. So join us and check it out now!
With a classical music study background, Sungchun built his career as a K-pop composer and sound engineer. The training has led him to organize music events. Now he plays various roles in the music industry. He is the Chief Producer of SOUNDPUZZLE, a Record label established in 2013. In addition, he also works as the Executive director and General secretary of Seoul Music Week, an International Showcase Festival. From these working experiences, he senses that artists need support from agencies.
2015 was the year when he started his international agency career. Nowadays, his company SOUNDPUZZLE covers comprehensive aspects of the music industry, including production to distribution of albums, incubation of musicians to international debut, from the planning of performances to production of festivals.
When asked how he established his capacity to work when multitasking from various aspects of music, he points out the humanistic importance across the fields, "People" is the common element when engaging with various scenes. "It is people who run the festival, and it is people who stand on the stage of the festival. Even those who watch and enjoy the performance are people. In the end, I think connecting people to people is the core of the business." said Sungchun.
Positive attitudes when meeting people involved in the industry are essential for expanding connections. Among them, "Trust" is the keyword emphasized by Sungchun. The word is based on understanding the difficulties, needs, dreams, and desires of the abundant network and parties. Sungchun said, “I try to understand them and stand by their side whenever I meet them.”
The belief seems to form his focus on music scene preference. Digital content and technological applications have greatly affected the music industry. As the music business and technology become inseparable, Sungchun turns to focus more on high-quality, small-scale, and live performances. Sungchun’s concern lies with how technology can be applied to optimize the experience of audiences and improve the quality of live shows, in which the audiences can hear musicians breathe.
When it comes to the vast experiences of participating in music events, the same idea consistently applies. Sungchun always focuses on 2 elements on-site: the participants and the performers of the events. This means massive work on researching, memorizing, and understanding. Studying the musical taste and the backgrounds of the participants in advance is important for approaching people and expanding the network. Watching and memorizing all the performances to broaden the perspective are essential tasks during these events.
The same goes for large showcase events and exhibitions. Buyers and sellers are the two factors that consist of these occasions. Sungchun mentioned the World Music Expo (WOMEX) is the best motivator for anyone who would like to step into the business by observing how hard the participants work. Sungchun proactively shares know-how and discusses international strategy with WIND MUSIC for years. Ultimately with the joint collaboration of SOUNDPUZZLE and WIND MUSIC, Sungchun is hoping to see Asian artists can receive a better evaluation in the international industry and present their shows to more audiences in the future.
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