Zambia-born producer Kelvin Avon spent most of his school years in Hong Kong before heading to Boston to study recording arts. Now splitting his time between bases in Hong Kong and London, he’s been in the game nine years, working with some seriously big names, such as P. Diddy, Nelly, and Jay-Z, as well as some exciting up-and-comers, such as funk-rock band Kubla Khan and electro-pop outfit Dead Pixels (both from London).

Insight

To make a career in music, Hong Kong bands have to think beyond just the music, reckons Avon. “They have to start thinking of themselves as a business,” he says. “Are you marketable? Are you singing something people want to hear?” He says the WMYA project shows there’s definite potential in our indie scene, and the advent of such groups as Anthony Wong’s People Mountain People Sea, as well as other Western-influenced music companies, are helping to change the prevailing Cantopop-focused music attitudes in Hong Kong. He points to the US and the UK as shining examples, where indie bands can have as much commercial success as acts signed to major labels. “There’s a definite movement that way [in Hong Kong]. It’s going to be a slightly slower process, but we’ll get there.”

The Winners

Judge profile: Anthony Wong Yiu-ming

Judge profile: Steve Wong Ka-keung

Judge profile: Kelvin Avon