JUE festival magic comes to Beijing and Shanghai

Both of them agree that the fact that it is so tough to make money in China ensures that this will remain the case for a while yet, but there is a nascent industry emerging. They love being in China because of what an incredibly important time this is in the history of the world.

While bringing in international acts, they also helped build China's local music scene by showing Chinese talents at events like the JUE festival.

"Live shows are vital incubators of young bands, where they earn most of their money and where they build their fan bases," Hamilton says.

He was disappointed with the emergence of new bands over the past couple of years. But recently the scene in Beijing has given new hope since new bands have been given support by live house venues.

Bands such as Spice and Mabonona, from Hangzhou New Noise, a platform which showcases Hangzhou's local creative talents, will be included in this years' JUE festival.

"Festivals like JUE, which span a long period of time and cover a variety of events, enable us to display ourselves and communicate with others, both the audiences and artists," says Xiao Fen, the manager of Spice, who along with the band's front man formed Lost Manual, the Hangzhou-based indie music and art label.

"There is a whole generation of new musicians and artists in China waiting to be discovered. We need a platform."