In the last issue, we interviewed DJ Shacho, who announced his overseas challenge at the height of his popularity in Japan, "Why did you go abroad? What he has been involved in so far?
In Part 2 of the series, let's hear him out on his life in Indonesia, his future plans, and the meaning of his statement, "I will not return home until I succeed".
―Why did you decide on Indonesia and not somewhere else?
I have a dream of becoming the world's No.1 DJ, and I am currently committed to expand globally, but I realised that I need to become the No.1 DJ in Asia first. I believe that I have an advantage in that there are only countable renowned DJs in Asia in my range, and since we are all Asian, we have a sense of familiarity that makes it understandable for people to be interested in us! Indonesia boasts the fourth largest population in Asia, and I thought that not only is it a country that would develop in the future, but also the friendly nature of the Indonesian people was a good fit for us.
After actually expanding into Indonesia, I feel that we have a strong affinity with the Indonesian people.
―What was the most difficult thing after entering the Indonesian market and do you have any stories that did not go as smoothly as you expected?
I was friends with Evelin Nada Anjani, a renowned DJ in Indonesia, and she helped me a lot and I was featured on TV shows and collabs, and everything was going great!
However, the hardest thing was that even though we released tracks in Indonesian and collaborated with big names here, our channel had no Indonesian subscribers, so we couldn't get any recommendations or get featured on related videos from Indonesian YouTube users.
After 4 months of trial and error, we finally got over 100,000 Indonesian followers, and we started to appear in Indonesian recommendations and related videos little by little.
―Any local Indonesian DJs that you've been paying attention to lately?
Rather than DJs I'm looking out for, there are a few artists I'd like to collaborate with! In fact, we are already negotiating with some of them to co-write music, and we've started to work with some of them already!
Some of these artists I'm in discussion with now are legendary figures that everyone knows in Indonesia, so we are looking forward to the release!
―You mentioned on your YouTube video that you "won't leave until you succeed". What would you define "success"? And what are your plans for 2022 and how do you plan to achieve these objectives?
To be precise, I want to reach 10 million subscribers on YouTube! However, as an artist, I am not so sure about the numbers on social media alone, so I would like to have a successful live performance at the "GBK(Gelora Bung Karno Stadium)" and "JIS(Jakarta International Stadium)" domes, which are said to be the biggest in Indonesia!
▲ Gelora Bung Karno Stadium
▲ Jakarta International Stadium
As of May 2022, I have only performed a few shows as a DJ in Indonesia, and I hope to play in even bigger clubs and venues with larger crowds in the future.
Thankfully, I have received many offers, but I am refusing majority of them since I think that I need to focus more on producing music for Indonesia and promoting myself on TV to gain recognition rather than on performing on the scene.
Once I start to gain more recognition and popularity in Indonesia, I would love to travel around the country.
DJ Shacho
Started DJing in 2015 and soon after, he formed the DJ group "Reppen Chikyu (レペゼン地球)". In 2016, he released his first single "5454" and was active on Twitter, putting out short videos alongside his DJing. In 2017, he started YouTube and set a record for the fastest million subscribers at the time by surpassing 1 million channel subscribers within a year of starting. In 2018, he became the first DJ to pack Zepp with his first solo live show in Japan, with an attendance of 2,000. In the same year, he became the first DJ to perform to a full house at Makuhari Messe in Japan, with an attendance of 15,000. In 2019, he hosted a Zepp tour and a hall tour together. In 2020, an arena tour was scheduled, but it got cancelled due to a COVID-19. In the same year, he held his first solo live concert as a DJ in Japan at Fukuoka Dome, with attendance of 25,000. In 2021, the group announced its overseas expansion, changing its name from "Repezen Chikyu" to "Repezen Foxx," and in 2022, they moved their base to Indonesia.