As part of his work with Dragon Radio, Tony Reno was interviewed for Mindshare's recent study on "Asia's Music Undercurrents".  You can download the full report here, or just read the most interesting part (tony's interview) below. ;-) 

Who are the people that submit their music to Dragon Radio
and Who are your listeners?

tony: The bands and listeners that participate in my shows are just like me; pro-
active fans of music. They don’t wait for music to come to them, they go out and
search for it. Maybe a minority among music fans, but a very dedicated bunch.
Bands from Asia find me on MySpace or are referred from other bands that I
have played on the show. Some more proactive labels (indie) send me their latest
releases; I love working with them in that way. I play one song from a CD they
sell and allow fans to download that one song (within my half hour show) and
then they get direct sales from that exposure. Don’t know why the big labels can’t
accept that this model works. Some music comes in from regular listeners too.
They have something that they think I might enjoy and they send it to me; I really
enjoy that community aspect of my show.

What changes have you observed in the way music is created,  
consumed, and Discovered Within the region in the past 2-3 years?

tony: I am surprised that most bands still seem to deliver music on CD. With
all the MP3 and file sharing going on, I would think they would be selling USB
drives or selling more online. There are some good internet labels out here like
japanfiles.com, peoplesrecords.net, white rabbit records, panda records, etc...I
think the local business folks in the industry out here have got it right. Educating
the bands and the fans will always take a bit longer. One thing that is encouraging
is the use of Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, AlivenotDead, ChannelV’s Amp; all that
social networking and iLike introduction to music. I have found more than a few
bands that way. I am already considering moving my show over to Twitter and just
sending out the music as Tweets. Then at the end of each month, I will recap all
the songs in a podcast.

What are your thoughts on the indie or alternative music
scene in asia? how has it evolved or progressed?

tony: I am really happy that many of the bands out here are finally getting over
the ‘imitation’ stage of song-writing and starting to inject their own culture and
social issues into their music. Also, the fan base seems to be more appreciative
of the home-grown scene. Its nice to see fans in Asia not only appreciate the
western alternative acts, but also acknowledge that there are bands in their own
country that sound just as good and sing in their native language.

What are some exciting sounds or artists coming out the
region?

tony: This is an impossible question for me to answer. I am so close to the bands
that I play, I would feel bad if I left anyone out! Needless to say (I only play music
with Asian language lyrics), the thing you can count on in the future is more local
language alternative rock. Japan and Taiwan have always been strong producers of
rock music, but the scenes in China, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia have been
growing rapidly in the last 3 years. I expect to hear more from India and Vietnam
in the coming years.