Archie is the founder and Managing Director of Split United, a group of companies he formed in China in 2006 with his partner Nathaniel Davis. As one of the first integrated live entertainment companies in the region, Archie leads a team of almost 40 young and vital Chinese and foreign staff in wearing the hats of promoter, booking agent, festival owner, conference organiser, and brand consultancy. Split United pioneers the brand // entertainment // technology model in China, and Archie prides himself on pushing amazing bands and helping innovative brands, pulling a young Chinese population away from traditional music and state-led media towards a more honest and accessible entertainment paradigm.
Under his command, Split United has launched five festivals (YUE, Black Rabbit, Guinness Wood+Wires, and JUE | Music + Art and Echo Park), created two online communities (wooozy.cn and chinamusicradar.com), set up Scorched, Asia’s first regional focused booking agency, run over 400 tours to over 40 Chinese cities and created some of the most iconic Chinese music based brand campaigns.
Archie has unrivaled experience in leveraging music for brands in China and is an experienced large // special events operator. As such, Archie is greatly sought after as an expert on the music marketing and technology fields in Asia and has spoken all over the world at conferences such as Music Matters, SxSW, Transmission, MAMA, the Great Escape, Spikes Asia and has been a regular invitee of the prestigious WPP Stream “un”Conference.
Archie cut his teeth promoting DJs in London, France and Spain in the early/ mid 90’s. As a serial entrepreneur, he has always been a bit ahead of the curve: from a London based internet listings company in the late 90’s to the owner of Europe’s largest free sports and music festival in the Alps in the early 2000’s, China has been the focus of his last decade.
Favorite quote: “It always seems impossible until its done” – Nelson Mandela.