a-Tunes / Gifted Thought

a-Tunes is a music blog that specifically focuses on music from Asian-American/Asian musicians and recording artists. a-Tunes covers all genres of music and features both commercial and underground/independent artist with comprehensive updates and news.

HalfKorean.com had a chance to catch up with the founder of a-Tunes, Gifted Thought, and ask a few questions to find out a little more about a-Tunes as well as the man behind the blog.

What is a-Tunes?
a-Tunes is a blog dedicated to Asian-American and Asian musicians making an impact in the Western world. We aim to spotlight artists that are incredibly talented but could rarely or never be seen on MTV, The Source, Rolling Stone, or the Billboard charts. It’s really all about providing a place for people to come and see that the talent is there but the we need to come together and grow our support for it.

I called it a-Tunes to serve as a play on iTunes, but “a” for “Asian.” I had to add the dash because all the domain names for aTunes were already taken. haha Overall it’s a somewhat contrived moniker but I think it serves its purpose well.

What inspired you to create a-Tunes and when was it created?
The site was launched on June 5th, 2008. I initially created it because I wanted a place to document and share all the music that I was following in terms of both AA and Asian musicians. Especially as an artist myself, I felt there was really no general hub for people to visit and see what was going on with artists across all styles and genres. At the time there were a few specialized establishments such as AznRaps or very broadly focused sites that cast a light on anything and everything AA related. At least personally I thought it’d be beneficial for a site to be focused on just AA/Asian music but not limited to one style in particular.

What do you want to accomplish with the site?
I’ve said this before but honestly the goal and vision of a-Tunes is to promote great AA/Asian artists until the day when doing so becomes irrelevant. Of course, on a personal level, I’d love to see the site continue to expand and see readership grow along with additional staff and so on but that’s all just personal pride. Beyond that, it’s much more important that walls continue to be broken down and true talent is recognized, regardless of ethnicity or race. We just want to level the playing field so that these artists and musicians can have a chance to try and support themselves doing what they love without having the additional factor of race contributing to the battle.

How do you stay on top of all the news, updates, etc.? Is it primarily you seeking the info or do the artists send the updates to you?
Social media has been both a gift and a curse in helping stay on top of everything. I mean honestly I couldn’t do this without my other staff member who goes by Music4urSoul. She’s not as prominent on the publishing side of things yet but she’s been a huge support and a key teammate in keeping things running behind the scenes. Literally we’ll spend hours a day after our day job ends and review what’s new on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and even the aging MySpace. We also comb through other AA related blogs and sites for information and then present what’s relevant. Additionally some artists do choose to keep us in the loop by sending us updates but as you can imagine there are a number of them who are a bit over zealous with the self promotion. haha

So, who is Gifted Thought? I understand that you also dabble in music as well. Are you planning on pursuing that more?
My full name is Newton Speirs. My family background is kind of crazy as I’m ethnically half Chinese and half Korean (dot com). My father is Chinese however he was born and raised in Vietnam. As things were starting to heat up over there, his mother knew an American family that was willing to take him and his brother in for the remainder of their youth so they moved to the US while in middle school and were officially adopted by the Speirs family. By process of elimination, my mother is the Korean parent and moved here as an adult.

Eventually I came into the mix along with my younger sister. Both of us born and raised in Maryland. Grew up in the burbs, with a fairly normal Asian-American childhood where I was first confused by my heritage and the “differences” it brought before growing old enough to understand, appreciate and eventually embrace it. Musically I’ve always had an interest in the art, first and foremost as a fan and then as an older teen and young adult, a creator. I could never really sing well so I gravitated towards rap and Hip-Hop and that’s how I came to be as Gifted Thought. Music is definitely something I’ll always pursue on the side though admittedly I do it more for me than anyone else. It’s my form of expression and although I’m humbled and grateful whenever someone can relate or appreciate what I do, I’m not dependent on that. But believe me, if I had the time and resources my life would be all about God, a-Tunes and my music.

Thank you to GT for sharing a little bit about a-Tunes and himself! Much respect to him for having the ambition to create a blog where people can learn more about the many talented musicians and artists out there that might not get the proper exposure otherwise.
For more information regarding a-Tunes, please check out a-Tunes.net or follow on Twitter. For more on Gifted Thought, check out his website GiftedThought.com.

Back to Spotlight

a-Tunes Founder: GT / Gifted Thought

(Images courtesy of Gifted Thought / a-Tunes)