BrenGun

Thanks guys for making this happen! It was lots of fun to read (even if they leaned in to the whole 'mysterious kote band' thing a bit too much, haha).

Well that was an experience

I am not fighting against u. I am trying to show what the sh**t that we do and we just ignore the consequences.  In the end the the artist will be harmed and everyone around. 
 
And i dont understand why the mods from this forum gave to you a tilte "Iconic member" if u said that u dont care about the artists. 
 
MH is a forum to support the artist and music (?) . I expected that the members do the same or at least the old ones....

Thats why the streaming service is getting strength to stop illegal download. 

For them I would prefer ghostsharing. but if they can pay for internet, they might be rich enough to buy a song once in the while too... and spotify works for them too. So no excuse.
 

They surely have some reasons and you can guess one of those reasons. 
 
 
Well if you buy second-hand because you cannot buy an original copy anymore it does no harm. And we also know that buying from Japan still can cost more than buying it from someone second handed, but that doesn't mean that everyone wouldn't download a release a all on the legal way. But yes, if you never would have supported a band by buying a CD and actually not willing to buy a release digitally then it's hypocritical.
 
 
 

This time I share with you an interview of a vocalist of a band who was popular end 80's early 90's, played in bigger halls than now.
The band official restated again in 2018 and also this year they planned a ONEMAN tour in small live halls (200-300 capacity), we still pray that the tour won't be canceled due the CORONA virus.
 
Their old music can be found on itunes and spotify.  
 
Also for THE MINKS
You never too old, never give up your dreams!
 
It's an interview which let you smile and laugh (^o^)
https://jrocknroll.wordpress.com/2020/04/02/interview-the-minks/
 
 

https://vk.gy/blog/an-interview-with-clack-inc/
 
 
Big thanks to Kenbo! 
He helped with translating a few questions to Japanese. And surely also that every member answered the interview very nicely! It's an interview everybody enjoys, so please read even if you aren't a fan! ^^
 
 
 
EDIT:
Why did we choose this band for an interview?
CLACK inc. is maybe not the most popular or best band around (for some of us), but if a band changes their members it's always interesting to dig in them a little bit. I'm also glad that Jae_agent33399 helped us with giving a good direction of questions we could ask. 
Looking at the history of this band and members and current members it's a good band to have interviewed too, because hey it's interesting what they have been up to and if they can hit more people hearts!
 
Because this band starts a new area I won't share their music in this topic.
 
Still I hope that people are exited to discover more about their upcoming single. I'm looking forward to it!
So keep tuned okay?
 
 
A really big thanks to Kenbo, without him, this interview maybe wouldn't be possible at all. 

Today we have an exclusive interview with new vkei band Astaroth.
Astaroth is an orthodox visual kei band who revealed themselves at what was advertised as a solo oneman by vocalist MISAKI, on January 16th of this year. The members have a strong connection to the Kansai (関西) scene, and they've drawn favor thanks to their promising first single.
The band talked to us about their inspirations and how their first steps toward activity have been so far.
Astaroth, thank you very much for agreeing to this interview.
 
https://vk.gy/blog/an-interview-with-astaroth/
 

I am not into capitalism too... But i can't be an anarchist saying that capitalism is bad in all social media. But i am conscious about the job from other people.
 

This means: Empathy first at all. 

We've already discussed this a million times. 

Tell that to Yuu (ex-Zodia and a bunch of other bands) and his master's degree in mechanical engineering. The whole "high school dropouts that live off their mitsus" stereotype is so outdated. Most indies in this day and age have an education and have day jobs to support themselves, otherwise with what they're making they'd be begging on the streets.
 
You guys really can't help yourselves from being judgemental and sassy for no reason huh?
 
Of course everyone is free to do whatever, uploading and downloading definitely won't stop, but I just wanted to reflect on how this affects the scene, especially for the western fanbase.
 
This may be beating a dead horse for your, but I haven't seen a topic for discussing this, so might as well hearing everyone's opinion in just one place.

Well I understand that people might not browse this forum religiously like I do ( lol ) and the search engine does suck so you might never now if a topic has been gone through many times or not. This topic however has been discussed many times and the forum policy is that it'll stay as it is, because there's just no ethically consistent way to deal with MH PREMIUM MEMBER section other than either to kill it entirely and or keep at is it, as the latter is, in my opinion, the obvious answer here. Not mention about the labour this will bring on the mods when they'd have to go around culling shit that's available on multiple different platforms from purchase to streaming on spotify.  
 
And to Delkmiroph, I don't care about any rockstar tryhard's band career. There are tons of musicians on this earth making music non profit and with very sparse touring and releasing schedules. It is only vk that is so obsessed with this collector and band white knighting attitude. 

I don't mean to fight, but people do this all over the world. Just not in the music you listen to, mate

If you can easily get the music in a legal way, then I don't really see the point of downloading it illegally. It will only hurt the musicians. 

For them I would prefer ghostsharing. but if they can pay for internet, they might be rich enough to buy a song once in the while too... and spotify works for them too. So no excuse.
 

the forum is living off of its premium member section bro. otherwise it could've been dead already. 
 
I understand where you are coming from because your frame of reference is inherently mainstream pop and rock oriented. There is more music than we could even listen to in our lifetimes that is made non-profit, strictly for the communities they're coming from. There are bands that are even legendary only touring occasionally even if they're not political. I'm opposed to capitalism, I'm opposed to sales. This is just my opinion, but I don't support the economical model of visual kei even though I love its music and history, so I also don't care if it dies out because its economical model was made redundant by the 21st century. If it can adapt to the streaming model then god bless. 
 
 

3rd world reading this

Then the majority of their income comes from their job as a physics professor or as a host, I reckon. 
 
This horse has been beaten to death on this forum. When children are starving and people are being droned and shot all over the world with the compliance or the guns of the governments most of us belong to, then even considering to pose downloading music as an ethical question is stupid and embarrassing. There's no reason for anyone here to care, those who download will dl and those who won't won't. I stream bands on spotify when they are there, I bought Anfiel's second album digital because i liked them back then, I wouldn't pay a buck for david if it's able for purchase online because I think they suck, but I'll still dl it to know what it's about — everyone else will continue to do more or less the same unless they have a mental disorder where they live vicariously through their fave bandmen. 

Digital releases no. 
 
I decided since last year to dont share nothing when comes available on iTunes worldwide. in case of Plastic tree new album, was available to all world. 
 
Cmon today u can buy a gift card online by itunes japan or other type and pre order or buy it. 
 
Ex: The new album of pura cost $8.99... REALLY GUYS, is it expensive to buy it ? 

They surely have some reasons and you can guess one of those reasons. 
 
 
Well if you buy second-hand because you cannot buy an original copy anymore it does no harm. And we also know that buying from Japan still can cost more than buying it from someone second handed, but that doesn't mean that everyone wouldn't download a release a all on the legal way. But yes, if you never would have supported a band by buying a CD and actually not willing to buy a release digitally then it's hypocritical.
 
 
 

btw i sure as hell hope that everyone preaching the gospel of ''dude you gotta support my anime boys!'' has never ever bought any second-hand cds or downloaded any releases themselves because that would be extremely hypocritical and embarrassing for everyone👀

I honestly don't know what there is to gain by white knighting some high school dropouts rockstar dreams in the year 2020. The world is in lockdown, the polar caps are melting; I think if you're making art for profit in this age then you can fuck the right off and get a real job, even if it's visual kei where half of the appeal of this niche comes from the weird economy that sustains it. 
 
 

I agree with this.
 
I also think if we want to gain more trust and respect from visual kei bands but also from their fans is to not act as a "shit" "I dont' care" gaijin.
 
Digital music isn't that expensive to buy via various platforms. 
We can listen to it freely via spotify (in most cases)
And some of us even have a subscription to google music, apple music or spotify premium.
 
 
But I only agree for the uploads which are also on spotify.
Releases which aren't on spotify are to me still "difficult to get".  because you don't have the legal opportunity to check it out freely for free first. 
 

So, me and another user have been talking about this issue.
 
Lately, more and more visual kei bands have been putting their music on streaming platforms, usually at  a very low price. But still, some find a way to upload them to YouTube and other places.
 
Personally, I don't think it's doing anyone a favor. There has always been talk about how vk bands don't take advantage of more modern ways to share their music, how they're only pandering to the Japanese audience and don't care about making their releases available for the overseas public. But lately  I feel that the trend is changing, so I think we should support them buying their music legally instead of uploading their stuff and sharing it.
 
I could see why people would do it when the releases are hard to get, maybe live-exclusives, but when it comes to these recent active bands that are willing to use other means to let their music known, I think that it may just discourage them from doing it in the future (and back to the old ways we go lol)
 
What are your thoughts on the matter?