AnchuAnchor

Hi, welcome! Happy to meet a new VK fan~
 
Oh, boy. Being in the 2000s really brings back lots of memories. As others have said, p2p software (like limewire, kazaa, etc.) was a great gateway into obtaining VK music. I also remember there were also many blogs (including random geocities/angelfire websites, lol) that hosted music, MVs, and scans/pictures as well. Although I think they've all disappeared to the sands of time. I think, at one point, people had migrated to tumblr where people translated lyrics and random VK musician's blogs and shared scans/pictures. It was certainly an adventure to try to look for music and find scans back then, lol.
 
As for info on band members and such, I know vkdb is a popular place, which is still active. (Link: https://www.vkdb.jp/#gsc.tab=0)

pretty safe.  I still have a ton of burned CDs with things I downloaded off slsk and kazaa ages ago and they're all good. I still use slsk regularly, but this time only for western stuff as I can find vk/japanese music elsewhere easier. never had problems with torrents either, but I get why you avoid them!

Thank you, you're super sweet ^^

Never had any problems with p2p software. Soulseek is still a great way to download and if you are new to vk great for discovery. 
Search a band you like, check the users shared folders and download a buncha bands you dont know (•ө•)♡

There was a japanese vk database called Grass Thread that was similar to vk gy back in the day. Pretty sure it's no longer around. visunavi was and still is a popular source it seems.

geocities, strange small fansites etc. 
P2P file software like Winmx, limewire, soulseek etc. 

livejournal was a great source back in the day for vk related scans and such. scape forum and batsu forum were popular spots for discussion. glamjapan and jrocknyc were popular blog-related sites for vk-related content, too.

oh boy, here we go
 
last.fm was never the website to go for these things. I believe most people just used it to scrobble their music and discover new things.
 
back then I used to search for mp3 and videos using p2p programs like kazaa, and later on soulseek and occasionally winmx. that was what, between 2003-2006? there were a few websites with info, scans and downloads too, but the p2p scene was where it was at.
 
that was before livejournal communities became popular and everyone moved on to those. there were plenty of communities for magazine scans, downloads and specific ones for every band imaginable. at the same time, a little tracker called tonberry torrents also gained traction until it ended in 2007? 2008? and became a forum called tainted world, which is where we are now