Ikna

Money trouble or not, I still think the whole "if you don't buy our shit we will disband and that will make you hopefully regret to have not come to our lives" is shitty and immature. There are a lot of bands in visual kei and other genres who are broke as hell and they don't need to use this stupid marketing strategy.

Kuhle Licht
Psycho-nizm
RAPUNZEL
Dia le ktik
Nerf VISAGE
Arc:g:noël
Madeth gray'll (yeah, it is a strange name)
UNDEAD+SERAPH
CORPSE ANOTHER PERSON (it's just "wtf?")
Evil of Miser
Deepthroat
Valdo Creuz
ewig≒zait
Qual Dienërv
D'espairsRay
ALi'ze Mis Ra'ill
Allegory Pill
Crack Brain
Cannival Method
En:nesia
Metis Gretel
Loon Eye's Millyie
Mist of Rouge
Seeles Klar Unend
 
Basically 80% of all oldschool visual kei bands had just plain silly (and unspeakable) names. The occasional German ones make me crack up the most.
FUTURISM BOYZ would be a "newschool" name that I find totally terrible. Actually all band names that try to appear cool by putting a Z at the end.
 
There are many stupid album names as well, but some songs would deserve an award for having the most silly title ever too.
 
Rumble Fish by Acid Color
Inferno tR=Lick by Lanus Dune
I Truth Lie by Chateau La Tour
Viking of Hell by Crimson Head (sounds like it's about trvue Viking Metalheads)
.... to name a few songs with ridiculous names.
 
(also: wasn't there already a thread with a similiar topic?)

Oh I really love this! considering how much I like rarez stuff and also older visual kei, this shop is perfect for my needs. <3

After well over a year's worth of work, I'd like to present to you all: RarezHut! This is one of the first international store for used visual kei music. Myself, along with my two associates, have been working hard to deliver a store to meet the needs of the international visual kei community, offering a wide selection of products at a reasonable cost. At the moment, RarezHut has over 600 items for sale, each of which includes a listenable/watchable sample! We've got a total inventory of well over 2000 items and will be working hard over the coming months to deliver updates(at least once a month) with as many items as we can stuff in there. Currently available are a multitude of CDs, DVDs, cassette tapes and VHS spanning over 200 bands.
 
Features of the store include:
"Fuzzy search" system: when you search for a band, it'll pull up any other items available by bands with members from the band you searched for in addition. Listenable/watchable samples for every item to give you a little idea of what to look forward to. Newsletter: If you create an account, you can opt-in for our newsletter which details all of the recent additions and will be sent out the moment they're added to the site, allowing you to get first dibs on any new goodies! Remember: once they're gone, they're gone for good~ Digital copies: along with any cassette/VHS purchases, we offer high-quality digital copies free-of-charge. We realize that not everyone has the means to play these aging formats, but we aim not to let that get in the way of you being able to enjoy them! In an effort to make sure that buying goes smoothly, all items added will have the digital copies ready before addition so that packages can be shipped out on the next business day.  
Thanks for taking the time to look at this and we sincerely hope you enjoy the store(and whatever goodies you buy from it )! Given the small nature of the visual kei community, we rely on word-of-mouth for most of our advertising, so any friends you can tell about the store will help us immensely <3
 
If you've got any questions/comments/feedback, feel free to post them here or send me a PM and I'll try to reply ASAP~
 
Update 3/13/2015
So we've finally joined the 21st century and started a facebook and tumblr! You can follow us on either(or both if you really love us <3) for product spotlights, updates, corgi pictures and more! To celebrate this, we're running a special 10% off sale from now(3/13) until next week Friday(3/20). To get in on this sale, just enter the code SOCIALSALE10 at checkout and you'll be on your way to (even) cheaper rarez in no time!
 
In addition, I'd like to welcome Rob(robkun) to the RarezHut team! He's been a huge supporter of our store since the very beginning and we're honored to have him as part of the staff! He'll be writing the product spotlights on both our facebook and tumblr pages, so definitely go check them out because they're really awesome

The vocals sound like it was done by Eric Cartman :U

gz hyura, u can be as aseweome as this:
sagi-dragon here. usualy i dont read horoscopes.

living through those 9 days without shovelling ur special flake attitude in every gazette thread must be s f hard for you

So, here it is. Once again I highly recommend playing the song while reading.
 
http://youtu.be/v7UxERWDPYs
 
ナイフ
Naifu
Knife

Sharp ｋnife ～ha

愛しい君を連れ出して　スキ間とスキ間擦り抜ける
Itoshī kimi o tsuredashite
I'll take you with me, my darling
Sukima to sukima surinukeru
We'll escape, slipping through a loophole

あらゆる果てまで行こうよ　限りなく闇を見る僕等だよ
Arayuru hate made ikō yo
Let's go to all limits
Kagirinaku yami o miru bokura da yo
There we are, looking at this endless dark

いと死い君を連れ出して　万華鏡の様な涙を越える
Itoshī* kimi o tsuredashite
I'll take you with me, my darling
Mangekyō no yōna namida o koeru
Leaving this kaleidoscope of tears behind
ニヒルな君が導いて　遠くを見つめて　サ・ヨ・ウ・ナ・ラ
Nihiruna kimi ga michibiite
You, the nihilist will show the way
Tōku o mitsumete
Stare into the distance
sa・yo・u・na・ra
And say goodbye

重なる君と僕は　溶けて渦巻く
Kasanaru kimi to boku wa
You and me, we are overlapping
Tokete uzumaku
Melting into a vortex
誰も居ないよ　此処は　鍵をかけたよ
Dare mo inai yo   Koko wa
There's nobody here
kagi o kaketa yo
I locked the door
最高の微笑を浮かべて　血まみれになろう
Saikō no emi o ukabete
Show me your sweetest smile
Chimamire ni narou
As we get drenched in blood
それは　とても　痛くて　とても　苦しいけど・・・
Sore wa
This is
Totemo   Itakute
So painful
Totemo 　Kurushī　kedo...
So agonizing and still...

Sharp knife ～ha
腕を並べ切って
Ude o narabe kitte
Lay your arm next to mine and cut
Sharp knife ～ha
君ト僕は　溶け合う
Kimi to boku wa  Tokeau
You and me   Melting together
Sharp knife ～ha
腕を並べ切って
Ude o narabe kitte
Lay your arm next to mine and cut
Sharp knife ～ha
僕らは　身体をス・テ・タ
Bokura wa   Karada o su・te・ta
We threw away our bodies

急かす(早く…**)
Sekasu (Hayaku...)
Urging me (Quickly...)
君の(これで…)
Kimi no (kore de...)
Your (with this...)
穏やかな声(ずっと…)
Odayakana koe (zutto...)
Gentle voice (forever...)

深く切った(痛いね)　此の世の分まで
Fukaku kitta (Itai ne)
You cut so deep (It hurts)
Konoyo no bun made
As deep as this life

----------
*The 'shi' in 'itoshii kimi'(my darling) is written as '死'(death) here.
**What the girl is whispering isn't included in the original lyrics.

^ the idea is pretty awesome actually
 
Proud single over here too. I haven't find a single person yet i was interested into (neither sexually nor emotionally or mentally). And I like to be alone and having the whole day for myself. I guess that's also why I don't have many friends because too many people interferring in my daily plans would make me crazy. I also rather stay at home doing stuff than go to parties- except it's with one of my few but really good friends. But I'd hate to do things with a person who clinches me like a dog and where saying "I don't want to see you for the next 8 days" isn't so easy...
 
Or maybe I am just too egoistic, I don't know.

They won't stop until literally EVERY single japanese musician has covered a hide song, will they?
Next tribute album: 'hide TRIBUTE VIII -high school garage band SPIRITS-'

I almost forgot about this... good to see that it hasn't died and might be finished.

why do you think anyone here needs to see this giant dumb list of bands w/o any further information whatsoever

Money trouble or not, I still think the whole "if you don't buy our shit we will disband and that will make you hopefully regret to have not come to our lives" is shitty and immature. There are a lot of bands in visual kei and other genres who are broke as hell and they don't need to use this stupid marketing strategy.

GISHOOO *___* *fangirl mode activated*
I missed him too... he is one of my fav vk bassists. Good to see him back too!

Money trouble or not, I still think the whole "if you don't buy our shit we will disband and that will make you hopefully regret to have not come to our lives" is shitty and immature. There are a lot of bands in visual kei and other genres who are broke as hell and they don't need to use this stupid marketing strategy.

I never liked his voice anyway. Maybe its just his accent but his singing voice lacks any sort of feeling or dynamics, Its almost like hes just reading the lyrics off a peice of paper but in such a way that it sounds slightly musical

Sorry, I'm a little slow with the requests orz
Studying for university eats up all my time. However- Here is the first one!
 
http://youtu.be/hKKnxkXVjaI
 
eccentric marxist

寄生サレタ体ノ一部 取リ出シテ覗イテ
Kisei sareta karada no ichibu
One part of the infested body
Toridashite nozoite miru
I remove it, peek underneath and
ミルノソノ中 ハッキリトシタ夢？現実？
Sono naka hakkiri to shita yume?
What I see inside, is it a lucid dream?
Genjitsu?
Reality?
取リ出シタ体ノ一部 抜ケ殻ハアナタニ
Toridashita karada no ichibu
One removed part of the body
Nukegara wa anata ni ageru
アゲルノソノ中ハッキリトシタ夢？現実？
The flayed skin is for you
 Sono naka hakkiri to shita yume?
Inside of what I give you, is  it a lucid dream?
Genjitsu?
Reality?

ミ・エ・ナ・ク・テ・モ ト・ド・カ・ナ・ク・テ・モ
Mi・e・na・ku・te・mo
If・we・can't・see・it
To・do・ka・na・ku・te・mo
If・we・can't・reach・it

見世物の視覚的感情 あなたに渡せない物
Misemono no shikaku-teki kanjō
The visual sensation of things
Anata ni watasenai mono
Things that can't be carried over to you
空間の世界が合わせ合う あなたと一つになる為に
Kūkan no sekai ga awase au
The spatial world remoulds
Anata to hitotsu ni naru tame ni
In order to become one with you

未来は無くても気付けば 温もりの中で遠く
Mirai wa nakute mo kidzukeba
If you care if there's no future
nukumori no naka de tōku
Far away in the warmth
為すべき事も出来ずに 君がゆえにとても言えない
Nasubeki koto mo dekizu ni
Unable to do what you ought to
kimi ga yueni totemo ienai
You simply don't dare telling us
 
------
The 'marxism' in this song is mainly atheism. (Looking for a soul inside the body, questioning the existence of god altogether.) But there are also some references to materialism. (The visible things)
I think the text by Marx that might have inspired kon to write this are the theses on Feuerbach.

"sugs best song. this needs more views. i love the bass parts. omg they
look so cute and takeru's voice is amazing. this is so much better than
american music. GO JAPAN!!!!"
 
 
Youtube is the best website

ex-PENICILLIN Ba.GISHO has joined ライチ☆光クラブ(litchi hikari club) at 2013/09/21, and their new mini album "光ノ帝國(hikari no teikoku)" will be released at 2013/12/11 (3 TYPE)
 
limited edition TYPE A & B (2,480yen each) will include CD+DVD, and regular edition (1,980yen) will include CD only

Wut.
 
 

That blood pic reminds me very much of those hardxore "visus" from Liveyournal (back when this site wasn't a ship wreck). Sry, but it's just... nope.
 
And I hope it's at least ketchup and not period blood.

As long as Trombe doesn't disband, everything's fine

I think really the problem with singing in Japanese is you're stigmatizing and stereotyping your band. If you're going to form a VK band what kind of audience are you trying to appeal to anyway?
 
Western VK fans are probably going to hate you, Japanese fans aren't going to care unless you can actually get to Japan but good luck immigrating as a musician and so that leaves you with your local audience. Singing in Japanese will most likely alienate any potential listeners but that's if you're music is either worth listening to in the first place. Sing in your native language and if you have a rich daddy like Yohio that can get you signed to Universal Japan then sing in Japanese because you'll be singing to an audience that is relevant. I admit, when I saw the name Pinku Jiatsu I immediately thought it was going to be shit because they were dumb enough to name themselves that.
 
It's fine if you like singing in Japanese but leave that for karaoke. 
 
I agree that there's some bias hate towards these bands though, no denying that. If they were Japanese people would love them, stuff like Pinku Jiatsu could have been a DEViL KiTTY song and Romantica seems like something the Kote KKK would circlejerk all over. I don't think Sada's solo stuff is terrible at all and more Kote KKK circlejerk material, Jet Set Gypsies are really good except for the awkward silly Japanese verses and chin vaginas and I liked Abaddon and wished they had more music. 
 
Well don't listen to manufactured garbage like Visual Moon. There's probably loads of Mongolian folk influenced music but if you only just look at the over produced pop music you're going to have a bad time.

Despite the fact that I download a lot japanese music (other music not as much, because it's easier to get for me, except it's a discontinued release from 20 years ago that has never been re-released) I don't know so much about the laws and legal aspects of it. But I know that the copyright laws are very different. In the US the entertaiment industry tries any possible way to turn people into criminals so they can charge a shit load of money for having downloaded copyrighted material. I find it extremely exaggerated that even the FBI can arrest you and put into jail for downloading.
But then I am living in Austria, where, as far as I know, downloading music per se isn't forbidden, unless you intend to use the files for commercial purposes or you are plagiarizing it (which I too consider as the real act of "stealing music").
 
If I remember correctly I read a lot of articles about the whole "if people don't buy records, the music scene will die" argument. It's an argument brought up by the media industry since the triumphal march of the cassette, which as we all know made copying and sharing music and videos very easy. I guess anyone who is old enough to remember the time when taping and recording music or radio programs was popular may be familiar with these nice warning signs:
 

 
We all know that the music industry is still alive and very well and they survived the taping craze. Of course the internet is kind of a bigger dimension, because files aren't just shared with your best friends and their friends, the file can be accessed by billions of people. Popular music will spread quite fast. But I still don't believe the music industries condition is as worse as they claim to be. From what I can gather of articles in the net record sales declined already in 1999, so long before the whole file sharing thing dramatically exploded (which I think didn't happen until p2p and filesharing services became standard). And since one year the sales seem to rise again and (the interesting thing) partially due to people downloading from online shops like itunes.

I guess it just can't be said objectively how many damage or not downloading makes as the whole issue is a double edged sword: really popular artists like Lady Gaga don't really suffer from declining record sales, because there are still enough people who buy the music or there are enough people willing to pay 100$ or more for a concert ticket. Some may be even following their artist and visit several concerts. If Lady Gaga and her Label gain 20 billion or just 10 billion $ doesn't make such a difference- of course only for us, not so much for the profit lusting music industry.
But then you have to admit that those good earning superstars are an exception. The majority of bands and musicians are not rich and they don't earn that much money. So it makes a huge difference if the can get say 150.000 or only 50.000 $. (Vk groups of course make much less). Those numbers are just imaginary. I am not so familiar with the earnings of musicians, but you get the idea.
The problem however is, that the smaller the band, not only the less will the earn, but the more will they suffer from the money the label takes from them. So in most cases just buying more releases alone won't help. And if it's true what I have read a lot of labels even charge their bands for the stuff and merchandising they sell on tours. That's actually stealing, but what can you do? (or what choices do the bands have)?

So ultimately... downloading can be damaging, but it mustn't, and sometimes it's better to at least buy concert tickets or support the band otherwise than doing nothing. I know that coming from me sounds foolish though XD

Regarding VK music: I agree with what most here said. Visual kei isn't really meant to be marketed for foreign fans. I'd say that this isn't even an "issue" concerning visual kei, basically anything from japan, except maybe video games and electronic devices, never surface outside the island, may be fashion, make up or any music (vk, as well as pop or rock music). I believe Japan doesn't really care for us mostly white weaboos as much as we do for their culture. Also notable is that japanese fans don't even want foreigners to drool over their Vk stuff. If you don't live in Japan and aren't able to go to the live yourself than that's your problem. Even if you ask nicely the japanese fans probably won't share the live distros with you. Of course that's also because they can't speak English so well, but I am sure they just don't give a fuck about us too.
Also I doubt japanese record sales are so heavily influenced by sharing the stuff. Yeah, some japanese people will download them as well, but some of the truly hardcore fans are still buying everything or they are still visiting the lives and buy lots of chekis, photosets and so on. (and Vk bands actually make more profit with those than with records)

Lastly... I have to thank the Vk filesharing community. The first Visual kei records I owned were bought myself, when Vk became "trendy" and cool here in europe and Gan-shin would distribute some artists here. But I didn't really get into the thing until I discovered the old school shit on blogs like Evil en Lucifer. There would have been no way at that time to find it otherwise, let alone buy it. I still don't have enough money to buy me everything i have on my wishlists and most of the stuff is hard to get. So blogs like these were really helpful. And I guess I will continue to share the old stuff I buy- in hope that people can get access of good rips instead of the 128 kps files floating around and because I think people need to check those groups out.
I am not so fond of new vk, but I guess the principle is similar. Many people just want to share so people who don't have the money to order the CDs can still get to hear the band. Japanese CDs are really expensive for us foreigners, especially if shipping options are stupid and you are unlucky and have to pay custom fees.

Despite the fact that I download a lot japanese music (other music not as much, because it's easier to get for me, except it's a discontinued release from 20 years ago that has never been re-released) I don't know so much about the laws and legal aspects of it. But I know that the copyright laws are very different. In the US the entertaiment industry tries any possible way to turn people into criminals so they can charge a shit load of money for having downloaded copyrighted material. I find it extremely exaggerated that even the FBI can arrest you and put into jail for downloading.
But then I am living in Austria, where, as far as I know, downloading music per se isn't forbidden, unless you intend to use the files for commercial purposes or you are plagiarizing it (which I too consider as the real act of "stealing music").
 
If I remember correctly I read a lot of articles about the whole "if people don't buy records, the music scene will die" argument. It's an argument brought up by the media industry since the triumphal march of the cassette, which as we all know made copying and sharing music and videos very easy. I guess anyone who is old enough to remember the time when taping and recording music or radio programs was popular may be familiar with these nice warning signs:
 

 
We all know that the music industry is still alive and very well and they survived the taping craze. Of course the internet is kind of a bigger dimension, because files aren't just shared with your best friends and their friends, the file can be accessed by billions of people. Popular music will spread quite fast. But I still don't believe the music industries condition is as worse as they claim to be. From what I can gather of articles in the net record sales declined already in 1999, so long before the whole file sharing thing dramatically exploded (which I think didn't happen until p2p and filesharing services became standard). And since one year the sales seem to rise again and (the interesting thing) partially due to people downloading from online shops like itunes.

I guess it just can't be said objectively how many damage or not downloading makes as the whole issue is a double edged sword: really popular artists like Lady Gaga don't really suffer from declining record sales, because there are still enough people who buy the music or there are enough people willing to pay 100$ or more for a concert ticket. Some may be even following their artist and visit several concerts. If Lady Gaga and her Label gain 20 billion or just 10 billion $ doesn't make such a difference- of course only for us, not so much for the profit lusting music industry.
But then you have to admit that those good earning superstars are an exception. The majority of bands and musicians are not rich and they don't earn that much money. So it makes a huge difference if the can get say 150.000 or only 50.000 $. (Vk groups of course make much less). Those numbers are just imaginary. I am not so familiar with the earnings of musicians, but you get the idea.
The problem however is, that the smaller the band, not only the less will the earn, but the more will they suffer from the money the label takes from them. So in most cases just buying more releases alone won't help. And if it's true what I have read a lot of labels even charge their bands for the stuff and merchandising they sell on tours. That's actually stealing, but what can you do? (or what choices do the bands have)?

So ultimately... downloading can be damaging, but it mustn't, and sometimes it's better to at least buy concert tickets or support the band otherwise than doing nothing. I know that coming from me sounds foolish though XD

Regarding VK music: I agree with what most here said. Visual kei isn't really meant to be marketed for foreign fans. I'd say that this isn't even an "issue" concerning visual kei, basically anything from japan, except maybe video games and electronic devices, never surface outside the island, may be fashion, make up or any music (vk, as well as pop or rock music). I believe Japan doesn't really care for us mostly white weaboos as much as we do for their culture. Also notable is that japanese fans don't even want foreigners to drool over their Vk stuff. If you don't live in Japan and aren't able to go to the live yourself than that's your problem. Even if you ask nicely the japanese fans probably won't share the live distros with you. Of course that's also because they can't speak English so well, but I am sure they just don't give a fuck about us too.
Also I doubt japanese record sales are so heavily influenced by sharing the stuff. Yeah, some japanese people will download them as well, but some of the truly hardcore fans are still buying everything or they are still visiting the lives and buy lots of chekis, photosets and so on. (and Vk bands actually make more profit with those than with records)

Lastly... I have to thank the Vk filesharing community. The first Visual kei records I owned were bought myself, when Vk became "trendy" and cool here in europe and Gan-shin would distribute some artists here. But I didn't really get into the thing until I discovered the old school shit on blogs like Evil en Lucifer. There would have been no way at that time to find it otherwise, let alone buy it. I still don't have enough money to buy me everything i have on my wishlists and most of the stuff is hard to get. So blogs like these were really helpful. And I guess I will continue to share the old stuff I buy- in hope that people can get access of good rips instead of the 128 kps files floating around and because I think people need to check those groups out.
I am not so fond of new vk, but I guess the principle is similar. Many people just want to share so people who don't have the money to order the CDs can still get to hear the band. Japanese CDs are really expensive for us foreigners, especially if shipping options are stupid and you are unlucky and have to pay custom fees.

Despite the fact that I download a lot japanese music (other music not as much, because it's easier to get for me, except it's a discontinued release from 20 years ago that has never been re-released) I don't know so much about the laws and legal aspects of it. But I know that the copyright laws are very different. In the US the entertaiment industry tries any possible way to turn people into criminals so they can charge a shit load of money for having downloaded copyrighted material. I find it extremely exaggerated that even the FBI can arrest you and put into jail for downloading.
But then I am living in Austria, where, as far as I know, downloading music per se isn't forbidden, unless you intend to use the files for commercial purposes or you are plagiarizing it (which I too consider as the real act of "stealing music").
 
If I remember correctly I read a lot of articles about the whole "if people don't buy records, the music scene will die" argument. It's an argument brought up by the media industry since the triumphal march of the cassette, which as we all know made copying and sharing music and videos very easy. I guess anyone who is old enough to remember the time when taping and recording music or radio programs was popular may be familiar with these nice warning signs:
 

 
We all know that the music industry is still alive and very well and they survived the taping craze. Of course the internet is kind of a bigger dimension, because files aren't just shared with your best friends and their friends, the file can be accessed by billions of people. Popular music will spread quite fast. But I still don't believe the music industries condition is as worse as they claim to be. From what I can gather of articles in the net record sales declined already in 1999, so long before the whole file sharing thing dramatically exploded (which I think didn't happen until p2p and filesharing services became standard). And since one year the sales seem to rise again and (the interesting thing) partially due to people downloading from online shops like itunes.

I guess it just can't be said objectively how many damage or not downloading makes as the whole issue is a double edged sword: really popular artists like Lady Gaga don't really suffer from declining record sales, because there are still enough people who buy the music or there are enough people willing to pay 100$ or more for a concert ticket. Some may be even following their artist and visit several concerts. If Lady Gaga and her Label gain 20 billion or just 10 billion $ doesn't make such a difference- of course only for us, not so much for the profit lusting music industry.
But then you have to admit that those good earning superstars are an exception. The majority of bands and musicians are not rich and they don't earn that much money. So it makes a huge difference if the can get say 150.000 or only 50.000 $. (Vk groups of course make much less). Those numbers are just imaginary. I am not so familiar with the earnings of musicians, but you get the idea.
The problem however is, that the smaller the band, not only the less will the earn, but the more will they suffer from the money the label takes from them. So in most cases just buying more releases alone won't help. And if it's true what I have read a lot of labels even charge their bands for the stuff and merchandising they sell on tours. That's actually stealing, but what can you do? (or what choices do the bands have)?

So ultimately... downloading can be damaging, but it mustn't, and sometimes it's better to at least buy concert tickets or support the band otherwise than doing nothing. I know that coming from me sounds foolish though XD

Regarding VK music: I agree with what most here said. Visual kei isn't really meant to be marketed for foreign fans. I'd say that this isn't even an "issue" concerning visual kei, basically anything from japan, except maybe video games and electronic devices, never surface outside the island, may be fashion, make up or any music (vk, as well as pop or rock music). I believe Japan doesn't really care for us mostly white weaboos as much as we do for their culture. Also notable is that japanese fans don't even want foreigners to drool over their Vk stuff. If you don't live in Japan and aren't able to go to the live yourself than that's your problem. Even if you ask nicely the japanese fans probably won't share the live distros with you. Of course that's also because they can't speak English so well, but I am sure they just don't give a fuck about us too.
Also I doubt japanese record sales are so heavily influenced by sharing the stuff. Yeah, some japanese people will download them as well, but some of the truly hardcore fans are still buying everything or they are still visiting the lives and buy lots of chekis, photosets and so on. (and Vk bands actually make more profit with those than with records)

Lastly... I have to thank the Vk filesharing community. The first Visual kei records I owned were bought myself, when Vk became "trendy" and cool here in europe and Gan-shin would distribute some artists here. But I didn't really get into the thing until I discovered the old school shit on blogs like Evil en Lucifer. There would have been no way at that time to find it otherwise, let alone buy it. I still don't have enough money to buy me everything i have on my wishlists and most of the stuff is hard to get. So blogs like these were really helpful. And I guess I will continue to share the old stuff I buy- in hope that people can get access of good rips instead of the 128 kps files floating around and because I think people need to check those groups out.
I am not so fond of new vk, but I guess the principle is similar. Many people just want to share so people who don't have the money to order the CDs can still get to hear the band. Japanese CDs are really expensive for us foreigners, especially if shipping options are stupid and you are unlucky and have to pay custom fees.