cvltic

Hello

In this blog post I'm going to reflect on the financial situation of bandmen.

Firstly, do-minor bands. A do-minor band is one about our size.
Did you think we were do-do-do-do-minor? Shut up!

First off, to do a live there's something called a ticket quota. It's used for performance fees. It depends on the event but a common one is a 5 ticket quota, where after 11 you get 50% back. Basically if tickets are 3000 yen and you can't get anyone in for your band you pay 15,000 yen. A 10 quota is common too, that's 30,0000 yen. That's the gist of it anyway.

If we ask how many fans a do-minor band can bring it's probably about 20 at most. So around 5-15. Let's say 10 for this example. I don't know how many it is for the bands you follow but try to apply this somehow. [With 10], you'll meet the quota but you won't get anything back. And since you also have to pay equipment expenses and makeup, it's minus about 20,000 yen. Split that among 5 and it's negative 4000 yen.

But if you have 10 then let's suppose 2 are your fans and they each buy 5 of your cheki. Cheki are about 500 yen, so for a do-minor that's about +5000 yen. +1,000 yen. For one live, hm, it's pretty rough, isn't it.

You wouldn't think you could make a living and when it's like this well you really can't. If your fans decrease you'll always be in the red. I've been doing this about 3 years but I feel like once you're in the red the band can't go on.

Next we'll take a do-minor that's doing pretty okay, let's say 20 fans. You get 50% back after 11 [tickets], so you get half of 10 tickets back, that's 15,000 yen. Oops, minus your equipment expenses. You're at -500 yen. Well actually, sometimes you'll get money back after the 6th ticket, but let's suppose we're getting money back after 11. If you have 4 fans, and they each buy 5 cheki, that's 10,000 yen! 9,500 yen in the black! Oh! You've made the same amount you could make from a day at a part-time job! But well, even if you work hard you can't make a living off this.

Next we'll talk about famous bands. You might be thinking shouldn't minor band be next?! but doing all the calculations is a pain so for minor bands you can just ad 20,000 or 30,000 yen. (Half-assed calculations)

I won't name names but hey. For independent bands, everyone goes to see ones that that have a hot vocalist. How much do they draw in at a multi-band event? 50-80? Let's say 50. In this case you'll probably get 100% back after 20. So 50% back from 10 tickets and 100% back from 30 tickets. About 105,000 yen. If you have this many fans your equipment fees are probably free so I'll subtract the make up fees. 90,000 yen in the black.

Probably if you're known in the scene this will go to producing and promoting your future releases but well, split among 5 that's 18,000 yen. If we assume each member has 10 fans and they buy 10 cheki, that's plus 25,000 for 43,000 yen. Hoho, you could make quite a bit if you did close to 10 shows a month! The dream is alive!

Next is if you belong to a label. The calculation are the same but I think the wages returned to the members are pretty low and I don't really know how much you can get from a famous one.

If you have a tsunagari on a famous label then tell me.

Then even bigger bands, like one where the bassist is handsome, well they're probably on a label. I don't know their salary so if you're their tsunagari let me know. My conjecture is 350,000 to 400,000 a month plus royalties.

Next, bands on massive labels. Ones that everyone seems to know. [Pre-edit text: Like PS Company or EUCLID.] Well they're probably making quite a bit on such big labels. If you're a tsunagari with someone famous let me know. I imagine 500,000 to 700,000 plush royalties for the lyricist and composer.

I imagine at the level of bands who are a hot topic would exceed 1,000,000 or such but I'm just guessing for labels!! [Pre-edit text: Bands who play in coniferous forests would exceeed 1,000,000 or such but I'm just guessing for labels!!]

Sorry! I have no idea! Tell me!!  And I'll write about it again!!

Well, what I'm trying to say is that if you don't buy goods that it's more difficult for us than you might imagine. If the average person only spends 2,500 yen this is how it is. Even if there's a slight difference in the money back  system I don't think it changes things much. I used to not buy goods except towels, but you should spend money on the bands you really love. That money might help them appear in better events if they can print advertisements with it. If you have money, use it. High schoolers, study so you can make money in the future. If you're addicted to host clubs, spend a little on bands.

Talking about this, hoho, did you think "bandmen don't seem to make much but my favorite spends money on equipment, so he must have a rich mitsu"?? Stop thinking like that. Surely his family is rich. That or he won the lottery. Support him.

That's about it卍
卍I await your information about salaries卍

This is ryuusei.
I'm going to talk about this series of controversies.
Firstly, about the apology: you guys really criticized me about seeming like I didn't really want to apologize.
Truthfully, I didn't. I had to be because the other members told me to.
Well, it was the will of the band, because they're decent guys.
But now I'll write as I please.

First about the original tweet, I was tweeting about netogya.
I meant that netogya say disbandments are sad but netogya don't go to lives, so they should.

I think it was probably misinterpreted as me telling the fans to spend more or we might disband, meaning that fans have to spend their money.
I was talking about netogya so I don't get all this criticism where people are telling me to appreciate my fans, I do appreciate them.

I also don't get why even though I was saying it's ONE reason for disbandment that everyone's taking to mean it's the ONLY reason.
Even though I apologized for being misunderstood and this thing turning into a big deal, I thought it was weird because this is something that is acknowledged.
It's a misunderstanding.
I'm sorry I phrased it poorly and wrote something that could be misunderstood.
And I'm really sorry that I caused trouble for the fans and my bandmates who felt the repercussions of that.

About the blog post, everyone is like oh don't diss this band or involve them in this but I was just giving some conjectures about how much they made.
Everyone guesses the salaries of celebrities on TV programs so I don't get what's so bad about that.
But the facts are that putting specific names out there displeased people so I deleted the parts where you could figure out the band or label.
Sorry if you found it unpleasant.
That's all.

I'm going to write the rest in my usual way. About this whole controversy, I've always been trying to garner controversy with my tweets but since this one was caused by a misunderstanding it's not so great.
I've been exposed a lot, you guys are wild. Even my address. How did you find that?
Well, whatever. If you order 100 pizzas to my place you might get reported for obstructing business so stop that.
I don't really care about it but my grandma is going to lose it (lol)
The people taking advantage of this to expose me are wild. About the exposed DMs, I'm not seeing those girls now.
Expose me after you meet me. It's fine to expose pictures of my face too but at least use an app that makes me look good.
And don't post my dick. No one's taken a picture of it so it's probably fine, though.
I'm not going to counter-expose you even if you expose me nor will I go to the police so don't worry!

One last thing
it's not nose hair, it's a shadow!

The Changes in VK's History & Like an Edison

H: Firstly, for our readers who may not be familiar with the genre, I've summarized the history and bands in an incredibly simplified manner... But during which period did VK see the greatest sales?
M: You're giving me a tough one right off the bat, huh...


[The Big Four is indicated as MALICE MIZER, La'cryma Christi, FANATIC CRISIS and SHAZNA.)

M: I started working at this store in the early 2000s, but the VK scene in the late 90s during the Big Four days was incredible, so I would say it was then.
H: That has to be it. At the time there were programs such as "BreakOut!" that only showcased VK bands on broadcast television. To your memory, whose song sold the most CDs in this store?
M: Gotta be Nightmare's major debut song, "-Believe-". I remember it sold about 10,000 copies at this store alone.
H: Mea! That's certainly amazing to sell that much at one store! Nightmare is one of the representative bands of the neo-visual kei era.
M: "-Believe-" had multiple jacket types, so maybe there were lots of people who wanted to collect them all.
H: I see. Has there been a change in visual kei bands and their fans between then and now?
M: The band names are different now.
H: Band names? When I was a bangya in the 90s it was an accepted theory that there were too many bands who started with ra-ri-ru-re-ro: "LUNA SEA", "La'cryma", "Lareine", "Lastier". Is it different now?
M: It is. Take a look at this shelf. Now we trend towards sa-shi-su-se-so bands. "SuG", "Sid", "Sibile Bashir", "Sutaaku.", "Thirteen (Saatiin)" and so on.
H: Whoa! It's true, the sa-shi-su-se-so section is huge. I wasn't aware that there were trends in bands names depending on the era as well.

H: On what criteria do you define VK when handling releases at Likea? Do you have discussions debating if a band is VK or not?
M: We have fairly clear criteria for that. We decide based on:

-The band calling themselves VK

-The live houses they're active at being purveyors of VK (Takadanobaba AREA, Ikebukuro CYBER and the like)
-If bangya/gyao seem to accept them or not
-If the record company sells them as VK

So I think it's easy to understand.
H: When you mention criteria like the livehouses they're active at, I agree! I see!


How Likea Has Survived 20 Years as a VK Specialty Shop

H: Did Likea start as a VK specialty shop?
M: No, we originally were a shop that primarily dealt in UK Rock under the name UK Edison. So, while very rarely, sometime we'll have guests in their 50s visiting and asking if this was a UK rock store.
H: You used to not be a VK shop...! If an older man who liked UK Rock came here now he'd certainly be shocked if it was like this.

H: Our current era is one where CDs and music struggle to get sales, right? Honestly, how are the sales here at Likea, which specializes in the niche market of VK? Are they not in decline?
M: Right. Likea's style seems to be counter to the current flow of the music business... Our sales aren't dropping off suddenly, we're maintaining relatively stable sales.

H: Longstanding 'all-genre' CD stores are shrinking or vanishing, so why is Likea doing well despite only carrying VK...?
M: Since you were a bangya I think you know, but there are VK specialty shops now than ever before, and this isn't limited to our stores. I think that's your answer in a way.
H: Certainly... there's more VK stores than when I was young like Little Hearts and Jishuban Club... Is the secret to success being a specialty shop in itself? Tell me more!
M: If all we did was stock CDs, our stores wouldn't be making sales either. At Likea there's been a tradition of purchasing CDs along with experiences where fans can come into contact with the bands of their choice and interact with them.
H: I see! The contact in so-called in-store events not generally held at large record shops, store unique CD bonuses, handshake meets and more is the key to the continued success of specialty shops, right?

Only at the Store! Behind the Scenes of In-store Events

H: This might be a doltish question, but for in-stores, do you rent the store for a given amount for one hour? If so, does that mean it's possible for anyone to hold an event if they wanted to?
M: Generally we don't rent by the hour. Also while there's an in-store, it's a bother to those who've come just to buy CDs. It's important to balance the pros and cons.
H: I see. But in-stores make the dream to get close to an artist come true... I remember being 18 and lining up for a "Raphael" handshake meet at Likea... I believe there's many types of in-store, are they planned by the store?
M: Sometimes, but more often they're planned by the artist and their management.
H: I see! In the case of Likea, the "Shimamura Outfit Contest" event by "Belle" caught some attention, right? Are there any other bands who are great at planning, or who always do something interesting?
M: Without a doubt, that's "Ensoku".

M: The two especially impressive Ensoku in-stores held here in the past are:
-The "kisu" through saran wrap meet
-The kabe-don photomeet
H: Hm? They both seem nice but typical, I don't really see what's so interesting...
M: That's the best part. For the "kisu through saran wrap" meet, participants went into the booth one at a time, and there would be an inevitable girly shriek from inside, which the people lined up would hear as well.
H: Well, if it were me, getting a kiss from an artist I like would mess me up, even through saran wrap.
M: No, what was really happening in the booth is they'd press a "kisu" (smelt-whiting) fish to the participant's cheek. It was a literal kisu through saran wrap... I think you heard more cries of anguish than joy.



H: So then the kabe-don photomeet...

M: This was also done in booths, but you'd take photos with the artist as they were hitting the wall so it went DON!
H: So it was something like that...
M: How do they come up with that? I'm always impressed with Ensoku.
H: I bet. I want to try going. In-store event and bonuses differ by shop, so I figured they were fully planned by the stores, but artists also devise different events and bonuses for each shop... amazing...
 

The Normalization of In-store Events and the Future of Like an Edison

H: There are events where you take photos with the members as well, but are they different from how they used to be?
M: It used to be that you couldn't take photos with cellphones and you had to use a digital camera. Because it's VK, a beautiful photograph was important. In the days where they could only take low quality pictures, cellphone cameras weren't allowed. How nostalgic...
H: Beauty certainly was important. I was definitely told only digital cameras were allowed back in the day... Changes because of cellphone capabilities... those were the days.

H: When did in-stores start to take off?
M: There's been more since the 2010s. Before, the more successful the band, the fewer in-stores, but thankfully now there's many bands who continue to do them even if they sell to the point where they can play one-mans in big halls, so I feel like in-stores have become a must.
H: It's nice to be close to the artist, but as someone who supported artists as untouchable beings back in the day, I have mixed feelings about it.
M: There might be that aspect too. Now artists reply on Twitter and such so I feel like there's more fans who treat artists as friends.
H: Due to the growth of SNS, the distance between bands and their fans is much smaller than it used to be. And on top of that, there are more in-stores. This is the current situation around VK. What do you think about future developments?
M: Of course I'll continue to support bands who actively work on in-stores and bonuses, as I have up until now. But there are bands who can't do in-stores for whatever reason, and simply produce good music.
H: Right!
M: I want to bring those artists to light and expose them to bangya and gyao. I'd like to keep creating more of those kinds of opportunities in the future.
H: Speaking in concrete terms, how do you plan to do that?
M: For example, we're sponsoring an event called "Likea the Live" in various places.
 

M: For Likea, we're very focused on the artist lineup even for these kinds of live events. Livening up the VK scene is connected to the future of the store, so I want to undertake more and more varied plans. 
H: Making it 20 years while specializing in VK is a result of love for this scene, plans that delight fans, and constant investment in the future, isn't it... These secrets to success might be wise not just in VK but in the field of entertainment as a whole.

(At the end is Matsumoto's best of VK  -- old man alert tbh
X JAPAN - "BLUE BLOOD"
Pierrot - "Pandora no Hako"
Laputa - "Kakera"
Dir en grey - "GAUZE"
MASCHERA - "iNTERFACE"
PENICILLIN - "VIBE∞")