Idk where to put this or how to title it... sorry mods! But I came across an old thread (Wtf is Ains), and thought I'd dump a short history of Yukika/Ains. Only it turned out to be way longer than I expected, and had some crossover with non-Ains labels. So... I thought I'd dump it in the general section. Maybe this can turn into a general discussion of vk labels? (Didn't see anything similar extant when I searched.) Anyway, here:
Yukika (雪花) is a dude who was vocalist of a band called ETCETERA (エトセトラ). They were on their own label, called ● drop cafe, which I think he owned. Later, they joined a bigger label called ● CLIMAX ENTERPRISE.
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Yayoi (弥生) is a dude who was in the bands Vice†risk and La'miss fairy, among many others. Back in the day, he owned a label called ● Eternal, which was in turn a sublabel of KISAKI's ● Matina label.
Eventually, ● Matina closed, and so did ● Eternal. Later―around the same time that KISAKI opened his new label ● UNDER CODE PRODUCTION―Yayoi opened a new label called ● CLIMAX ENTERPRISE.
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ETCETERA eventually disbands, and ● CLIMAX ENTERPRISE closes, whatever. Afterward, Yukika forms a band called Fils, but they operate without a label and disband pretty quickly. Yukika then forms the band CLUTCH (クラッチ) under his own record label, ● Culminate Screen.
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● Culminate Screen mostly had shitty bands, but there was this one group called CATHELINE (キャサリン)... They got a little popularity, jumped ship to Speed-disk, and became R-18, then R-15, then R Shitei (R指定).
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CLUTCH disbands, ● Culminate Screen closes, whatever. Yukika keeps at it, forms a new band called Buddy, and starts a new label, ● A heretic sound music.. Here's where it starts getting interesting:
Yukika gets lucky, and signs this band called ALSDEAD to his label. Somehow, they get a little popular, and he's probably making money from his label for the first time ever. Meanwhile, this little band called Valluna (ヴァルナ) starts hanging out around label (without actually joining), so that's pretty cool.
Cut to late 2009. Remember that Yayoi guy, the president of the label that Yukika's band ETCETERA used to be on? Yeah, that guy suddenly has a new label called ● FIREBALL―which has no artists, btw―and Yukika slides ● A heretic sound music. right in there as a sublabel of ● FIREBALL. That's definitely some tax evasion shit, right?
Like 3 minutes later, ALSDEAD mysteriously announces that they're “graduating” from ● A heretic sound music.. The next month, Yukika's like, “Hey guys, ● A heretic sound music. is closing.” (Haq;ch. and Navir, the two unsuccessful bands on the label, are just left to fend for themselves.) But don't worry! Yukika has formed a new label: ● Galaxy, which is also a sublabel of ● FIREBALL. (Yukika even co-sponsors one-day revivals of ● Eternal and ● CLIMAX ENTERPRISE with Yayoi, 'cause they're totes great friends now.)
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Btw, did you catch that? He transforms his label into a sublabel, then immediately closes it and forms a new sublabel under the same company. He keeps the one band who was somewhat successful, and drops off the other two in some barren desert somewhere. That's definitely some tax wizardry, right? Or maybe just a cute way to end those other bands' contracts?
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So ● Galaxy is here, and they've got the somewhat successful ALSDEAD band. Then, surprise surprise, Valluna (ヴァルナ) joins ● Galaxy.
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ALSDEAD was, like, doing pretty good. But right after their first release through ● Galaxy, they jumped ship to their own label, ● CTA Works ('cause they're assholes?). ● Danger Crue scooped them up after, which is a pretty big deal, 'cause, like... ● Danger Crue isn't major, but it's as close as most visual bands will ever get, and it has major distribution through ● SONY. It seems like they really fell off after that, but maybe that's just in the overseas community.
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That Valluna (ヴァルナ) band is doing well, like really well. Which, in the VK world, means it's time for a disbandment. So, Valluna (ヴァルナ) disbands, and the important members immediately come back as DIAURA.
DIAURA is doing super well; so much so that their album is distributed by the major label ● CROWN, which is rare for a tiny label like ● Galaxy. So Yukika and Yayaoi must be dragging home small bags of money every day, which is great. But eventually, Yukika gets smart, and is like “fuck this, I want all the bags of money”; so in early 2012, mentions of something called ● Ains start springing up. ● Galaxy is still publishing releases and sponsoring lives, but this ● Ains thing is being mentioned too.
Smash cut to March of 2012, and ● Galaxy has, like, lowkey disappeared, and all of DIAURA's activities are going through ● Ains now. Considering ● FIREBALL seemed to only ever be a shell company for ● Galaxy, I guess it closed too.
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I wanna talk about Yayoi some more.
Way back in 1979 (supposedly), some dude founded an entertainment company called EXCEL. That dude turns out to be Yayoi's father! In the 90s, ● EXCEL RECORDS released some omnibus CDs featuring Yayoi's then-current band, ANGEL DUST. (KISAKI's band, MIRAGE, was also on those CDs, so I guess that's how KISAKI and Yayoi hooked up, which lead to KISAKI giving Yayoi the ● Eternal sublabel of ● Matina.)
Anyway, around the time when Yukika closed ● Galaxy and formed ● Ains, EXCEL was reorganized into ● EXCEL ENTERTAINMENT, with Yayoi as the new president. The new ● EXCEL ENTERTAINMENT has had several clients―including KISAKI and some people from bands belonging to ● Eternal/● CLIMAX ENTERPRISE―but the company doesn't actually do anything, as far as I can tell. I guess it acts as a talent agency, but all of its clients are already being managed by record labels, so what's the point?
More recently, Yayoi formed the new record label ROCKSTAR RECORDS. (And, of course, all of that label's artists are simultaneously signed with ● EXCEL ENTERTAINMENT.)
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Ok, ok, it's 2012, ● Ains exists as its own entity, and DIAURA is helping Yukika drag home bags of money, which he gets to keep to himself this time. Now that he's making Trump Checks™, Yukika can afford to sign a new act, so he snipes people from the band RELOAD (リロード) to form Grieva (グリーヴァ). Just for shits and giggles, they're on their own ● Ains sublabel called ● MadWink.. (I truly assumed that ● MadWink. was created just for aesthetic reasons, but maybe it's some weird tax evasion thing too, idk.)
Grieva (グリーヴァ) is literally (literally, kids) a Dir en grey cover band (with other influences thrown in there, but it's mostly Deg), but they're like, killin' it. So Yukika tries to strike lightning twice, and creates a GAZETTE (ガゼット) cover band, Gossip (ゴシップ), also under the ● MadWink. sublabel. At the same time, KUROYURI TO KAGE (黒百合と影) forms under a different ● Ains sublabel called ● yamikakumei (闇革命). (Again, I assume the sublabel is for aesthetic purposes.)
Soon after, Grieva, Gossip, and KUROYURI TO KAGE release a coupling CD which is published by ● UNIVERSAL MUSIC. (This doesn't mean they're major, or that they left ● Ains. I'd assume it's probably some sort of test for ● UNIVERSAL MUSIC to see if they want to deal with ● Ains more in the future.)
Now, here's the most recent weirdness:
Some new band MEDIENA (メディーナ) appears, and they give off major “● Ains vibes”―in the sense that their graphic design is clearly done by the ● Ains graphic designer, and their release schedule is put together in a way that's similar to ● Ains bands. They're also always playing at ● Ains lives, but they clearly state that they're on a label called ● V-eyes RECORDS, which has nothing to do with ● Ains. ...Or does it? When their release was put up on iTunes, the publisher was listed as ● Ains; so I guess that explains that, lol. I personally consider ● V-eyes RECORDS to be a “secret sublabel” of ● Ains, though I have no official statement to back that up, and can't give a reason why they'd do that (tax stuff?).
There's also a new band called MALISEND, whom some people assumed to belong to ● Ains. I actually think that's wrong, at least when they formed.
Early on, MALISEND was clearly not using the ● Ains graphic designer, and their first releases were not announced in the same way that ● Ains releases are (ie. not using the same marketing staff). Also, tbh, their first look was not up to ● Ains quality. And finally, I want to mention that their first releases were completely independent (independent UPC & no label listed). However, their most recent release was through a new label called ● Culminate―and was published by ● Ains, according to Brand X. So, in my opinion, MALISEND did not form under ● Ains (like MEDIENA probably did), but is now signed to another “secret sublabel” of ● Ains. (Might the name ● Culminate be a tribute to Yukika's early label, ● Culminate Screen?)
And here we are
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To recap...
Yukika forms drop cafe
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Yukika's band joins CLIMAX ENTERPRISE
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Yukika forms Culminate Screen
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Yukika forms A heretic sound music.
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Yukika meets up with Yayoi, the former president of CLIMAX ENTERPRISE
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Yayoi forms FIREBALL, and Yukika transforms A heretic sound music. to a sublabel of FIREBALL
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Yukika closes A heretic sound music. and makes a new FIREBALL sublabel called Galaxy
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Yukika forms a new, standalone label called Ains
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Yukika transfers DIAURA to Ains and closes A heretic sound music., and Yayoi goes to EXCEL ENTERTAINMENT
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Yukika makes an Ains sublabel, MadWink., for Grieva
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Gossip joins the sublabel MadWink.
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KUROYURI TO KAGE joins the new Ains sublabel, yamikakumei
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Grieva, Gossip, and KUROYURI TO KAGE release a coupling CD which is published/distributed by UNIVERSAL (but they're not major)
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MEDIENA forms under an unofficial/secret Ains sublabel, V-eyes RECORDS
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MALISEND forms independently, but joins what might be another unofficial/secret Ains sublabel, Culminate
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Idk, I hope that was enlightening or entertaining to someone! Please let me know if you have any comments or corrections!
I've always found the world of VK record labels to be really fascinating. KISAKI's label history is deliciously convoluted, but I think Yukika actually beats him out, lol.
