YuyoDrift

This might be obvious, but for some people it helps to go to a different environment. Go to the library and use their PC instead of your laptop, if you don't already. It might help you focus in on the task and spend some hours on it.
 
Other than that, this is how I dealt with it: freak out for a little bit, take a deep breath, then do it.

Need to dev on Windows because of an issue with my wireless card on Arch Linux.
 

Early ガゼット is golden. Glad to see there are still fans who enjoy that era of their music. ガゼット < the GazettE any day of the year.

Perfection.

After seeing a vocalist chuck a water bottle at the crowd, to then be picked up, unscrewed, and viciously tounged in an amorous fashion by a fan who got hit with it, I don't think anything surprises me anymore. Lol.

Do I save either one of them, or throw them both under the bus? Not sure yet.
 

I actually predicted this haha, but I will admit that I didn't predict they would call it an album.
I went ahead and skipped their TRIGGER EP and their CREATURE single because I had a feeling they would offer "a compilation" with all these tracks later.
Guess I'll order this one.
 
 

lynch. will release a new album called "SINNERS - no one can fake my blood -" on April 25, 2018
 
TRACKLIST:
1. SIN
2. SORROW
3. BLØOD 
4. BLACK OUT DESTROY
5.KALEIDO
6. THE WHIRL
7.CREATURE
8.DIES IRAE
9. TRIGGER 
 
The YouTube preview is already up!
 wdks

I actually predicted this haha, but I will admit that I didn't predict they would call it an album.
I went ahead and skipped their TRIGGER EP and their CREATURE single because I had a feeling they would offer "a compilation" with all these tracks later.
Guess I'll order this one.
 
 

I actually predicted this haha, but I will admit that I didn't predict they would call it an album.
I went ahead and skipped their TRIGGER EP and their CREATURE single because I had a feeling they would offer "a compilation" with all these tracks later.
Guess I'll order this one.
 
 

No proxies needed, you're good to go

can't live without porn ;v

I'm enjoying the read guys.
I can relate to a ton of your points.
 
When I first started downloading shitty Japanese 128kbps albums online (like many OGs on here it seems), I did it because I was a kid first off haha.
I downloaded everything I could listen to because I was in love with Japanese music, and it sounded so great to me. I went out of my way and got a ton of my friends hooked, and played it nonstop in the car, at school, and made mixtape after mixtape of the songs I enjoyed. This defined my future with music.
I never knew how to get my hands on the actual CD's though, but that was not necessary because the point of file-sharing was so that I didn't have to.
 
Now I want to clarify: This was music I could not get outside of the USA, or was harder to obtain/process of finding it was too much effort than it needed to be.
I had the means to buy local, and I always did.
Why try and waste hours of my day trying to get the latest Linkin Park CD for free, when I could just go to the store and buy it in 10 minutes?
 
Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I appreciate file-sharing for what it is.
I have never taken it for granted, and it led to the beautiful discovery of other genres of music that would have been wayyyyy out of my budget at the time.
Did that mean that I was never deserving of listening to all that music in the first place? I think that's a terrible way of looking at it.
I feel that I've paid my respects by playing the artists music until my ears bleed, and I'm returning those efforts made by the uploaders by contributing what I can and preserving VK for those who join tomorrow through Monochrome Heaven as a moderator.
I try and buy the releases that I can when they are reasonably priced. I feel that along with others who have stated here, there has to be an agreement to lower the cost of the media to us internationally.
 
Also, the consensus seems to be that since its 2018, the music industry needs to step their game up, and make their music more available to the masses.
I completely agree.
Had streaming services existed back in the 90's, I think I would have gone that route, as listening to the music was my main goal.
At the same time, I would not be as tech savvy as I am now (and I wouldn't have pursued a career in Information Security) and the process of file sharing to have not existed would mean that I would never have stumbled across the sites, the people, and the music itself to which I spent years losing sleep in pursuit of.
 
This topic is something that I know all too well, and I'll be damned if we are trying to get rid of a system that has been a vital source for music exposure and preservation worldwide, with no concrete substitute by the music industry and technology, as well as lack of support of.
 
 

I'm enjoying the read guys.
I can relate to a ton of your points.
 
When I first started downloading shitty Japanese 128kbps albums online (like many OGs on here it seems), I did it because I was a kid first off haha.
I downloaded everything I could listen to because I was in love with Japanese music, and it sounded so great to me. I went out of my way and got a ton of my friends hooked, and played it nonstop in the car, at school, and made mixtape after mixtape of the songs I enjoyed. This defined my future with music.
I never knew how to get my hands on the actual CD's though, but that was not necessary because the point of file-sharing was so that I didn't have to.
 
Now I want to clarify: This was music I could not get outside of the USA, or was harder to obtain/process of finding it was too much effort than it needed to be.
I had the means to buy local, and I always did.
Why try and waste hours of my day trying to get the latest Linkin Park CD for free, when I could just go to the store and buy it in 10 minutes?
 
Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I appreciate file-sharing for what it is.
I have never taken it for granted, and it led to the beautiful discovery of other genres of music that would have been wayyyyy out of my budget at the time.
Did that mean that I was never deserving of listening to all that music in the first place? I think that's a terrible way of looking at it.
I feel that I've paid my respects by playing the artists music until my ears bleed, and I'm returning those efforts made by the uploaders by contributing what I can and preserving VK for those who join tomorrow through Monochrome Heaven as a moderator.
I try and buy the releases that I can when they are reasonably priced. I feel that along with others who have stated here, there has to be an agreement to lower the cost of the media to us internationally.
 
Also, the consensus seems to be that since its 2018, the music industry needs to step their game up, and make their music more available to the masses.
I completely agree.
Had streaming services existed back in the 90's, I think I would have gone that route, as listening to the music was my main goal.
At the same time, I would not be as tech savvy as I am now (and I wouldn't have pursued a career in Information Security) and the process of file sharing to have not existed would mean that I would never have stumbled across the sites, the people, and the music itself to which I spent years losing sleep in pursuit of.
 
This topic is something that I know all too well, and I'll be damned if we are trying to get rid of a system that has been a vital source for music exposure and preservation worldwide, with no concrete substitute by the music industry and technology, as well as lack of support of.
 
 

As someone who joined the file-sharing scene in the late 90's when Gnutella and P2P (centralized networks for file sharing) were at it's infancy, I have so many questions that I'd like to ask the users.
I just want to understand, so please forgive the ignorance.
 
I'm looking at all this from the outside in, and I'm simply perplexed at what became of file-sharing.
Wtf happened?
Such a simple idea to create exposure and salvage media that would otherwise be lost if not archived, to this?
 
I've heard of people becoming entitled, but to what degree?
I've always been an advocate for "sharing is caring" but after talking to people online, that saying is now a toxic ideal.

no piracy no western touring
 
american labels won't pick up anything that is not outrageously hetty and radio-friendly
 
european pressings of CDs haven't saved a single declining band from disbanding
 
we have no control over bands shit decisions no matter how big/famous they are (kagerou, rentrer en soi, pierrot all give good food for thot)
 
music industry has less commercial value than movies or videogames, and has been always behind the times technologically/entrepreneurally (is this a word?..)
they don't care about broadening their reach because everyone in the business gets most of the revenue by performing stuff, not distributing copies of albums.

The vkei facebook groups are full of white knights who feel they are above piracy from a moral standpoint, and listen to their music through YouTube while completely disregarding the irony that the vast majority of vkei on that platform in fact comes from piracy (and to add on another level of irony, said music most likely stems from this board).
 
I have a lot of thoughts on the subject that I'm having trouble putting together, but most of it boils down to "Westerners don't buy CDs + can't go to a gig in Japan, and the Japanese don't like streaming + have no interest in playing here, so unless one side gives no one is going to be happy."
 
That being said, vkei has a lot of novelty tax associated with it because no one actually buys it, so they're trying to make as much money off of each sale as they can. Pressing 400,000 copies of a U2 album is probably a lot more cost efficient for everyone involved than pressing 100 copies of the next Datura single.
 
I also get that music isn't free, it costs money to produce it, you're being entitled, Ayn Rand was a good writer, etc etc etc but for as much as people come across as entitled, the counter argument is hard to not interpret as rabid gate-keeping.
 
 
 
As an aside, here is an article a friend shared on facebook regarding Streaming:
https://pitchfork.com/features/oped/how-to-be-a-responsible-music-fan-in-the-age-of-streaming/
 
Basically, streaming doesn't yield a lot of money to bands either, and the author's proposed resolution is pretty interesting.
 
 
 

I live in Australia and shipping costs are really expensive so its hard to justify buying releases unless it's on itunes or something.
But if the vk piracy scene died I would just buy the (relatively few) releases I'm interested in and share them on slsk (this is assuming jpopsuki is dead too). I'm lucky enough to live in a first world country so I would be able to do this. The main problem would be live limited releases which would completely fade out of existence to the West (or should I say more then they are now).
 
The other problem would be there would be less discussion about bands/releases because many people wouldn't be able to listen to them and it would be harder sorting the bad from the good.

If you've been in the scene for a while, you've no doubt formed your opinions about piracy in the scene. For better or worse, free music has become the cornerstone upon which Monochrome Heaven - and to a larger extent, the scene - has been built upon. It's worked for a decade, and possibly even before that in less organized terms. For as long as I can remember, piracy was seen as a "necessary evil" to build up the scene and to keep it going, and that was the consensus everyone in the scene came to.
 
But times are changing, and with that perhaps the attitudes of the scene are changing as well. A vocal minority of fans and band members are calling for all fans to put more money into the scene and to support their favorite bands with money. Here's an excerpt from a recent Facebook post that's gone viral within the scene.
 
Many people agreed with this person. I want to understand how people here feel about this same topic. Serious replies only, and if you respond please vote in as many of the questions as you can. I will liberally delete any post that I interpret as attacking another member or otherwise not contributing to the discussion.
 
NOTE: This topic doesn't mean that the staff is planning on doing something. We are simply curious and have been discussing this among ourselves for a day or two.
 
NOTE 2: This topic will automatically close in two weeks on March 16th. If you have thoughts, try to share them before then.

This is a great thread topic for discussion. Like others have mentioned I feel pretty conflicted on the subject. When I got into Visual Kei, I was hardly savvy with internet-ing, so if I found something I liked on Youtube, I would save and order it from CDJapan or something. I didn't even know about western VK communities/download forums/file sharing/torrents whatever. But at the same time, since discovering all those things, I have been able to find so much amazing music that simply never would have been available to me. The majority of bands that never make it and had super limited run CD's are lost to the sands of time, but kept alive through some of this file sharing. On the other hand, it being seen as the norm is certainly concerning.
 
The most important point I want to bring up about this whole topic is that this problem is not only concerning the Visual Kei industry. In the western music world, all artists are suffering from a trend over the last 15 years where people simply don't feel that they ought to pay for music.
 
People were eased into this idea through the retiring of physical formats, introduction of illegal downloading, and finally STREAMING. The final nail in the coffin for this issue, is, now, people can pay a small subscription fee that used to be the cost of a single record, most of which won't go to the recording artist, to listen to all of their music. And they have no sense that what they're doing might be unethical. Because they are paying for a legal service, after all. Ask most people below the age of 20 who their favorite artists are? Chances are they may have gone to their show, or seen them live, but the majority of the upcoming generation simply are not buying music (this refers to digital downloads, not even including waning physical formats).
 
 
I wish I knew a proper solution, but its a strange predicament for the entire industry. The previous generation went to record stores and saved for LP's or CD's. Their most devious exploitation might have been copying a friend's album to a blank cassette, so they could finally listen to an album they'd never be able hear to other wise. Simply speaking, there wasn't a choice. If you wanted to hear specific music, you had to buy the releases or go to concerts. Those were the only ways.
 
The current generation grew up listening to their music on YouTube and Spotify, for the most part. For someone to actually pay for an album, physical or digital, they have to be a diehard non-average music fan (ppl on this forum), not know how to use YouTube/Spotify, or they are exceptionally ethically considerate.
 
 
 
To give more of a solid response to the OP, I think promoting the purchasing of music is a good thing, but I don't know if cutting down on illegal downloading is the way to do that. Atleast in the case of the Western Visual Kei audience, there is argument to be made that much of the Western Visual Kei audience wouldn't even exist without file sharing. I may be an exception to the rule having no current bands I really care about, but I can't even financially support so many of my favorite Visual Kei (and Japanese) artists. ( ( Because I can't legally download or buy non-2nd hand cd's from due le quartz, aioria, or yarmulke, etc.) ) I know this is a sort of a wishy-washy answer, but I encourage further discussion of this topic and of buying music that rocks your world.

To preface this, I'm not in the vkei scene (neither Japanese nor international) and I don't know about its situation in regards to piracy. Aside of DIR EN GREY, I own maybe 30 albums/DVDs physically, and none of them is vkei stuff. So this is more about general piracy in the music scene.
 
I hardly knew about MH before joining, I almost never use it for vk downloads since I only listen to DEG (and their related bands) anyway, so I'm not here to grab any rips from random no-name vkei bands. I also have never been on batsu or used jpopsuki before.
 
But I have been using piracy for 99.9% of all music I've ever acquired. I don't say this with pride, but with indifference. I don't care if the artist doesn't make as much money because of me, because there's no scenario in which he would. Even if I wouldn't download the album, I still wouldn't buy it and I'm not a fan of streaming, either. So there's no potentially lost money, because there is no potentially won money.
 
And while I'm aware that this position makes my vulnerable to those with the moral high ground, I won't change this either. I currently have 100 artists scrobbled on my last.fm, that's about 1/5th of all artists I've ever pirated an album from. Imagine if the only way I'd be able to listen to those artists would be by buying their music.
It would be impossible. I would not even be able to DIR EN GREY alone if I'd only listen to their bought music (and I do buy their music, of course).
 
So the logical conclusion to me is: Either I pirate their music and listen to the band without paying them, or I don't bother with them and they won't get my money, either. It's a lose/lose situation for them.
 
And I think that this sentiment won't change, ever. Most people simply don't have enough money to buy all the music they like, it's literally impossible. So from my perspective, the artists are asking us to either chose them (for the purchases) or don't listen to them at all. I don't think that's the way to handle their fanbase, since the band needs the fans, not the other way around. I think that instead, the band needs to find other way to make money. They need to go with the flow, they can't be stuck in the "if we act like this, people will surely buy our music instead of pirating it". Nope, that won't happen. People will simply drop you and listen to other bands.

To begin, we must pleeease understand that the correlation of piracy = loss of a sale is FALSE. People pirating releases ARE NOT making musicians lose money, period. If people hadn't shared, I don't know, batsu game's latest release, I would NOT buy it. I would simply go on without listening to it, because I don't care enough for them to go out of my way to buy a physical copy of something that would cost me 3 USD if it was an itunes release (btw the single sucks). This is true to 95% of the vk listeners, and has been widely discussed in sample pools much larger than a niche japanese music scene, like videogames for example. People buy what they like, period. If you do not let them at least try, why the hell should they buy your music?
 
That being said, people vastly, VASTLY overestimates the importance of western fandom to the scene. We are not the main target, we are not their main income source, the music isn't made for us. We are a plus in the scene, and every single release a westerner fan buys, it's an EXTRA income for the band. They are not counting with our money, people gotta understand that most of the bands simply don't care if we are listening to them or not, as long as their onemans are filled with japanese girls doing dance steps at their songs. Very few bands have the desire for more international exposure, and if that's the case, they sure have to adapt to our ways, as we are not obliged to accept their 90's thinking in the age of streaming. IF japanese fans started pirating instead of buying, THEN we would have a problem.
 
Music is dogs eating dogs everywhere in the world, why would be different for japanese boys in make up? Bands that are actually good, or at least are able to gather interest in their music will flourish, no matter what. People fail to understand that the scene is small because of it's characteristics, because boys dressing like girls and shredding guitars is niche and most importantly, it's foundation is what holds it back. No ammount of western pirates will make or break a band, period.
 
fun fact, UNiTE. shared most of their discography on Spotify, I don't know if it is restricted in japan (which would be a smart thing to do). Yeah they are bigger than most vk acts around, but that does show they are not following the outdated tunneled vision most bands are, and see us as what we are. Extra income, if they get to book a concert here and there, fine! If not, fine aswell, their focus is where it should be, their growth in Japan, without closing their doors to us, the outsiders.

I have very, very mixed feelings concerning this topic, so all I say may sound confusing. I may sound cocky too, but you guys asked for opinions. I also tried posting this under spoiler but phone won't let me...
 
Brace yourselves, rant is coming:
 
Of course, just like any foreigner, I got into this thanks to piracy. Of course, I do download pretty much everything shared on the VK section, even if just to sample it and delete it half an hour later (I no longer hoard music I do not like).
 
And, just like many people, I occasionally share rips because I know some people will enjoy them and some others might discover a band they will like and support.
Yet I truly despise when my rips are shared outside of this community, even though my common sense (who usually sounds like Yuyo) dictates it's the right way to preserve and spread it.

Maybe it is because here it stays within a community of people who also buy and share their rips and it feels more like an open trade. Key word: feels like.
 
But feelings are not meant to be rational, right?
 
I support about 10-12 active bands. A good portion of my salary goes towards VK. I make certain sacrifices in order to make sure my honmei can have their rice and redbull. Hell, I even pay people to get me goods at lives so they can get more money from me in a more direct way than buying second hand stuff.

Maybe that is why I feel I 'earned' the right to trade rips of the bands I do enjoy yet don't love enough to include in my monthly spendings. And I feel people who share rips here kinda earned the 'right' to get my rips for free. Because they support the scene too.
Sometimes I even dl rips from the bands I do buy from because I'll buy the release with the next paycheck or the following, or sometime in the future when I stop blowing my money on chekis (sorry, Diaura).
 
Which is why it kinda bums me to spend hundreds of dollars on music, share it with people who also support the scene as far as their wallets allow it, and then it gets leaked to people who not only don't support the scene, but feel entitled to be given rips anyways 'because they love the band so much, omg they mah favez!!'
 
I don't mean to say I am a better fan than they are, or a better person, or whatever. I'm probably a pathetic chick who blows her paycheck on asian drag queens who attempt to play metal instead of in... idk whatever shit regular people spend their money on. But it really gets on my nerves to read so many people on social media, especially Hispanics, viewing piracy as a 'right'. Demanding for HQ rips, whining about those 'fucking selfish japs/gringos who get everything and don't share fast enough'. Fuck you! If I buy a release I do not have the moral duty of posting it online. And in those very same communities I see a handful of people leeching, bragging about 'their collections' (virtual collections of course) and sharing our stuff just to make themselves popular. 'Look, I'm such a VK connaiseur because I have two hard drives filled with VK I got from MH. I'm a true fan cuz I have rarez. Now kiss my ass if you want me to share the rip I didn't even originate'.
 
I know a dude who's considered the 'wikipedia of VK' because he's always talking about the many bands he knows and buys. Turns out he doesn't buy shit, he leeches from JpopSuki and here AND HE FUCKING CHARGES FOR IT. HE IS SERIOUSLY MAKING HIMSELF A NAME AND MONEY SELLING OTHER PEOPLE'S RIPS. AS HIS OWN.
 
I understand the role piracy plays in the scene. I know it's exposure, and it helps spread the music and make bands popular. It preserves files online (though I've been all day looking for geek sleep sheep's albums and I cannot fucking find a decent rip, I swear). It also gives way to interesting discussions about music.

But I also understand it fucking pisses bands off, many have told me so. It even pisses off western VK bands I know when they see their music up for grabs where they didn't post it. It's sorta disrespectful in a way, to say "yeah, man, I love your art but I ain't paying for it'. I have literally read those words online.
I don't know if my point is even understood here... I've even defended piracy when talking to a few bandomen, saying that it actually promotes their music and gains them new fans. And I understand without piracy most of us wouldn't be here today. Boy, I really wish someone would share those Amai Boryoku live limited EPs. 

But I hate so much that downloads bring people here only to leech instead of for all the other amazing features this community has to offer. I hate that people outside of the community get popular or even get money spreading our rips without even mentioning Monochrome Heaven. I hate the way they talk about us when we don't share fast enough, like we owe them the rips. Like it's our duty to share the day before the release and in HQ...
 
With so many bands posting their previews on youtube, full releases on Spotify and iTunes, is such an open piracy still necessary to promote the music they work so hard to make?
(I refuse to use youtube and Spotify, I hate them, so I'm being cynical by just bringing them up myself). All the people who say 'I don't risk buying releases I don't know I'll like' can now hear the previews on youtube/spotify, right?
 
I think I'd really like to keep the DLs here to the community and the people who contribute, so maybe people elsewhere will stop taking us for granted and have a solid reason to complain about us...
 
I'm ready for the MH trolls to go berserk on my feelings and opinions. Keep in mind these are just rather irrational feels and opinions and that my opinions stem from my own experiences and my own reality, which is not the absolute truth and does not account for other people's experiences.

If I really want to buy something, I will buy it, doesn't matter if I've already illegally downloaded it or not.
How many acts of piracy are actual "lost sales"? IMO a lot of people weren't going to buy in the first place. Some others prob download to see if they will like it or not and maybe buy it - that could count as a lost sale. Making your discography avaiable on itunes and spotify might help with the whole foreigners pirating thing since it will be less expensive for us. Regarding the last question, I voted that things would stay the same because people would share things somewhere else. We always find a way. We have always found a way.

Literally same. We were having so much fun and I blinked my eyes once and the whole internet exploded. 
 
Also, from what I've seen in Japan with some friends who are into vkei, they don't really seem to spread things online but rather copy them on cds or dvds and give them to their friends (especially the old stuff that you can't get your hands on anymore or anything that was limited). They don't seem to share their treasures with just anyone and kinda get scared when it comes to that. I see when it comes to international fans we literally like to share amongst our fellow fans by uploading them on sites. I'm also trying to understand all points of views because tbh I've never actively done this before, aside from sharing music with my best friend.