Tetora

This reminds me of the fact that the landscape of entertainment is still changing. People like to use the word `evolving` especially in business pitches. But is it evolving, or is it actually devolving? With the current mediums we use, and the way our lives are, we are multi-tasking, jumping from one thing to another, our attention is being diverted constantly, and we are more stressed out during even our down-time / leisure activities than ever, especially in younger age groups. We go on Youtube and jump from video to video, while browsing or chatting, maybe even doing other things. People are tweeting while watching t.v. people even have chats or facebook open during movies at their house now. So with all this stimulus, stress, and low attention span, along with people able to watch whatever they want, or download any album they want, how much time and attention is being put into things? I, and studies marketing courses have shoved at me for years, would say that people have a greater tendency to jump towards fast videos, quick reads, and things with more of a `pop` feel that instantly grab their attention. If someone is just running through videos, would they be more inclined to listen to a longer, more serious track with nuances, or would they skip it and watch the colorful, flashy one with lots of comedy or sex appeal along with inherent or added controversial material? So with that comes the question of, is it harder to get into the music of many VK bands now, are the videos not what will even interest today`s audience, and even if it does, will the audience care to take the time to make a comment, or join a community, discuss, support etc... with so many other options out there. I think this also favors certain sides of VK prospering in the social universe more than others. The `shock value` has shifted, some things are redundant now, some things are expected, and there are other things popping up that seem to create better responses to new viewers. I myself don`t even often feel like there is a point in commenting in many places, I guess from seeing so many threads on sites fill up with a hundred short repetitive posts in an instant (another site I go on), or Youtube videos only showing certain comments at first glance, and others get buried, along with the fact that so many people throw comments around that it seems like a drop in one cosmic sized bucket to make my own comment. Then there`s the fact that it feels like more than ever, everything you say and do is watched. It`s all linked to Google accounts, or Facebook, all your friends will see it, or maybe an employer can find it, maybe it`ll embarrass you later, etc... So to summarize that last point, I think there is less willingness for some people to post, and they may need greater incentive to participate. I see many band or group wars for other genres that dominate other areas of music, that VK often doesn`t have (one pop-star versus another, one KPOP company against another) but that really isn`t desirable, even if it does attract attention and comments.

Examples of these numerous high selling VK bands that make Vivid average?Vivid: http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/485256/ranking/cd_single/ Kamijo: http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/12859/ranking/cd_single/ So Vivid sells better than Kamijo who is more than a decade senior and on Warner. They make their label more money. You are making it seem like if a band doesn't do SID numbers they aren't successful. There aren't many blockbuster acts associated with VK.

It's a recording industry. Labels make their money off record sales. It is the product the bands are based around releasing, how you reach an audience, etc. If you have no record saled you have no impact on the industry. Are live events important? Yes. Are they the main product? No. All promotion is based around releases, tours are named after them, most of a bands coverage is based around their releases. Many tours themselves are based around promoting a release. The reason why a band is major is because they move units. The actual songs recorded and released to listen to are the main product.

4 week tour off one of the legs of the Joker tour which has been running two years, meanwhile, 12th A: 1k plus, Joker Zero: 1k plus, 13th A: 1k plus.And yes true Aya, anyway, I thought D Out would be higher in actual ranking yet checking sales Vivid has sold more and the list still matches in order of total sales from what I see. As for cd sales not being important, I disagree, it is the actual main product. A9 can pack an arena full of fujoshi, it isn't moving their product more than when they played smaller venues for a final, and it isnt expanding their fanbase beyond that market.

I wouldnt call a band that has been active and selling cds for a decade a flop. And they have been major for a long time. They regularly play shows for 1k plus crowds even when not tour finales, and Vivid charts in the top ten yet has played for 2k crowds for their finale even after being remarketed to be a band for fangirls. None of the bands on PSC are flops, they just fail to grow, and nothing changes with the marketing, they do the same things, get the exact same magazine spots over and over, and just stay in place. And RonoCro is alright, they seem to have their niche, they already headlined over Nocturnal Bloodlust and Black Gene ( a band that should be much more popular as well, but that is a different story). D Out starting breaking the top ten and are getting mainstream attention, they could be getting bigger but nothing has come of it. The bands dont even get a chance to flop, since they never get a push. All PSC bands that get big do it by themselves. I wish some of these bands would go to DangerCrue, or have another management team in VK to go to. I see Codomo Dragon is getting bigger already, and is in the top 30 of Oricon... Despite not being a pop sound or being marketed as bishounen.

Mirin' floral shirt and Sitting Bull in the background.

Third biggest on PSC. Major band. Strong fanbase. Releases chart in the teens or twenties of the Oricon regularly, but have sustained sales over time. Probably better sales than live attendance as they have a wider fanbase than the typical livehouse holds.More popular than the vast majority of VK bands. But again, I thought ドウト would be higher up, but looks like Vivid chart third best on the label during their time in the top 30.

PSC still has good, successful bands. They will most likely put a new band on the roster to try and fill that success range, and carry on. Can`t be anywhere close to not making good revenue / profits. On their site the artists are listed in groups of Major then Indie, and ranked in order of popularity / success. So: GazettE A9 Kra ViViD D=Out SCREW BORN Rave the LOTUS NAOKI Gazette is one of the biggest VK bands, Kra, Vivid and D=Out are successful (I would have even thought D=Out is bigger than Vivid). PSC has had a good roster for a long time, they are good at picking bands, but the problem IMO is they can`t build them, and bands get on their roster, then stay in the same place and don`t reach new audiences. I think every band on the list, including A9 could be much more successful than they are. Gazette should have been on Sony much sooner, A9 should have been on Universal sooner and left PSC sooner. Kra should not be in almost the same range after years. Vivid was one of the biggest ball drops in recent memory. SCREW has no positioning, what kind of band are they supposed to be. BORN has been ready to step up for a while, but same old same old. And most of these bands only tour with bands of the same size, or only get put over by other bands in the label on occasion, like Keiyuu putting over BORN. A9`s last two albums didn`t do as well in the charts as their first two. They reached their peak of popularity and growth at Rainbows and Vandalize, after that they went into a premature Maturity phase of product growth, and they then changed their positioning unsuccessfully, and got the Vivid treatment of having everything sold based on band members images (almost every Vivid release started coming with most versions featuring just a pic of the band for marketing, then look at Daybreak`s release, and the pictures they used along with the normal pic of the bandaged woman, you can see what marketing stance they changed to, and it provided no gain in sells to further target the market they already held, IMO). Also, when did Shou say they were going back to basics? I haven`t been following lately, last time I heard him speak of the band`s direction, it was back when he said they thought about what kind of band they wanted to be, and considered the options, including being a VK band, and they decided to just primarily be a rock band. Anyway, we shall see what happens when A9 leaves PSC, if they do. SuG`s presentation changed to what now seems more organic to them, and they seem happier with where they are at. But then again, SuG and Takeru always had their own idea of how they wanted to do things, and made their own sound, look etc... It will be interesting to see how much input into A9`s product was influenced by their management, and how much was them.

Going to give my two cents in numerical fashion, hopefully it doesn`t come off as too `as a matter of fact...`. 1: PV, even if not used on Youtube in their full length are still used in a very promotional way. Television, live-streams, Nico, at live events, or to sell cd`s. 2: They are different way artists and labels run things. Personally I prefer the way some labels such as Danger Crue, and Bandsaid do it ( my favorites promotional-wise) where they put tons of artists comments, goofy videos to build connection with the band, the short PV only until they give you the full PV which they almost always do unless a promotional company asks to pay for the rights to use on their channel, or the artists want it on their channel, and so on. DC and Bandsaid make the sure you know all of the labels bands, and see all you can. Then there is PSC, which you may know I dislike management wise. They restrict access to almost all interesting content and the labels they work with make many copyright claims for any other content ( I have a position in favor of labels putting up content, as for others putting up copyrighted content, no comment). For PSC, take Kra for example... pretty much no way to know what is going on with them besides fan content and news updates, even though they are a major band and one of the most technically talented bands period. You have to follow Kra Chile, a fan channel or other channels to even know what they look like. Then there is Resistar, another of my favorite labels, and they put up videos of tons of goofy stuff, and previews, they build good awareness but do not post PV`s in full length 99% of the time. 3: So, then we have buying LE cd`s for the PV, and making of. I see many people who do not buy the LE with the PV if it is posted by the label on Youtube, or even regret buying it. Mostly a foreign thing from my experience, as digital is more acceptable outside of Japan as opposed to physical items in culture. I will admit, I never buy LE`s unless I really want to collect. For example, I only have DIV`s new single preordered for the regular edition, because I know DC will have the PV in high quality. Even if there is an issue, like when JUSTICE was put up with bad audio sync, DC listened to fan comments and fixed it... BUT, I buy all DOG in the PWO cd`s because I know Resistar will only post a PV if the stars align, and even fans will only upload it three lunar cycles later, probably in 90p resolution. 4: Yes I agree with VK interest being in trends. IMO it ebbs and flows, so it will keep coming back, same as things change culturally. For example, we went through the Hair Metal movement, then Grunge, then 90`s Alt Rock, then Pop-Punk, then Emo / Screamo etc to name a few, and now we live in an age where the popular styles are either Hipster, EDM brah`s, or the prevalent rap scene, everything else is a niche which is almost always frowned upon. Look at what is popular and viral now in the US, due to a post 9/11 culture. Not the right time for VK, but you will see KPOP and stuff like Gangnam style going viral. Feel-Good stuff is more in, watch some commercials on tv, and hear the cheerful poppy music, etc... The bands that have the biggest chance now are in the Oshare range, but that is too far out there, and people will eventually shift from current trends, and old stuff will be back along with some new. As for a comment I saw on South America etc... I think it is different, they always had a very strong fanbase for many kinds of rock, and some ties to Japan as well. Some bands will always be popular there, esp. Hyde, and that will spur more interest in all Japanese rock. Random example of Rock`s history there, but a huge cultural phenomenon there decades ago was the song Hotel California, and so many bands would learn it, even if they didnt understand the words, so in a place like Peru, you would hear it everywhere you went. Even today, many fans I see on Youtube of lots of Rock, even VK, are from South America. 5: Cd Sales in Japan again, this kinda relates to the issue, and I see it mentioned above. So far Japan still has the strongest physical music industry in the world. 2012 was very strong due to many major releases and interest. 2013 was estimated to be the year Japan became no.1 worldwide, but there was a dip in major cd releases, and dip in interest in digital side-markets like ring-tones etc... We shall see how 2014 goes. IMO it is better as a physical market, and I think it will suffer from moving to digital, as the culture has not went there, and other markets have not successfully made that shift. If 2014 is good, Japan will def. become no.1 in the world. 6: Toxic fanbases. IMO the negativity has grown largely from just a first impression kind of view of any forum or comment line. I usually dont even read comments on Youtube, as there is always negativity, and always a comment that says `they used to be better, what is this?`. As for forums, they are also very negative. Things were much more positive from what I saw years ago, when talking about anime, manga, etc... was full of wildly enthusiastic kids and older people who felt free to post about their love in many ways. What I saw was a gradual and natural reaction to this, where people didn`t want to be like that, and wanted to distance themselves from those fanbases and `fan-boys` or `fan-girls` and be cooler, edgier people who began even saying negative things just for the sake of being negative and not looking like those `other` fans. Now on many places it is popular to say negative things, put down bands, act like VK sucks, like they are second-rate, etc... And it is not fun to participate in, and not fun to read a thread or comment section for a video you just watched and loved, while people just pop-in to say `this sucks`, or `this is a rip-off of something else`. So I would rather just buy my cds, and either not read comments, or just ignore them and say positive things, but being positive makes you a `fan-boy` and your opinion isn`t relevant now because you are supposedly one... 7: A million-plus views with minimal ad clicks would be about $500 dollars, so, not that much, but profit margin on an LE is usually $5 or less, so about 100 sales they would have to lose, and it is a strong possibility. Abingdon Boys Howling reached 10mill plus before being taken down, so $5000-$10,000 estimated based off revenues I have seen (but they didn`t even post that video, and their Youtube channels are pretty much never used) So if they posted that vid, and had a cd LE with PV, there is hypothetically a count of 1000 cd sales they would have to lose. So we can either take that into account for popular videos, or estimate revenues based off less popular PV`s plus other vids posted like comments or goofy nonsense. But then you have to take into acccount sales of a PV colection DVD, etc... How much would these sales suffer? Very `if and maybe` reasoning here that is not scientific, but it puts some-what of a perspective on things. 8: And lastly, just to throw this in, Youtube is not used as much by Japanese as foreigners, and foreigners have never shown concrete measure of large sales or impact for most bands, so why should labels care? (Just a question, not necessarily my views, I always want VK to grow, etc..) And I bolded that part in `6` as I know this post is a lot to read, so many will skim, and that is one more partisan feeling of mine that I wanted to express. Thanks for reading.

Song rocks. Can't wait for the mini.

If all that is for 1296 yen that is a huge bargain, you are basically getting a live mini album as well. Looking forward to it.

Tetora walked back into his home and exclaimed: `Tadaima!` There was no response... Tetora went into the kitchen to put his groceries down when he heard strange sounds coming from the bedroom. He walked over to the bedroom and pushed open the door inquisitively and his heart stopped. Hizakami and Hizaki both looked up at him from under the covers, shocked. Hizakami tried to explain as Tetora ran out of the house sobbing. He jumped onto his rocket-powered motorcycle and rode off into space, heartbroken... Tetora eventually found himself on Planet InuPara, where he was greeted by a strange sight... It was a female-version of Haru from Dog in the PWO... Tetora was speechless as he stared through tears at the sight before him... Female-Haru ran up to Tetora and asked him what was wrong... Tetora explained, fighting back tears. Female-Haru heard out his story, and then told Tetora that she had just the thing to fix him... Tetora tried to ask what before he stopped speechless, as Female-Haru began taking off her Yukata in front of him and-

Although we have kind of covered some 0f these topics, they seem to persist, and I will post my feelings towards Kurenai`s statements. How will them having a second job enable them to be supported by a record label, move units, warrant a budget provided by the label, production costs, equipment costs, etc? And do you want them to continously pay from their own alternate revenue, to pay for equipment, production, distribution, etc... To provide a product that will either be bootlegged by fans who wanta free product on someone else`s dime, or distributed to fans who supposedly deserve it for free? And those people have a limited range of customers, limited production capabilities, presentation capabilites, limited effect on the music business, etc... And how does charging for a product make you a prostitute? First of all, prostitutes have a valued commodity that they assign a monetary value and charge for use... That is business. Second of all, music is a form of entertainment, and it is always a product. There is no reason to expect it to be free. Yes, it is a beautiful thing that many people assign a great value to... So if people work their @sses off to provide an experience that can move you, and even change your life, that provides you with hours and hours of entertainment and pleasure... You think you deserve it for free? There`s no value to it besides you getting the product with no work on your part? And yeah, I see people talking trash about Nocturnal Bloodlust in particular, as a member`s statement started this thread. I am not the hugest fan, but obviously the band is talented, and they put out a product people see value in. If anyone wants to provide a recording of their own vocals or guitar playing etc... That can be a suitable substitute for that presented in Nocturnal Bloodlust`s recordings, I would love to hear it. And yes, a lot of people do it for fun, and they don`t have the reach or impact of those in the studio system that everyone seems to despise. Money is just a side-effect mostly for people that don`t want to grow something. I would like to see VK and music I think has value in general grow. And that doesn`t happen without some monetary input. Take a look at the booklet for any average VK band and look at all the staff involved in a release, then factor in the band, then think of the profit they need to move forward and invest in new releases and ventures... This isn`t sustainable by one dollar donations. If bands can sustain a career with a decent profile through means like these, then we can talk about this, but as of now, the studio system still reigns because it is the best system that peopel have found to work with. And again... People say that only a small percentage of money goes to the band when you buy a cd... As I stated, what about all the people involved in the release besides the band?They don`t deserve money either but everyone deserves a free entertainment product? What about cost of printing CD`s, distribution, etc? And if you say, oh, go digital... The country these bands are from don`t really want digital products, so let`s not suggest changing their very healthy music market so we can maybe buy another album if we feel like in degraded quality over the web. To be honest, I am just expressing my views here, and I realize they are just my own views... Other people have their own, and while I believe in mine, I can accept others have views, and they are not neccessarily `wrong`. Hopefully we can discuss this amicably, and not fight each other.

Type A is the PV, Type B is Making of and various nonsense

Hey brah, pardon late response. I have all official store releases. I have always been looking for Akari, last I saw it was in auction with starting bid $100 and buy-now price at $350.... Also, thanks for update Trombe. I have this pre-ordered already, love BugLug.

Hm? I dont know much about them, what do you mean, are they not still on Avex? Or is that just management? Also their latest release is Catalogued as TR? Which is that? Also, are they still at a major level?