Tetora

Good music is enough

omfgg takeru in shoujo tsubaki, are you for real?? this will be interesting lol

武瑠(takeru)(SuG) will participate in movie "少女椿(shoujo tsubaki)" to be broadcast in late 2016/05

See this is why you in my company. Actually took the time, a lot of time to respond. Thank you and i love you. take the week of off. and ill see you tomorrow at your house for you know what.

To break it down:
Rock vs. Pop
Rock made the most profit when culturally it became a part of Pop culture. This started to die off in the 80's but hair metal became a sensation. Hair metal was then killed off for the next wave of acts that were assimilated into the record industries more reliable formulaic machine for hits. Record labels like Mercury began purposefully killing off hair metal bands.
Eventually pop punk, grunge, nu metal and other genres were manipulated in the main stream to become represented by the producer controlled music making machine.
Why have a band completely in control of their music and writing what they want when they want? Would you not make a lot more money having an inner circle of producers who have mastered making hits, and creating the mainstream landscape of what a hit is?
Instead of investing in bands who may go any which direction, it is more lucrative to hire performers who will treat it as more of a job, and sing the songs written for them, dance to the choreography created for them, endorse the products your sponsors give to them, etc..
And if some kind of rock is popular, we'll study the trend with a focus group, then get the producer to hold their hand through a simple track, we'll get a director to come up with a topical video to get attention, the lyricist's will come up with a catchy provocative line that will be repeated until it gets into people's heads, then the people will repeat the lines and memes to advertise for us, for free. Wardrobe will get them something trendy, then we'll get PR to get some interviews, and create some kind of juicy scandal for the group.
Then we'll pay stations a lot of money to play us often, iTunes to feature us heavily, Youtube to recommend our video, etc...
Then we'll make a bunch of money, give a good chunk to execs, producers, lyricists, then pay off all the marketing, and other costs, and we'll throw a few bucks at the band. Oh wait, we 'advanced' the band all sorts of money when we paid for that new guitar, the gas in the tourbus, their catering, etc etc... Better cut down how much we gave them.
Then compare that to moderately successful VK bands filming a PV in the parking garage a thousand other bands played in, in some flame retardant outfit that 99 percent of people would not be caught dead wearing, and a bass player who looks better than most girls, playing a song in a low drop C tuning, over vocals still high pitched as hell, in a style of music that is no longer popular or never has been popular in the mainstream.
Then they take that PV, and include it as a bonus for the limited edition, cd only release not on iTunes, and not uploaded to Youtube unless somebody decides to do it against their wishes. And the majority of viewers are international viewers since Japanese have their own sites and ways of digesting media to choose from as well.
And they compete in the second biggest music market in the world, with a huge amount of other independent visual kei artists, many of them producing their own music, and not having doors opened to them, no big funding, and a lot of bands still survive somehow, and bands like Royz, Kiryu, etc.... enter the top ten of the charts repeatedly beating tons of major produced and marketed acts, despite being the antithesis of worldwide pop culture and trends.
Then you have bands like SID, and lots of older bands like X Japan, Luna Sea, Dir en grey, who have made more money than most pop artists, have been around longer than KPop was a 'thing', and will be referenced as long as there is VK.
But in terms of Youtube and worldwide presence, Korean Pop has a very large presence, has several connections to worldwide pop culture where it isn't such a huge step, they are just rapping and twerking in a different language. The Korean government has also heavily funded Korean media on the global stage, from the Korean Wave of film that had a regrettably short life, to KPop now. Japanese individuals and companies have actually complained about not representing Japanese workson the worldwide stage, I even remember Gackt talking about how they are failing to promote Japanese work outside of Japan. But at the same time, Japan has a much more insulated subcultural make-up, and is not AS rapidly molded and influenced by Global and especially American trends. So I definitely think certain cultural exports from Japan are hard to find an audience for, while some others, like anime, games, manga, JDM, etc... have been some of the most influential things in pop culture and subculture history.
Not sure if I answered the question or even tried to, but ah well.

Did you just namedrop EARTHBOUND???? The greatest videogame with the greatest soundtrack ever?  
 
Let's be friends.
 
And shit, it totally does sound like Earthbound.

I want to listening this song D:!

already ordered! can't wait to listen the the full maxi single of my new favorite BAND!! 8D

Strong rumour mill churning.
Sales peaked at Rank 82 in the charts, lasting one week on the charts; their last three single being their most popular.
Not high enough to be a moderately successful Indie band by chart measure alone, but not a disaster for bands in that stage of their lifecycle. There are many bands who have lasted longer with similar or even lower sales, and have been on a bigger label. They also had no major work to act as their defining moment in early career, you have to sort through shorter releases and receive a mixed bag sound wise.
Though the label has been pushing them producion and promotion wise to gain an audience, and their last PV is not location heavy but has better production than bands in the top ten of Oricon, so I would say there was a lot of expectation for them similar to the expectation that me and other fans had for a band that was so skilled in blending pop hooks into rock music.
They definitely could have gained traction, and been more successful, in my opinion.
First, they had an unpopular release approach, no album and single after single, meaning lower output of songs compared to other bands, also meaning live shows had a redundancy to them since you were always seeing a very similar performance.
Second, hard to pin down Shounenki sound signature, since their releases changed quite a bit, most new acts develop a distinct callingcard first then branch out, developing their demographic then pushing the boundary. Harder to pin down Shounenki sound and attract the market for it, even if there is one.
Then you have the style of vocals and style of band possibly clashing. Differing songs including drastic changes in some B-sides, there is a possibility that not all members always agreed or wanted to focus on making that kind of music. And again, may be hard for some fans to follow,or choose Shounenki as 'their band' when you never know what you're going to get. Most creators with a business plan develop a base first.
After that, they are all young and you never know what is going to happen, we don't know the labels plans, what kind of pressure they were under, if the label can afford all their bands at the moment, if the members can afford it, if there was a strong leader in the band, or if they had differing personalities or some major issue arise, if all members can handle the not-so-easy task of writing songs in great number to meet a schedule, etc...
Anyway, just my speculation, don't know why I wrote this. Great band, hope to hear of a new group forming soon, they could have went places, if the vocalist especially forms a new group, he especially can go places, etc...

And how do you propose to measure sincerity?
 
I find it unnerving that if you're in a 90s vk band that happened to be making dreadful music you could still gloriously play this "sincerity" or "passion" card; but if you're doing well in today's vk scene suddenly it's all because you have great bells and whistles + good at being a shameless sellout because, alas, you've arrived 10 years late and the ethereal spirit of vk no longer permeates your soul.

Strong rumour mill churning.
Sales peaked at Rank 82 in the charts, lasting one week on the charts; their last three single being their most popular.
Not high enough to be a moderately successful Indie band by chart measure alone, but not a disaster for bands in that stage of their lifecycle. There are many bands who have lasted longer with similar or even lower sales, and have been on a bigger label. They also had no major work to act as their defining moment in early career, you have to sort through shorter releases and receive a mixed bag sound wise.
Though the label has been pushing them producion and promotion wise to gain an audience, and their last PV is not location heavy but has better production than bands in the top ten of Oricon, so I would say there was a lot of expectation for them similar to the expectation that me and other fans had for a band that was so skilled in blending pop hooks into rock music.
They definitely could have gained traction, and been more successful, in my opinion.
First, they had an unpopular release approach, no album and single after single, meaning lower output of songs compared to other bands, also meaning live shows had a redundancy to them since you were always seeing a very similar performance.
Second, hard to pin down Shounenki sound signature, since their releases changed quite a bit, most new acts develop a distinct callingcard first then branch out, developing their demographic then pushing the boundary. Harder to pin down Shounenki sound and attract the market for it, even if there is one.
Then you have the style of vocals and style of band possibly clashing. Differing songs including drastic changes in some B-sides, there is a possibility that not all members always agreed or wanted to focus on making that kind of music. And again, may be hard for some fans to follow,or choose Shounenki as 'their band' when you never know what you're going to get. Most creators with a business plan develop a base first.
After that, they are all young and you never know what is going to happen, we don't know the labels plans, what kind of pressure they were under, if the label can afford all their bands at the moment, if the members can afford it, if there was a strong leader in the band, or if they had differing personalities or some major issue arise, if all members can handle the not-so-easy task of writing songs in great number to meet a schedule, etc...
Anyway, just my speculation, don't know why I wrote this. Great band, hope to hear of a new group forming soon, they could have went places, if the vocalist especially forms a new group, he especially can go places, etc...

Definitely agree with what Tetora said. 
I think their older sound was more cohesive but recently it's definitely all over the place--but while I recognize the talent none of the newer stuff was really my thing. 
 
 
and re: CRIMZON I'm also wondering. Because actually it was CRIMZON and Rozetta that were sister labels and Rozetta bit the dust since Belmosaic and RevleZ both broke up. So now CRIMZON will only have Purple Stone and it doesn't seem like after all this time they're about to sign a new band? 
 
also, I agree about ARTLESSNESS BOY. I hope to hear it one more time...(T_T)

Wtf, weakness my blood is one of the best vk songs in years...

Yeah... It has such a defining pop flavor, without losing the edge. The kind of song that blurry the lines between Vk and Mainstream. Also, Kou is a BEAST there,

Strong rumour mill churning.
Sales peaked at Rank 82 in the charts, lasting one week on the charts; their last three single being their most popular.
Not high enough to be a moderately successful Indie band by chart measure alone, but not a disaster for bands in that stage of their lifecycle. There are many bands who have lasted longer with similar or even lower sales, and have been on a bigger label. They also had no major work to act as their defining moment in early career, you have to sort through shorter releases and receive a mixed bag sound wise.
Though the label has been pushing them producion and promotion wise to gain an audience, and their last PV is not location heavy but has better production than bands in the top ten of Oricon, so I would say there was a lot of expectation for them similar to the expectation that me and other fans had for a band that was so skilled in blending pop hooks into rock music.
They definitely could have gained traction, and been more successful, in my opinion.
First, they had an unpopular release approach, no album and single after single, meaning lower output of songs compared to other bands, also meaning live shows had a redundancy to them since you were always seeing a very similar performance.
Second, hard to pin down Shounenki sound signature, since their releases changed quite a bit, most new acts develop a distinct callingcard first then branch out, developing their demographic then pushing the boundary. Harder to pin down Shounenki sound and attract the market for it, even if there is one.
Then you have the style of vocals and style of band possibly clashing. Differing songs including drastic changes in some B-sides, there is a possibility that not all members always agreed or wanted to focus on making that kind of music. And again, may be hard for some fans to follow,or choose Shounenki as 'their band' when you never know what you're going to get. Most creators with a business plan develop a base first.
After that, they are all young and you never know what is going to happen, we don't know the labels plans, what kind of pressure they were under, if the label can afford all their bands at the moment, if the members can afford it, if there was a strong leader in the band, or if they had differing personalities or some major issue arise, if all members can handle the not-so-easy task of writing songs in great number to meet a schedule, etc...
Anyway, just my speculation, don't know why I wrote this. Great band, hope to hear of a new group forming soon, they could have went places, if the vocalist especially forms a new group, he especially can go places, etc...

Strong rumour mill churning.
Sales peaked at Rank 82 in the charts, lasting one week on the charts; their last three single being their most popular.
Not high enough to be a moderately successful Indie band by chart measure alone, but not a disaster for bands in that stage of their lifecycle. There are many bands who have lasted longer with similar or even lower sales, and have been on a bigger label. They also had no major work to act as their defining moment in early career, you have to sort through shorter releases and receive a mixed bag sound wise.
Though the label has been pushing them producion and promotion wise to gain an audience, and their last PV is not location heavy but has better production than bands in the top ten of Oricon, so I would say there was a lot of expectation for them similar to the expectation that me and other fans had for a band that was so skilled in blending pop hooks into rock music.
They definitely could have gained traction, and been more successful, in my opinion.
First, they had an unpopular release approach, no album and single after single, meaning lower output of songs compared to other bands, also meaning live shows had a redundancy to them since you were always seeing a very similar performance.
Second, hard to pin down Shounenki sound signature, since their releases changed quite a bit, most new acts develop a distinct callingcard first then branch out, developing their demographic then pushing the boundary. Harder to pin down Shounenki sound and attract the market for it, even if there is one.
Then you have the style of vocals and style of band possibly clashing. Differing songs including drastic changes in some B-sides, there is a possibility that not all members always agreed or wanted to focus on making that kind of music. And again, may be hard for some fans to follow,or choose Shounenki as 'their band' when you never know what you're going to get. Most creators with a business plan develop a base first.
After that, they are all young and you never know what is going to happen, we don't know the labels plans, what kind of pressure they were under, if the label can afford all their bands at the moment, if the members can afford it, if there was a strong leader in the band, or if they had differing personalities or some major issue arise, if all members can handle the not-so-easy task of writing songs in great number to meet a schedule, etc...
Anyway, just my speculation, don't know why I wrote this. Great band, hope to hear of a new group forming soon, they could have went places, if the vocalist especially forms a new group, he especially can go places, etc...

Strong rumour mill churning.
Sales peaked at Rank 82 in the charts, lasting one week on the charts; their last three single being their most popular.
Not high enough to be a moderately successful Indie band by chart measure alone, but not a disaster for bands in that stage of their lifecycle. There are many bands who have lasted longer with similar or even lower sales, and have been on a bigger label. They also had no major work to act as their defining moment in early career, you have to sort through shorter releases and receive a mixed bag sound wise.
Though the label has been pushing them producion and promotion wise to gain an audience, and their last PV is not location heavy but has better production than bands in the top ten of Oricon, so I would say there was a lot of expectation for them similar to the expectation that me and other fans had for a band that was so skilled in blending pop hooks into rock music.
They definitely could have gained traction, and been more successful, in my opinion.
First, they had an unpopular release approach, no album and single after single, meaning lower output of songs compared to other bands, also meaning live shows had a redundancy to them since you were always seeing a very similar performance.
Second, hard to pin down Shounenki sound signature, since their releases changed quite a bit, most new acts develop a distinct callingcard first then branch out, developing their demographic then pushing the boundary. Harder to pin down Shounenki sound and attract the market for it, even if there is one.
Then you have the style of vocals and style of band possibly clashing. Differing songs including drastic changes in some B-sides, there is a possibility that not all members always agreed or wanted to focus on making that kind of music. And again, may be hard for some fans to follow,or choose Shounenki as 'their band' when you never know what you're going to get. Most creators with a business plan develop a base first.
After that, they are all young and you never know what is going to happen, we don't know the labels plans, what kind of pressure they were under, if the label can afford all their bands at the moment, if the members can afford it, if there was a strong leader in the band, or if they had differing personalities or some major issue arise, if all members can handle the not-so-easy task of writing songs in great number to meet a schedule, etc...
Anyway, just my speculation, don't know why I wrote this. Great band, hope to hear of a new group forming soon, they could have went places, if the vocalist especially forms a new group, he especially can go places, etc...

I was trying to pretend this topic doesn't exist...
I feel very sad, I follow Shounenki since the first mini-album! "ARTLESSNESS BOY" is a masterpiece! And then they never stopped growing... And now, this! I have no more words to say about it, just wish they could form a new band soon!
 
PS: I HATE BEST ALBUMS
 

Strong rumour mill churning.
Sales peaked at Rank 82 in the charts, lasting one week on the charts; their last three single being their most popular.
Not high enough to be a moderately successful Indie band by chart measure alone, but not a disaster for bands in that stage of their lifecycle. There are many bands who have lasted longer with similar or even lower sales, and have been on a bigger label. They also had no major work to act as their defining moment in early career, you have to sort through shorter releases and receive a mixed bag sound wise.
Though the label has been pushing them producion and promotion wise to gain an audience, and their last PV is not location heavy but has better production than bands in the top ten of Oricon, so I would say there was a lot of expectation for them similar to the expectation that me and other fans had for a band that was so skilled in blending pop hooks into rock music.
They definitely could have gained traction, and been more successful, in my opinion.
First, they had an unpopular release approach, no album and single after single, meaning lower output of songs compared to other bands, also meaning live shows had a redundancy to them since you were always seeing a very similar performance.
Second, hard to pin down Shounenki sound signature, since their releases changed quite a bit, most new acts develop a distinct callingcard first then branch out, developing their demographic then pushing the boundary. Harder to pin down Shounenki sound and attract the market for it, even if there is one.
Then you have the style of vocals and style of band possibly clashing. Differing songs including drastic changes in some B-sides, there is a possibility that not all members always agreed or wanted to focus on making that kind of music. And again, may be hard for some fans to follow,or choose Shounenki as 'their band' when you never know what you're going to get. Most creators with a business plan develop a base first.
After that, they are all young and you never know what is going to happen, we don't know the labels plans, what kind of pressure they were under, if the label can afford all their bands at the moment, if the members can afford it, if there was a strong leader in the band, or if they had differing personalities or some major issue arise, if all members can handle the not-so-easy task of writing songs in great number to meet a schedule, etc...
Anyway, just my speculation, don't know why I wrote this. Great band, hope to hear of a new group forming soon, they could have went places, if the vocalist especially forms a new group, he especially can go places, etc...

Strong rumour mill churning.
Sales peaked at Rank 82 in the charts, lasting one week on the charts; their last three single being their most popular.
Not high enough to be a moderately successful Indie band by chart measure alone, but not a disaster for bands in that stage of their lifecycle. There are many bands who have lasted longer with similar or even lower sales, and have been on a bigger label. They also had no major work to act as their defining moment in early career, you have to sort through shorter releases and receive a mixed bag sound wise.
Though the label has been pushing them producion and promotion wise to gain an audience, and their last PV is not location heavy but has better production than bands in the top ten of Oricon, so I would say there was a lot of expectation for them similar to the expectation that me and other fans had for a band that was so skilled in blending pop hooks into rock music.
They definitely could have gained traction, and been more successful, in my opinion.
First, they had an unpopular release approach, no album and single after single, meaning lower output of songs compared to other bands, also meaning live shows had a redundancy to them since you were always seeing a very similar performance.
Second, hard to pin down Shounenki sound signature, since their releases changed quite a bit, most new acts develop a distinct callingcard first then branch out, developing their demographic then pushing the boundary. Harder to pin down Shounenki sound and attract the market for it, even if there is one.
Then you have the style of vocals and style of band possibly clashing. Differing songs including drastic changes in some B-sides, there is a possibility that not all members always agreed or wanted to focus on making that kind of music. And again, may be hard for some fans to follow,or choose Shounenki as 'their band' when you never know what you're going to get. Most creators with a business plan develop a base first.
After that, they are all young and you never know what is going to happen, we don't know the labels plans, what kind of pressure they were under, if the label can afford all their bands at the moment, if the members can afford it, if there was a strong leader in the band, or if they had differing personalities or some major issue arise, if all members can handle the not-so-easy task of writing songs in great number to meet a schedule, etc...
Anyway, just my speculation, don't know why I wrote this. Great band, hope to hear of a new group forming soon, they could have went places, if the vocalist especially forms a new group, he especially can go places, etc...

This is true, each releases were like a Vault-Tec lunchbox, you couldn't guess what to expect at all. It could be a quality but also a flaw.

Strong rumour mill churning.
Sales peaked at Rank 82 in the charts, lasting one week on the charts; their last three single being their most popular.
Not high enough to be a moderately successful Indie band by chart measure alone, but not a disaster for bands in that stage of their lifecycle. There are many bands who have lasted longer with similar or even lower sales, and have been on a bigger label. They also had no major work to act as their defining moment in early career, you have to sort through shorter releases and receive a mixed bag sound wise.
Though the label has been pushing them producion and promotion wise to gain an audience, and their last PV is not location heavy but has better production than bands in the top ten of Oricon, so I would say there was a lot of expectation for them similar to the expectation that me and other fans had for a band that was so skilled in blending pop hooks into rock music.
They definitely could have gained traction, and been more successful, in my opinion.
First, they had an unpopular release approach, no album and single after single, meaning lower output of songs compared to other bands, also meaning live shows had a redundancy to them since you were always seeing a very similar performance.
Second, hard to pin down Shounenki sound signature, since their releases changed quite a bit, most new acts develop a distinct callingcard first then branch out, developing their demographic then pushing the boundary. Harder to pin down Shounenki sound and attract the market for it, even if there is one.
Then you have the style of vocals and style of band possibly clashing. Differing songs including drastic changes in some B-sides, there is a possibility that not all members always agreed or wanted to focus on making that kind of music. And again, may be hard for some fans to follow,or choose Shounenki as 'their band' when you never know what you're going to get. Most creators with a business plan develop a base first.
After that, they are all young and you never know what is going to happen, we don't know the labels plans, what kind of pressure they were under, if the label can afford all their bands at the moment, if the members can afford it, if there was a strong leader in the band, or if they had differing personalities or some major issue arise, if all members can handle the not-so-easy task of writing songs in great number to meet a schedule, etc...
Anyway, just my speculation, don't know why I wrote this. Great band, hope to hear of a new group forming soon, they could have went places, if the vocalist especially forms a new group, he especially can go places, etc...

i agree with everything you said, but this especially.
 
i mean, a lot of the songs they wrote are catchy as hell but they are also... kinda different from one another? there's also the very distinct shift from their very early releases (Akasha etc.) to their later ones. the most depressing thing is that the members' talents are indisputable and their overall quality never dropped; what they lacked was a signature sound that fans can instantly associate with the band when they hear it.
 
i'm also concerned about the label. after Gimmick. and Shonenki disband within a relatively short period of time of each other, only Purple Stone will be left. CRIMZON is a sublabel of GIZA studio, which never dealt with vk until very recently (perhaps CRIMZON was supposed to just be a litmus test?). so, yes, i'm worried to say the least.