Is Visual Kei (as well as other areas of Japanese Music) Oversaturated?

[Tetora 625]

Hey guys,

 

We live in a time where Visual Kei and other Japanese Music is more available and visible (to those already looking for it) than ever, and where the number of bands we can choose from seems absolutely enormous. Now, there still may be a shortage of bands that suit certain fans, but in general, we see huge numbers of bands in all levels of lower popularity, up to what may seem like a lower number of new `Monster`bands.

 

My Rough Scheme of Band Levels:

 

Struggling Indie

Small attendance and sales, sometimes fighting to survive as a band.

Indie

Anywhere from sustainable sales, to potentially breaking through.

I didn`t know these guys were `major`

Bands that you would easily beieve (or did believe) were Indie, but apparently aren`t.

I can see why they are major

Bands that can pack buildings. and ship units, you dont have to look for fellow fans, they are in your face.

Monsters

The bands that roll with the big boys of pretty much any other genre, they dont have to always top charts, but they get up there and fill big venures whenever.

 

Market Size and Shares?

 

To me, it seems like there are the top dogs in the Major and Monster categories, who take the biggest piece of the pie, and everyone else that may share their demographic will have to work with what is left, and there is usually many bands to fill that area of what is left.

 

I see it as only natural that fans with broad tastes within a certain field would have to settle for buying only their top favorites, or picking and choosing, then downloading the rest that they cant afford. To me, there are many many bands that I like, and dont see it as possible that all fans who adore as many acts as me would be able to satisfy their appetite through purchasing.

 

Naturally, the big bands are going to be the most visible, and the ones getting first share of attention spans and wallets.

 

Distance Between Levels, and a Glass Ceiling?

 

Some artists have this kind of distance between them and bands lower in popularity, like certain huge bands left the stratosphere, and are considered something different altogether to fans and the general public, though there are a few great bands that work with lower bands, and put them over constantly.

 

Then there seems to be a glass-ceiling that stops many bands, like there are only so many fans that some great bands can have, and some account this to a limited potential fanbase, and others think that the band should change, through either their sonic, or visual values [and I find both of these often fail, oft times I see a band try to look more mainstream for example, and they drop off].

 

So sometimes it seems like a band can only go so far based off of who they are alone.

 

Are Too Many Bands Doing the Same Thing?

 

Either visually, or sonically, does it sometimes feel as if certain acts could gain more traction or become even larger if they didn`t have so many other bands who are now comparative to them?

 

Some styles really leave an impact at first, and then other acts adopt that style, and it becomes sort of familiar, and less of an attraction. Sometimes it may even feel overdone, or give audiences that `been-there-done`that` feeling. Every genre, scene, etc... is getting older, so some may move on, or others may feel that this is a superficial issue.

 

What do you think?

Feel free to discuss any kind of Japanese music, and go in-depth with your opinions.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

 

[Guest mitsu the indie girl]

Having not been to Japan nor seen the visual kei scene firsthand, I can only give my opinion from an outsider's point of view. But I feel like there a probably quite a few young men who aspire to become visual kei artists and get into the scene and aren't able to break through, because of financial reasons and/or they just simply aren't good. It seems it's hard to make it as a band no matter where you are in the world; then top that off with buying/making expensive, elaborate outfits and hairdos and makeup, etc., the finances can get thin. The live houses you perform at and the studio production of your CDs also probably play a factor. And that probably also affects your audience turnout. 

 

I don't know... I went on a rant that probably wasn't in relation to your topic, so if so... I apologize lol 

[Zeus 7997]

Oversaturation in the scene implies that there's enough talent to eliminate competition overall. The fact that you spelled out steps to becoming a successful band means that there's levels to this, and it's true that bands just starting out don't necessarily have an effect on the sales of bands much closer to being successful. Bands all coexist in their tiers and compete with one another for attention in that way. One or two tiers might be saturated, but I don't follow visual kei enough to know that offhand.

 

Personally, I don't think that visual kei is saturated. There are a healthy amount of up and coming active bands, but not that many.

[Traxan 148]

I'm tempted to say that if you can dedicate an entire site to one genre of music, it's oversaturated, but that would be oversimplistic.

 

Take a lesson from hair metal in the US in the 80s. When did it get oversaturated? When Motley Crue and Poison took off for the stratosphere and every major label had to sign two or three glam bands. They all tried to one up each other in the outrageous department and the music suffered. Labels grabbed whatever they could and the scond- and third-tier bands were getting signed when they should never have gotten out of the LA clubs.

 

Now in the case of the poodleheads, most people say grunge killed it, but that's false. Glam was already on the way down a few years prior. Most who know better think what killed glam in the US was a documentary called "Decline of the Western Civilization: The Metal Years." The first "Decline" movie was about punk but it showed what punk was about and railing against. Glam in "Decline 2", on the other hand, came off terribly. The bands and fans were pathetic, embarrassing, laughable jokes. Megadeth came off as the adults in the movie, and they were raging heroin addicts. Mustaine got such a laugh out of that. 

 

But followed "Decline 2" glam bands stopped getting signed and emphasis fell off. Metallica had begun its ascendency and Guns n Roses exploded on the scene, and they were definitely not glam. They were a modern day Rolling Stones. Raw and raunchy but they had the music to back it up.

 

So I got one question: would you all say the latest in VK is a bunch of third-rate bands not fit to be the roadie for the top bands? Because there is your answer.

[seikun 317]

Maybe there are just too many bands around.

Even though I tend to like the very "indies sound", maybe bands need to start making music when they are able to show some skills when it comes to playing instruments and vocals too. Some people might feel uninterested in bands that don't play that well or if a vocalist is constantly off-key...

 

 That fact that some bands sound exactly the same to other bands is also a problem.

 

Maybe some bands rely on looks rather than music too much (the kawaii/kakkoii factor).