Are you guys preserving photo shoots, promo images, and other media from your favorite bands?

[lichtlune 915]

Sometimes I worry that images and video will get lost to time. Since most image hosting sites and places like youtube aren't forever. I wonder if bands sell or keep their photo shoots around somewhere? Anyway I'm wondering if any of you guys are already doing that sort of thing? Scanning or collecting images? Do you see much value in it or do you mostly just care about preserving the music itself? There aren't a lot of high quality MV's and images of bands say before 2010 or so. 

[Takadanobabaalien 3607]

Kinda depends I guess. I mean, I have some magazines, and in some releases there are photos/photobooks/photo cards etc. So in that sense I guess I kinda do, but I don't save them digitally. 

[Komorebi 2193]

I've got tons of D photosets and photobooks and I do have some of them scanned and stored away. I do save most promo photos and whatevee I find in decen quality of them.

[IGM_Oficial 1964]

I "collect" looks of visual kei bands by getting the photos from their websites. The website changes, I get the image. It's all on a special folder.

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

I have various checkis and photographs that came as a bonus for things, but in terms of storage I kind of just keep them all in a plastic bag in between my CDs. It's not super high-tech, but I at least they're not damaged.

 

Sometimes I download videos of either live performances or music videos if I know it's from an artist that's finicky or prone to deleting history.  

Edited September 29, 2017 by Peace Heavy mk II

[suji 8317]

I have a fuckton of Merry photosets, pamphlets, and do my best to save all their promo pics in their best quality. I also have a couple of live dvds from them that I still haven't watched ;o; I also save Marco's promo pics, and have a few of their photosets and bonus DVDs, since those rarely pop up at auctions ;w;

[Ikki 807]

Since the majority of my favorite visual kei bands are from the early 1990s, I pretty much have to buy magazines or magazine clippings if I'm looking for harder to find pictures.  I own an 18 gallon plastic container that I have to put my magazines, photobooks, magazine clippings, and tour pamphlets in and I still have 20+magazines/folders of magazine clippings stashed away.  However, I have like two years worth of Shoxx and Cure magazines from 2014-2016 in that container with my early 1990s magazines. 

 

I mainly only by magazine/magazine clippings featuring Aura, BY-SEXUAL, Color, Genkaku Allergy, and Kamaitachi.  BY-SEXUAL has been the hardest to buy since they super popular their first two years, were featured in some magazines every month during that period, and were often in the same magazine issues as Buck-Tick and X Japan.  So that raises the prices of the magazines if I do find the magazine I'm looking for.  

 

If you can't tell by looking at my avatar, Kamaitachi is my bias when it comes to VK bands.  I like to collect everything related to this band.  Too bad my least favorite member is the only one still active in music.  Outside of what was published from the end of last year to this year due to their reunion, I have almost all of the magazines/articles that Kamaitachi were featured in.  Of the early '90s articles/magazines, I'm only missing 6 articles featuring them that aren't from fanzines.  Outside of a few magazines and their 1991 tour pamphlet, I have scanned everything I own that features Kamaitachi.  In most of the folders in my screencap below have anywhere between 50 to 100 pictures.

 

[jaymee 405]

A lot of "rarer" video stuff came out before YouTube and the like, so there was no choice but to save it on your hard drive and/or burn it to disc. I still have some discs I burned from back then of things I watched often.

 

I'll occasionally save stuff from Nico Nico Douga using a video capture program, but otherwise, not much besides shelving any VK-related books and keeping any tour pamphlets in their plastic wrap. I sold off most of my magazines long ago and don't buy new ones because I'm not that interested in preserving photos.

 

I have trading card/sticker and cheki files, and then a binder for pins, keychains, etc. (Even then, I only collect some AYA stuff.) A lot of girls now like to save their guitar picks they've caught with these:

 

 

And some girls also preserve their keychains and badges with stuff like this: 

 

 

They sell all kinds of sizes at anime goods shops/in Akihabara.

Edited September 30, 2017 by jaymee

[Himeaimichu 1535]

I actually thought about this just recently. I know the websites that mention the proto bands to my favourite band, Kuroyuri to Kage, still exist, but I know they won't forever, so I saved the images, and actually added them to last fm pages involving those bands, as well as putting information about them. (as well as filling in some of the blanks, and fixing the member history of Kuro and Koyomi, since it seems as if no one has cared to fix the mistake that they were completely switched around).

Though I know last fm won't be forever, it will last longer than some of these official sites. 

I'm also thinking of archiving rare vkei sites I come across in the wayback machine. 

I believe when it comes to VisualKei, everything needs to be preserved in some form, because it has such a complex history that any missing elements can completely change the story. Also, the discovery of elements changes the story just as much. Like the time @Biopanda told me about an early 90's band called Dir&Gray. Through that, we found out that they were also called Quai d'Orsay, had Yukino from Kneuklid Romance on vocals and Show, a Zi:Kill roadie, on guitar, and pretty much contributed to the name of the Lareine song and the band we all know and love, Dir en Grey. Of course, there is some missing puzzle pieces still, and it seems obscure, but in the grand scheme, it's very important. 

[platy 3018]

I'm always interested in the looks of bands. I like making connections between recurring elements in each release, so I save a lot of photos from more interesting/creative members. When I was younger I used to have folders upon folders of this stuff and although I have lost a ton of those images it's still interesting to see how a member's visual direction changes over the years as they get older/change projects. 

Nowadays I have less time and patience to back up and look after picture folders. But I do think it's important, as we can keep an eye on visual trends this way since the vk world is a mix of both music and looks. 

[ShTon 268]

When it comes to photos, I'm a digital hoarder. I save on my drive all the official stuff I stumble upon in the internet if it's from a band I'm interested in. it's nicely organized in lots of folders.

 

I used to hunt down lives and stuff on youtube, then burn it on the CD's, but now I just drop a link to my friend who still does that.

[jiji94 78]

lmao Most I do is save pretty much every pre-2000 photo of Atsushi Sakurai that I can find. I've started to do the same with hide, but that's more to do with interest in his makeup style and hair.. I'd looove to start collecting old magazines if I can.

 

I have a folder dedicated to photos of musicians with cats, if that counts.

[YuyoDrift 1540]

I've inherited things like magazines, posters, and chekis from bands I either don't listen to, or have never even heard of.

I actually don't know why I bother to keep them lol, but I feel that one day they may be worth some value to someone, so I guess I'm doing it as a favor to them.

 

[Zeus 7997]

I always thought that was Last.fm's job!

 

But in all seriousness, this is something that crosses my mind often. We have difficulty as a scene pinning down our roots because a lot of that information has been lost to time. There are probably all types of cheki, casettes, and photo shoots from the late 80s and early 90s that have never been converted digitally. It's important to catalog our history for the sake of fans yet to be, and my first thought for how this would be done is Last.fm. But from using the internet, I know that nothing is permanent. The biggest websites could be here today, gone tomorrow. I don't use it anymore but I don't know of a better music encyclopedia than Last.fm.

 

I've never been the type to care about visuals alone. It's the melding of visuals and audio that makes visual kei what it is for me.  The closest I get to cataloging anything is putting album artwork on things in iTunes and I've fallen off that wagon too. So, I have nothing to contribute to this endeavor. But I like reading so many people are still invested in the scene and their favorite bands, and I can guarantee you one day in the future you will be glad you saved all those pictures. Keep preserving history everyone!

[chocobuzz 752]

I have a pretty huge folder dedicated for a couple of my favorite bands. I try to save all photoshoots and other pictures of them and also all their music videos/live videos/whatever videos I can find of them. And to be extremely sure I'll never lose all this material I've saved them on my desktop, on my laptop and on an external harddrive... And most of the photos are on my phone, too. I just really don't wanna lose all this stuff.

[jaymee 405]

On 2017/10/1 at 1:22 PM, Zeus said:

I always thought that was Last.fm's job!

 

But in all seriousness, this is something that crosses my mind often. We have difficulty as a scene pinning down our roots because a lot of that information has been lost to time. There are probably all types of cheki, casettes, and photo shoots from the late 80s and early 90s that have never been converted digitally. It's important to catalog our history for the sake of fans yet to be, and my first thought for how this would be done is Last.fm. But from using the internet, I know that nothing is permanent. The biggest websites could be here today, gone tomorrow. I don't use it anymore but I don't know of a better music encyclopedia than Last.fm.

 

I've never been the type to care about visuals alone. It's the melding of visuals and audio that makes visual kei what it is for me.  The closest I get to cataloging anything is putting album artwork on things in iTunes and I've fallen off that wagon too. So, I have nothing to contribute to this endeavor. But I like reading so many people are still invested in the scene and their favorite bands, and I can guarantee you one day in the future you will be glad you saved all those pictures. Keep preserving history everyone!

 

I agree so much has already been lost... Strangely I feel like there was way more material in the way of scans, bootleg lives/off-shot or special videos, etc. when visual kei was harder to come by. YouTube has deleted at least half of the stuff I watched, and I don't know anyone that has that stuff anymore unless they own the original it came from or kept the original files. This also applies to releases and looks of a lot of lesser or no-name bands. The same is especially true with out of print magazines like Vicious and Fool's Mate. You can somewhat easily buy older editions of these in Japan, but I'm sure some day even that time will pass.

 

Tho isn't cheki a more "recent" thing? The camera film itself has been around for quite some time, but I feel like only in the past 10 years have bands started replacing photo sets with cheki. I suppose the latter is also more economical for bands just starting out, rather than pay for a professional photographer/studio time and printing. I feel like in the "old" days I didn't see a lot of cheki besides the lottery drawing signed cheki prizes offered by VK magazines.

 

However, I'm eternally thankful there are places like the VK Database preserving information about the bands themselves, including discographies and the line, and many Japanese members that still contribute to it.

[doombox 4421]

This post makes me wish I had the patience to scan my magazine collection, I have a shelf of old vk/j-rock magazines I bought from 2001-10 when I was obsessed (and it was a lot easier to get because some local shops were importing them). So a lot of Cure, Arena 37c, Shoxx, zi:, and Fool's mate. But to do that I'd have to destroy them to get them flat in the printer. I know people used to do that, but I don't think I could bring myself to do it unless I had a duplicate copy. I used to meticulously track down every image I could of bands I liked when I first got into VK, especially when I made a lot of fan-oriented graphics back in the livejournal days. After a while I lost interest though and pretty much only kept my folder of Mucc scans.

 

I have a handful of photosets and cheki's. I don't actively collect them but if they're a easily accessible I buy some (like when I see a band at a convention) to help support the band if there aren't CDs around. I could probably get those in at some point but they aren't nearly as old.

 

This also makes me miss old fansites/blogs where the group members used to work collectively to scan in images, translate interviews, and share uploads of the bts content centered around specific/single groups. I don't see VK groups like this around much anymore. Not on the English side of things anyway. It's sad.

Edited October 9, 2017 by doombox

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

Oh, since this also applied to digital preservation (which I kind of hinted at in my first post), I also run a vkei blog on tumbo 

 

https://fuckyeahvkeipromopics.tumblr.com/

 

I post vkei promotional photos. I started it when Last.fm died for the first time and didn't allow anyone to upload images for a good 3~4 months. Now that we can add images there again, it isn't as useful, but the last.fm user base is certainly a lot smaller than it was a couple years ago. I also think it's a bit easier for people to look up groups they like by checking the tags I use, as well as stumble across some groups they may not have heard of since I don't stick to a specific subscene. 90% of the stuff I post comes from news threads here for new releases (which usually coincides with new costumes and photo sets), but every so often people on twitter share high quality scans or photo graphs of bands long gone, so I try to grab those as well.

[Seelentau 884]

I suppose nobody here has magazines like Shoxx, Fool's Mate and so on from 1997 to 1999? I'm looking for some DEG stuff from those times :]

[Ikki 807]

On 1/3/2018 at 7:46 AM, Seelentau said:

I suppose nobody here has magazines like Shoxx, Fool's Mate and so on from 1997 to 1999? I'm looking for some DEG stuff from those times :]

I have 2 Fool's Mates from 1998, Issue #198 and #202.  Issue #198 is the only one that has DEG in it. 

I don't know if it's any thing you're looking for,  but I'll be willing to scan it if it is something you're searching for.

[Seelentau 884]

Yes please, I don't have that one yet! :))))))

And I'll take any mention, doesn't matter if full interview, advertisment or whatever

 

Edit: Oh, I just saw: I don't have the ad yet. The green pages I do have. So less work for you

Edited January 7, 2018 by Seelentau

[Ikki 807]

I lied about the Fool's Mate #202 not having any DEG in it.  It just wasn't listed in the magazine's index page.  It's just a 2-page live article.

 

Here's the DEG ad from the Fool's Mate #198 issue.  I uploaded the raw version of the ad here. 

[Seelentau 884]

Perfect, thank you! :]

And I have the other one, so no worries

[mikazukichan 16]

On 1/3/2018 at 8:46 AM, Seelentau said:

I suppose nobody here has magazines like Shoxx, Fool's Mate and so on from 1997 to 1999? I'm looking for some DEG stuff from those times :]

I went for a look through my older magazines and found that I did have two Fool's Mate from the time period you're looking for with Dir en Grey in them. I have #205 from 1998 and #216 from 1999

 

#205

 

#216

 

If you're in need of any of those, feel free to shoot me a message so I can scan them properly for you!

[Seelentau 884]

Yes please! You're making a shit day a little bit awesome, dear! :))

I actually don't have either issue at all (not even as a "still needed"-folder), so if you could scan those pages, please do so!