[HuiYa]

Gabichox, on 03 April 2012 - 05:11 PM, said:

Japanese entertainment is very similar to US in this subject. Granted they aren't millionaires with huge mansions out in Hollywood; they still are pretty much able to support themselves once they are major..... That's.... essentially the whole point of becoming major aside from expanding distribution and bigger venues. As long as the band is active, holding lives and appearing places [Essentially not relying on CD sales which earns them nothing] they shouldn't be this picture of a helpless unemployed band with no way of even feeding themselves. :/
I'm curious to know who HuiYa has met working in a coffee shop.. You can't just lump indie artists in with major artists. I've never seen or heard of any big band on a major label working a 2nd job. If I can get some names or proof I'll believe it but right now it just seems like fan delusions. Which is just like the "being friends with the band" thing.

First I never said I meet anyone in a coffee shop, If you follow the Japanese rock scene it common knowledge that these guys have second jobs. I have a feeling that you are talking about idol groups, which are way bigger then rock bands in Asia. As an example I will give you what Kara, who is a Korean idol group made in their Japanese promotion. It was about 18 million USD, what did each member recieve from that 3,ooo USD. That was the paycheck at the end of the year. Most of the money goes to the management label, these group are not contracted like Western bands, they basically make less then average person does at the end of the year. Grant you could say that they are do what they want with there life and such. Jrock bandman are in the same boat as the idol groups, except that they are making less money then the idol groups.They are also not ashamed to tell you if they have second jobs, I believe it was in purple sky magazine that one the members of DIO ( who is now broken up) was talking about how he worked as a flower delivery boy. DIO was a major label artist at the time, Being major and being Indie means little difference in the Music Industry. Also Tatsuha from Jrock band Bergerac became a host so that he could make more money. Being a host is not a great thing, dont think of the anime show with the host boy. In reality being a host is heartbreaking, it really has nothing for you.
If you are looking for American major labels that don't pay their bands enough, you can look up the band 'NSYNC. They left their management group because they were not making enough. They sold more then 8 million albums and couldn't pay rent on there one bedroom apartments. This was about 98-99, right before No String Attach came out. Im not saying that all the bands are helpless or starving, but indie and major really dont mean alot of change in the Japanese music industry. If you are thinking of bands like LUNA SEA X-Japan and L'arc~en~Ceil, then yes they most likely don't have second jobs. Being major label means that the public has taken a liking to you, not that you are going to make more money. If anything you are just giving up more control to the management group. Also for the record there are a lot of bands that fail to make it a major label artist and make as a indie artist. There are also bands that leave everything to come back as an indie artist,one being AYABIE and the other being JYJ or SHINWA. These bands broke contract to leave major label deals.

Also from a music business stand point let me put it this way:

All albums have points on them, lets say for the being easy its out of a 100
The points equal dollars, so lets say one point equals 50 dollars.
The major labels get 20 points for being the label....
then the major labels tend to buy the writing rights to the songs.
That is where the album makes the most money is through the songs right?
Let say the the writing rights make up 50 points on the album.
That leaves 20 points for the artist, not to mention that the cover art for the cd and the mixing of the cd take points also.
So in reality it leaves the artist with 10-15 points out of a 100.

This is how the major label artist work, if your music doesn't sell enough, you don't make a lot of money. In American music, Montley Crue is one of the only bands that I can remember sueing and winning there writing rights back from a label. Plus many American artist don't write there own music to being with. Now That is an exmaple of the points work, its not the real numbers but you can look it up on google if you want to see how it works.




If you want to know how I know this, its because my dad works for S.I.R. in there recording department and in the tour department. He has been touring for more then 10 years and has been in the music industry for then 20. When I want to know how it is irl I call and ask. Really I have no fan delusions, I know that they don't sit in pent house apartments, writing music all day. I realize that they guy struggle to make there dreams come true and to make music. I mean working in coffee house, I meant they hold second jobs to make ends meet. I just gave the example of a coffee house, cuz they are all over in Tokyo.

Also I really don't want to be friends with bands, they are nice guys and all but I like just being a fan. It may sound weird but with my dad being in the music industry it tend to make you want to love music and be a fan. Plus in all honesty these guys live crazy lives, I like to sit at home and watch movies. Im not a crazy party girl....lol.

<3

[Gabichox]

^ I... I can't right now. There's so many things I want to contradict and point out to you but.... You lost me at " Being major and being Indie means little difference in the Music Industry." Because there's a world of difference and you even pointed it out.
My problem with your posts was your over generalization of the industry and your lumping of bands into the same playing field. This post just... further proves my point. So I'll just not respond because I can't even find the right words and probably won't even be able to get through to you.

But... um that last point you made."Also I really don't want to be friends with bands, they are nice guys and all but I like just being a fan."......... Begs to differ with another post you made in another thread "Fan are important in Japan, they become friends with the band." You may not have meant it that way, but reading your posts gives off a vibe as if you want to be friends with a band and even think you may be. I understand you love band guys to a huge extent. But just.... be more aware of the weight of the words you are using.

All in all... let's just say we both are speaking totally different languages and this conversation will get us nowhere.

[Oyuki]

Darkspawn, on 31 March 2012 - 01:32 PM, said:

Actually, Eyeshine is a concert. Not merely an opening act. You're totally brushing Eyeshine - and their fans - aside as less important than LM.C fans, or the LM.C concert in general.

To me, this is silly, because now you're getting into a "who deserves to see the concert/get a good spot more" thing. Lets be honest about this. It doesn't matter whether a person only wants to see a general Japanese/J-rock concert, or if they've been listening to LM.C since they're 5 years old. Neither "type" of concert-goer here is more special than the other. You get your spot based on when you show up, and everyone has a right to go to the concert no matter how big of a fan they are. No one deserves a specific spot, or deserves to get in more than someone else.

Besides, these people are paying the same amount as you to get into the convention. For those only coming to see LM.C who may only be staying for one day, other con-goers will be staying Friday-Sunday and spending more money to stay in a hotel. So, if they're spending more money than you, they could argue they deserve a better spot!

All in all, it's just a silly argument.

I know I'm a bit late, but I agree that everyone who's paid the same amount for a badge/membership for the opportunity to see them should have equal treatment. VIP/Platinum badges on the other hand would be a different matter with priority line placement etc.

With a separate line for the much more dedicated fans of any event, that would make it easy for anyone to confuse the early LM.C. line with Eyeshine's line and/or other preceding event lines. The amount of frustration, stress, and time wasted from the potential errors aren't worth the trouble. I say go ahead and wander the area until the line starts thirty minutes before, and make way to the start of the line as safely as possible - I know I'm just reiterating that bit of advice.

I know I would be excited to see my favorite artists in town like Infected Mushroom because they're seldom in the states, but please remember to be respectful of the other con-goers who also sacrificed to be a part of this convention as a whole.

Personally, I like the idea of the tickets, but if the volunteers can't handle it, it won't do too much good badgering them some more with extended complaints. Heck, I know I have trouble remembering to be nice to ACen staff because of how I feel some things should work. But at the end of the day, they're the unpaid enthusiasts who organized this whole shin-dig. We're the ones paying for its existence, but they're the ones who pulled it all together to make it awesome. They're the ones who brought our guests of honor out to this location for the weekend/part of the weekend.

[Darkspawn]

"Being major label means that the public has taken a liking to you, not that you are going to make more money"

...

I'm not even sure how to respond to statements like this that are so utterly incorrect. That's like saying the little band that plays down the street every Friday night at a bar makes as much money as Justin Timberlake.