Like an Edison Nagoya will close

[Paraph 826]

On 10/1/2019 at 9:14 AM, chipathy said:

No one overseas even buys from these shops in the first place, as long as cdj is still around what difference does it make for westerners 

i think the main issue is the lack of event spaces for the in-stores where the bands generate some of the most revenue since fans have to buy the cd multiple times if they want to go to all of them. as well as special bonus privilege things like photo sets, autographed stuff, message discs. Nagoya seems to be losing a lot...not sure if they're finding other places to host events.

Edited October 3, 2019 by Paraph

[crucifiction 752]

@Komorebi, @Peace Heavy mk II

 

It's been years since I last ordered from them directly but as far as I know - they still do. They even used to have a page with instructions in English. You'd fill in the form, send it via e-mail and within a day or two they'd get back to you with an invoice.

Edited October 3, 2019 by crucifiction

[Duwang 676]

-

Edited October 13, 2019 by Duwang

[seikun 317]

Visual Kei has nothing refreshing to offer anymore; at least to me.

Sure, today's bands play instruments better than older bands and vocalists singer better too, but there's no essence and charisma in Visual Kei anymore.

The times seem also to be over this kind of scene.

[Ikna 1225]

I feel this is a problem not specific to VK alone; pretty much all rock scenes struggle at the moment. Some more than others, depending on the local scene. But I hear the same stories of venues and spaces closing and labels and fanzines vanishing in other international rock and underground scenes. Fact is, that digital distribution and streaming has become the norm and less people go to record shops or move their asses to concerts. In some areas playing in front of less than 20 or 10 people has become the norm, for example.

 

Also, and that probably has an even bigger impact, rock music isn't really "in". Both in mainstream and underground, Hip-Hop, Rap and other related genres have taken over. Recently I noticed that venues in my region that used to be exclusively focuses on punk and underground rock would now host Hip-Hop and Rap shows. Because that stuff sells. Visual kei suffers the same fate - kids these days are more likely to listen to Ghostemane and K-Pop idol groups than VK r rock music. And young people are kinda the lifeblood of the scene, so if they aren't as invested ofc it will suffer.

 

Though I also agree that VK lacked really outstanding bands and releases in the last years. Even the big, long running oyaji bands didn't really deliver anything remarkable or highly innovating that could have brought VK back into the both national and international spotlight. 

Edited October 4, 2019 by Ikna

[nekkichi 6042]

23 minutes ago, Ikna said:

Though I also agree that VK lacked really outstanding bands and releases in the last years. Even the big, long running oyaji bands didn't really deliver anything remarkable or highly innovating that could have brought VK back into the both national and international spotlight. 

tbh this is not even true, penicillin's latest release was one of their best ever (and way more well-done than majority of their peak stardom music), and there's still money in the scene as evidenced by kiryu at least

 

looking back at the past decade tho I'd argue that VK of 2010s trapped itself by trying to appear mainstream and going softer/more electronic in sound which didn't bring EDM fans over because normies couldn't relate anyway, but did contribute to mentally unstable genré fans losing interest and moving on because there wasn't enough genuine shock value and hysteria for us there anymore.

 

maybe shit will actually get back on track once this scene realizes the money is in crowdfunding and going over the top again /rant

[Tokage 5930]

have there even been all that many crowdfunded japanese albums at all? i can't think of any whatsoever

[Komorebi 2193]

2 minutes ago, Tokage said:

have there even been all that many crowdfunded japanese albums at all? i can't think of any whatsoever

Kaya's last cover album.

[LIDL 692]

Does the CD/DVD sales In Japan declined by that much? We are talking about a country who are pretty much cash society in this day and age here. A country where music labels is so protective over their copyrighting so much so they don’t even upload full music video of their artists on global scale digital media such as YouTube, if at all. And as for VK in particular, a genre where exclusive live only CD release  is still a thing. Perhaps that kind of elitism also contribute for the decline of J-Pop sales, and hurting VK genre especially? 
 

In this digital and streaming era, majority of people would just leave you behind with that kind of attitide since they got so

much options in just one click away.