Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (27/12)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 27 December 2010

1. Michael Jackson / Michael
2. Mr. Big / What If...
   
3. Black Eyed Peas / The Beginning
4. Bon Jovi / Bon Jovi Greatest Hits
5. Lady Ga Ga / The Monster
6. PiNK / Greatest Hits
7. Taylor Swift /Speak Now
8. Lady Ga Ga / The Remix
9. Lady Ga Ga / The Fame
10. Kesha / Cannibal

Source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/
also check the last week's chart here

K-POP idol groups 2PM and U-Kiss, who were both in Top 10 last week, now can be seen nowhere in Top 10 this week. Their names are even not seen in Top 30 now. It's so interesting. I reckon many Japanese people seem to think K-POP are so popular and Korean pop stars have a huge fan base here in Japan. I think they do actually. However, I am now wondering if K-POP really can be said it reaches the mass. Of course some K-POP artists such as TVXQ (東方神起) and Girls' Generation (少女時代) are so hot and selling more CDs than many of the J-POP artists this year. Nevertheless, I now guess other smaller K-POP artists are only popular amongst many of the K-POP fans. Let's think in this way: if they really succeeded in drawing the mass to their music, 2PM and U-Kiss, for example, should have been remained at least in Top 30 this week. Their large decline in the chart shows they actually don't.

I hope this hypothesis will be proved with more examples soon.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (20/12)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 20 December 2010

1. Black Eyed Peas / The Beginning
2. Bon Jovi / Bon Jovi Greatest Hits
3. 2PM / 01:59PM Japan Special Edition
4. Kesha / Cannibal
5. U-Kiss / First Kiss
6. Taylor Swift /Speak Now
7. Lady Ga Ga / The Monster
8. V.A. / What's Up Greatest Hits 
9. Lady Ga Ga / The Fame
10. Rihanna / Loud

Source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/
also check the last week's chart here

2PM and U-Kiss are both a K-POP (Korean Pop) idol group and others are the artists who you know. Yesterday was the day that some great and interesting things were announced. I will address them later on - stay tuned!

A little about Yokohama indie rock music scene

above: Jamming O.P. under: my name is...

I accidentally found great news - Yokohama's two hottest post-rock/hardcore bands Jamming O.P. and my name is... both were reunited this year and will play together next week. I can't express how great they were especially in a live setting and wait for seeing them again soon. On this occasion, I'd like to talk a bit about indie rock scene in Yokohama.

Yokohama(wiki), where I have lived since I was 9, is approx. 20mins away by train from central Tokyo. It's the second biggest city in Japan followed by Osaka and about 3.6 million people live there. It's a big city in terms of size of population and dimension.

When I was a university student, I had a lot of friends who were in a band so that often went to small clubs in the city to see their plays. At the moment, albit divese, Yokohama indie rock scene was pretty much about post-rock / hardcore / progressive / emo (and the trend hasn't changed since then) - bands based in Yokohama tended to be very skillful and so aggressive on stage. Despite being quite close to Tokyo, Yokohama has their own thriving and unique music scene. I don't think you can find many bands in Tokyo that are similar to Yokohama bands. The scene is that unique I would say.

I love my hometown's music scene as it has its own identity. I always like any local music scenes that have the one. It's a pity people wouldn't pay attention consistently to local music scenes unless a city has a great reputation in producing amazing bands such as Manchester, Glasgow and NY. So, I'd like to say this: if you have a chance to come over to Yokohama, why not popping in a small venue like one of the greatest club in Yokohama Club Lizard and see local bands?

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (13/12)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 13 December 2010

1. Black Eyed Peas / The Beginning
2. Bon Jovi / Bon Jovi Greatest Hits
3. Taylor Swift /Speak Now
4. My Chemical Romance / Danger Days
5. Jamiroquai / Rock Dust Light Star
6. Rihanna / Loud
7. Lady Ga Ga / The Monster
8. Nelly / 5.0
9. V.A. / What's Up Greatest Hits
10. Norah Jones / Featuring

Source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/
also check the last week's chart here

Kanye West "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy", which was crowned Pitchfork's "Best New Music" with an amazing 10.0 review, reached only #14 in this chart. US Rap/Hip-hop is one of the most popular genre here but Kanye is not that popular compared to his popularity in the rest of the key music markets. On the other hand, Black Eyed Peas has well done really. They even successfully managed to get in Top 10 all Japan album chart, which covers both domestic and international releases. For your information, they headlined one of two biggest festivals Summer Sonic few years ago and I think their popularity remains high regarding this week's chart.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (6/12)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 6 December 2010

1. Bon Jovi / Bon Jovi Greatest Hits
2. My Chemical Romance / Danger Days
3. Taylor Swift /Speak Now
4. Utada / Utada the Best
5. Beast / Beast - Japan Edition
6. Jamiroquai / Rock Dust Light Star
7. Rihanna / Loud
8. Norah Jones / Featuring
9. Ne-Yo / Libra Scale
10. Linkin Park / A Thousand Suns

Source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/
also check the last week's chart here

Oh my god, this week was the first week for Japanese version of the Kings Of Leon's "Come Around Sundown" and it went to #26. I expected its chart position for the first week could be like #26 but might be higher at the same time. What do you think about the chart position? I was honestly so surprised...

Billboard Japan's new chart system launched

Billboard Japan announced this week that they introduced new chart system. You can check their PR (released on Dec 01, Japanese only) here. According to the PR, Hot 100 chart now covers iTS' sales as well as physical sales and airplays (airplays? really? it isn't sales fig, is it?!). They now collect sales figures from 4,100 music shops on/off line. There are some other changes and the launch of new chart "Hot Animation".  I'm not particularly passionate about checking Billboard Japan chart but if you are, you can check here.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (29/11)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 29 November 2010

1. Bon Jovi / Bon Jovi Greatest Hits
2. Taylor Swift /Speak Now
3. Norah Jones / Featuring
4. Rihanna / Loud
5. Jamiroquai / Rock Dust Light Star
6. Ne-Yo / Libra Scale
7. Mariah Carey / Merry Christmas ll You
8. Paul McCartney & Wings / Band on the Run
9. Nelly / 5.0
10. Suzan Boyle / The Gift

source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/
also check the last week's chart here

Sorry for the delay in updating the chart. I came back in Japan last weekend and have been busy since then.

This is the album chart announced last week. I'll soon update the latest one.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (22/11)

I'm writing this in LONDON! I arrived here tonight and then immediately went down to a venue in Kilburn to see Smith Westerns play. They were awesome low-fi kids. Besides that, I'll also see We Are Scientists, Wichita night (Les Savy Fav, Sky Larkin and Cloud Nothings) and Local Natives (and their opening act Cloud Control!). I can't wait for all of them! I will round up some stuff in relation to this trip when I'm back in Japan but here is the latest International Album Chart.

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 22 November 2010

1. Bon Jovi / Bon Jovi Greatest Hits
2. Taylor Swift /Speak Now
3. Jamiroquai / Rock Dust Light Star
4. Ne-Yo / Libra Scale
5. Norah Jones / Featuring
6. Suzan Boyle / The Gift
7. JYJ / The BeginningV.A. / Siam Shade Tribute
8. Girls' Generation（少女時代） / Hoot
9. The Beatles / The Beatles 1967-1970
10. The Beatles / The Beatles 1962-1966

source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/
also check the last week's chart here

Oh, Girl's Generation is a very popular K-POP idol group by the way.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (15/11)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 15 November 2010

1. Bon Jovi / Bon Jovi Greatest Hits
2. Jamiroquai / Rock Dust Light Star
3. Ne-Yo / Libra Scale
4. Norah Jones / Featuring
5. JYJ / The BeginningV.A. / Siam Shade Tribute
6. Girls' Generation（少女時代） / Hoot
7. The Beatles / The Beatles 1967-1970
8. The Beatles / The Beatles 1962-1966
9. Paul Mccartney & Wings / Band on the Run (Super Deluxe Edition)
10. VA/ DJ KAORI'S INMIX VI

source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/
also check the last week's chart here

Ok, now everybody is talking about The Beatles finally arriving on iTunes Music Store. I have nothing to say for this week's chart. So please let me get in The Beatles x iTS conversation! The next week's chart will come up very soon. I'll update it before flying to Heathrow!

Amazon Japan digital download service launched

Amazon Japan digital music store. Details is the beneath.

7 days to go! My mind is nowhere in Japan but in the UK! I will be there for a week. I will visit London and Glasgow, where I used to live for a year and a half in total. I'm a typical Japanese - very shy and reserved. However, I will have to be a bit wilder while I'm in the UK to enjoy socialising with people there. That sounds like I'm going to go crazy...Socialising is what I'm really bad at to be honest. I even really don't know if I can successfully manage to enjoy it this time. At the same time, however, I love to meet people. Hope I will enjoy that. Drop a line if you also will be either in London or Glasgow around the time :)

Incredible Glasgow School of Art

Anyway, this's just a newsflash - Amazon Japan finally launched a DRM-free MP3 download service this week. Click here to jump the store. The launch was delayed again and again and nobody really knew when it officially got launched. So this week's launch felt like a bit sudden thing. The interesting thing was...well, I was apparently one of the people who tweeted the news on twitter very early and my tweet got a lot of RTs. Most of them were very positive and everybody was like "Finally it's launched! Finally we can buy DRM-free digital music!!" To tell the truth, I didn't expect that that many people waited for the launch so it was good to know.

You might feel it is a little strange. Amazon MP3 store might be already opened in your country a long time ago. However, Japan is far behind those countries digital music wise. Physical music is still strong. Music downloading on PC was less popular compared to the US and Europe (nearly 90% of digital music delivery is done on mobile here). Only music subscription service Napster Japan was even shot down in this May I guess due to financial reasons. It's like Japan is going back to the past as opposed to the other countries go ahead. Bearing the situation in mind, I reckon the launch gave music fans in Japan a glimmer of hope. More and more people here start to realise that there is Spotify, there is Rhapsody, there is Mog....there are many new and innovative digital music services in the world *except* Japan. More Japanese music lovers figure out that these new services give a big excitement and joy of listening to music but they really can use none of them. Therefore I think Amazon digital download service is a big step for the Japanese digital music business to go forward. We now can see a bit brighter feature in front of us.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (8/11)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 8 November 2010

1. Ne-Yo / Libra Scale
2. JYJ / The Beginning
3. The Beatles / The Beatles 1967-1970
4. The Beatles / The Beatles 1962-1966
5. V.A. / Siam Shade Tribute
6. Halloween / 7 Sinners
7. Good Charlotte / Cardiology
8. Weezer / Hurley
9. VA/ DJ KAORI'S INMIX VI
10. Taylor Swift / Speak Now

source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/
also check the last week's chart here

Weezer came back to the chart as their Japanese version of the record released in the chart week. Siam Shade Tribute at #5 is quite interesting. SiamShade was a hard-rock-influenced band, that broke up in 2002. They had some hit singles released in the end of 1990s and was a mid-sized band. I don't know how the album came about. Why now in this way? But, anyway, hard rock luminaries such as Sebastian Batch (ex Skid Row) and Eric Martin (Mr. Big) cover the band's hit songs for the album. You can see who are on on the special website here. And here is the original version of "1/3 no junjou na kanjou (1/3の純情な感情)"



They were a great band by the way. Finally, it's my favourite song "Passion" from a-male-only gig called "Otokogi".

What does a Japanese version of an album look like?

Like labels in the US and Australia do, Japanese record labels manufacture a Japanese version of an album under the exclusive license from the original label. Both original and Japanese versions of the album are in stores. 

Why do the Japanese labels manufacture Japanese versions? I will discuss it perhaps next month. I'm now working on this thing to make a presentation at my old school in Glasgow while I am there in the end of next month. I still half way through preparation of it so I'd like to keep further discussion on hold until I finish the presentation. But what does a Japanese version look like? Here is a comparison of an original version and Japanese version:

L: UK version R: Japanese version

It's Blur's classic "The Great Escape". The Japanese version is on the right. General and popular spec for Japanese editions is:

• bonus tracks (B-sides, remixies, demos, acoustic version of songs, unreleased tunes etc.)
• liner note
• lyrics translation (+ original lyrics)
• belly band (as you can see in the picture)

Japanese editions are usually more expensive than imports (I will work out this thing next time.) In this Blur's case, retail price of the Japanese version is 2,500JPY (approx 25 dollars/20 pounds). Imported CDs are always sold at open price. However, if they are in stores now then I would say they should be cheaper than 2,000JPY (approx 20 dollars/ 14 pounds). The gap in price is relatively big anyway. Bonuses for a Japanese edition should be that worth an extra money added to it. What addition can be the most attractive then? I would say bonus tracks can be. Adding bonus tracks is vastly vastly important to differentiate a Japanese edition from its original edition.

Above: UK version - 15 songs on Under: Japanese version - original 15 songs + 2 bonus tracks

So, looking at the Blur's album again. 2 bonus tracks added as you can see in the picture above. Therefore back sleeves are slightly different.

Finally, this Japanese version of the Blur album has one more extra: purchasers have a chance to win and get original goods. It's one of the popular marketing strategies on bigger releases in Japan. However, I think UK versions and US versions merely have that sort of bonus...Would you agree?

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (1/11)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 1 November 2010

1. The Beatles / The Beatles 1967-1970
2. The Beatles / The Beatles 1962-1966
3. David Foster / David Foster Presents Love Again
4. The Beatles / The Beatles 1962-1970
5. JYJ / The Begining
6. VA/ DJ KAORI'S INMIX VI
7. Linkin Park / A Thousand Suns
8. Maroon 5 / Hands All Over
9. Eric Clapton / Clapton
10. Bruno Mars / Doo Wops & Hooligans

source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/
also check the last week's chart here

The Beatles take over the chart (as widely expected). Nothing exciting in Top 10 but Top 30. Kings Of Leon's long-awaited 5th album "Come Around Sundown" positioned at #17, which is pretty amazing to me. You'd think "What?! It's amazing?! That's the no.1 album in the UK!!". Yes, you're right. But here is the fact: they are far less popular in Japan for some reasons. I have to tell you that they're known amongst the Japanese rock fans that they are big in many countries *except* Japan. I won't name other bands of which this time but there are a lot of that sort of cases. Another point I'd like to make is that I don't think the album has been well promoted here. They appeared on the cover of an indie rock/club music magazine Snoozer, which was nice. Apart from that, however, their Japan label seems less passionate about promoting the album. At least less than about the Hurts' debut album, which got a tie-up with a TV drama and a lot of TV spots. Bearing these things in mind, #17 is still a good position for them as far as I can tell.

*edit (30/10): Japanese version of "Come Around Sundown" is actually set to release on 24 November. It means only sales of imported CDs were reflected to this week's chart. I assume their Japanese label delibrately sets the release date one month behind its original release date. Think this way: the album released one month earlier in the US and the UK and it's easy to assume that it would go straight to the #1 (2 or 3) in the album charts of these two countries. Then the Japanese label would release PR (as they already did: ro69.jp/news/detail/42308), which raises the band's profile and makes bigger buzz in Japan ahead of the Japanese release date. Let me see what will happen when it goes on sale.

International acts coming to play in Japan in Jan/Feb 2011

January and February are always the best season to enjoy international acts live in Japan. Many international acts aim to come and play in Japan in either months. The season is always good for most of the international acts who play at Australia's music celebration "Big Day Out"taken place in January. Also there are many smaller festivals and bands' own Australia tour around the time. They go to Australia anyway so it's more convenient and cost-effective for them to stop by Japan before/after the festival.

There are tiny but great Japanese promoters for international acts. However, these two biggest promoters are always the most influencial: Smash and Creativeman. They organise Fuji Rock Festival and Summer Sonic respectively. The bands coming to Japan in the winter tend to play at either of the festivals as well. Offers for these bands seem to be a bundle of their own Japan tour in Jan or Feb (or possible in Spring) plus a festival slot. The theory doesn't apply to all cases but to the fair number of the case.

So, who are actually coming to Japan in the next Jan/Feb? As far as I know, this looks like this:

<Smash>
January: Digitalism, Donavon Frankenreite, Local Natives, Mice Parade,
February: Foals(special guest: Holy Fuck), Mae, Moe, No Age, Scissor Sisters,
Info: smash-jpn.com/index.php (Japanese only)

<Creativeman>
January: Klaxons, Hurts, Crystal Castle, Jamaica, Sleigh Bells, Firewild,
February: M.I.A., Taylor Swift, Two Door Cinema Club, MGMT, Halloween, Nas / Damian “Jr Gong” Marley, Bring Me The Horizon, Skillet, I'll Be Your Mirror (curated by ATP!!!yay! Lineup is to be announced)
Info: www.creativeman.co.jp/english/

<Others>
January: 4AD evening (Deerhunter, Blonde Redhead, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti) (info: Contrarede)
February: Mogwai (details are to be announced)

Gosh! Too many bands to come! Please note that each of the gigs are so expensive. The price range will be Iguess approximately 5,000-8,000 JPY (50-80 US dollers/ 40-65 pounds). Therefore Japanese international music fans are now all contemplating which gig they should go with their own limited budget. Regarding that, I would say coming to Japan in Spring can be possibly better than coming to the winter so that your fans can afford to buy their own tickets and go to your gig.. But touring in Spring might cost bands more. It's like a hell in heaven and we never can get away from that.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (25/10)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 25 October 2010

   1. Linkin Park / A Thousand Suns
   2. VA/ DJ KAORI'S INMIX VI
   3. Maroon 5 / Hands All Over
   4. Eric Clapton / Clapton
   5. David Foster / David Foster Presents Love Again
   6. Santana / Guitar Heaven -Greatest Rock Classics-
   7. Olivia Newton-John / Olivia Newton-John: 40th Anniversary Collection
   8. Bruno Mars / Doo Wops & Hooligans
   9. Super Junior / Bonamana
  10. John Lennon / The Hits - Power To The People

source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/
also check the last week's chart here

Linkin Park have sold amazingly more than 10k copies of "A Thousand Suns" by now. One of my co-worker said to me that maybe their Japanese record label (Warner Music Japan) might not be happy with the outcome as their target might be higher than 10k considering the grade of the band's success around the world including Japan. It's still great to me though.

Looking at the entries out of top 10, Belle & Sebastian's new album "Write About Love", that was at #15 for its first week, is now at #13. Antony & The Johnsons' "Swanlights" follows it at #16. I didn't expect that the album would reach that high spot in the chart considering their popularity and recent tendencies of the chart. However, they made it, which was great.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (18/10)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 18 October 2010

   1. Linkin Park / A Thousand Suns
   2. VA/ DJ KAORI'S INMIX VI
   3. Maroon 5 / Hands All Over
   4. Eric Clapton / Clapton
   5. David Foster / David Foster Presents Love Again
   6. John Lennon / John Lennon Box
   7. Santana / Guitar Heaven -Greatest Rock Classics-
   8. John Lennon / The Hits - Power To The People
   9. Underworld / BarkingKaty
  10. Ash / A-Z Vol.2

source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/
also check the last week's chart here

Just a quick update of the latest chart here. You might be surprised that the Northern Irish veteran Ash is one of the most popular indie rock band in Japan. They constantly come and play in Japan, which might be a key to their success in the Japanese international music scene. Or they can come to Japan that constantly as they're popular enough to do so!!

Unspoken agreement, unknown facts: displays at record shops

I always wonder if being secretive creates anything good and worth. In general, Japanese people tend to keep anything bad secret to keep the society work peacefully. Whatever happens behind - even if it's very ugly - if it looks great on the surface then it's fine. You don't want to know what is happening behind that. It's unspoken agreement. It's everywhere in the Japanese society. The Guardian's "Turning Japanese"(www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/feb/11/turning-japanese-music-moguls) describes it "As is often unfortunately the case in Japanese society, people will simply find it easier to turn a blind eye" - yes, that's true.

The other day, I found on twitter that a record shop guy criticising that labels provide financial support to big record shop chains. You might not get what I am talking about. There are big record shop chains in Japan such as Tower Records, HMV and Tsutaya. Unlike record shops in the UK, there are a lot of POPs, recommendation notes and listening spots in these record shops in Japan as you can see below:

 
At the first glance, it looks really DIY made by staff members of the record shop. However, in some cases, record labels pay for obtaining display spaces like the one above. Or record chains offer "a package" of such (e.g. a set of display spaces + listening spots). Please note this isn't applied to all cases. This sort of display can often be done without any money when a record buyer of a shop really want to recommend and sell a certain record. In particular, no money seems to be involved in the process of selecting records for general listening spots as far as I'm concerned. It simply depends on what records buyers want to put on.

Back to the story of the man on twitter, some told me that the fact that record labels pay for such thing isn't necessarily known by general music fans. It's like "Why the man tweeted about that?". I would say "maybe no it isn't necessarily". However, to me there are also no reason why the people shouldn't be informed about it apart from the speculation that labels and shops want these displays look like very DIY and no "bad things(=money)" involved in.

This blog-wise, I'll try to write about and thing of what I know about the music biz in Japan as much as I could. There are too many unknown facts about it. I believe the Japanese music industry goes to nowhere unless people are well informed about how the industry works. It was the primary aim of starting the blog. I've already got a Japanese music business blog (Green Sound from Glasgow: anno69.blog16.fc2.com/) for the Japanese so this blog is for people overseas.

I'll keep you posted.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (11/10)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 11 October 2010

   1. Linkin Park / A Thousand Suns
   2. VA/ DJ KAORI'S INMIX VI
   3. Maroon 5 / Hands All Over
   4. Eric Clapton / Clapton
   5. Santana / Guitar Heaven -Greatest Rock Classics-
   6. David Foster / David Foster Presents Love Again
   7. John Legend & The Roots / Wake Up!
   8. Underworld / Barking
   9. Katy Perry / Teenage Dream
  10. Bad Religion / The Dissent of Man

source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/
also check the last week's chart here

Only one new entry for this week's International album chart (Bad Religion is the one). However, if you check out other albums in the Top 30, you'll see (if you can read Japanese) more new entries - "Invented" by Jimmy Eat World at #16 and Metallica's three reissues at #22, #25 and #29. Metallica's reissues are all SHM-CDs (=Super High Material CDs) in cardboard sleeves. This format features enhanced audio quality. SHM-CDs are compatible with standard audio players but are only adopted and distributed in Japan. These reissues' release coincided with the band's Japan tour that took place a couple of weeks ago. It is said in Japan that metal music fans would buy anything their favourite bands release. They buy anything from "cardboard sleeve" to "Blu-spec" to "deluxe edition". Regarding that, it can be said that the band's Japanese label Universal International releases these reissues at the best time. Nothing new happened with there reissues. It's just a typical strategy.

Snoop Dogg: who could know about that?

Snoop Dogg was supposed to come to Japan at this weekend and do several live performances across the country. However, now it's cancelled due to performance fee unpaid. Snoop explains in the video beneath that all payment to him should be done before all the Japan dates but the promoter Positive Production didn't make it.

So here is the brilliant video:


It seems that his Japanese DJ friend @dj2high put Japanese subtitles on and uploaded the video to youtube on behalf of Snoop (great work!).

This thing is brilliant. In this sort of case, how a promoter explains the reason of an artist's cancellation is "due to unforeseen circumstance...". This is what Positive Production did as you can read here. However, the video was uploaded and the real reason was revealed. What happened to Snoop and what he has then brilliantly done should be openly discussed as it's a rare that such matter is revealed. Nevertheless, the most of the Japanese music media and music journalists haven't mentioned it as the promoter hasn't revealed it. They just don't want to get in trouble. Japanese music journalism is dying really. So I hope music fans who watched the video all understand it's a business matter and when a promoter says "due to unforeseen circumstance", it means something.

From a label point of view, the video is also nice as he explains that it's a promoter - booking agency matter. Mechanism of booking an artist for a gig is unique here in Japan (I'll explain if I have a chance to do so). Partly because of that I think many Japanese music fans believe that artist's record label in Japan is heavily involved in a concert deal but it's not. That's why his Japanese label EMI surprisingly put the youtube link on Snoop's feature webpage here, which no music online media did! To me it feels like EMI gets angry about the promoter's failure so that put the link...


I hope Snoop will find a better promoter and come to Japan in the near future.

*edit (10/10)
Here is a response from Positive Production:

Source: www.positiveproduction.com/cansel.html
Well, it seems a problem between the promoter and Snoop's agent. Is it going to court? Nobody knows...

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (4/10)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 4 October 2010

   1. Linkin Park / A Thousand Suns
   2. Maroon 5 / Hands All Over
   3. VA/ DJ KAORI'S INMIX VI
   4. Eric Clapton / Clapton
   5. Santana / Guitar Heaven -Greatest Rock Classics-
   6. ZE:A / ZE:A!
   7. David Foster / David Foster Presents Love Again
   8. Underworld / Barking
   9. John Legend & The Roots / Wake Up!
  10. Katy Perry / Teenage Dream

source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/
also check the last week's chart here

Another K-Pop group ZE:A hit the chart this week. As too many K-Pop artists break Japan this year, I really can't memorise every single group's name...!! I should look into this K-Pop movement at some point in the near future.

DJ Kaori at #3 is a Japanese female DJ and so popular here in Japan. She is Japanese and this album is released from Universal's label USM JAPAN. However, the album in the international chart means she is registered not as a Japanese artist but an international artist thus here she is. It's quite complicated, isn't it?

Turning Japanese (from guardian.co.uk)

A number of goers came to see Jonsi at Summer Sonic 2010.

Have you ever read a string of articles called "Turning Japanese" on a British broadsheet The Guardian's website? It finished a year ago but it's still available on the website. Here is the link to: www.guardian.co.uk/music/series/turningjapanese

Some of the articles cut into the heart of problems that the Japanese music scene faces. However, as far as I read, the author of this Alex Hoban seemed to slightly misunderstand what the music scene is like and what people there think about...

Anyway,  the beneath is my favourite one from the Turning Japanese series:

 - Turning Japanese: The dark side of touring - The Guardian (21/1/2010)

All bands, who I worked with, seemed to enjoy their stay in Japan really but Late of the Pier reportedly was not the case. Tight schedule and strict time keeping. Unfortunate accident happened. Tiredness from a long-lasting world tour. Oh, poor them...

With contributions from people who are involved in the Japanese live music scene, this article sums up the things that people who want to tour in Japan have to go through:

• High cost of touring in Japan (currency rate + bands are charged high fees by venues)
• difficulties in booking (booking managers are not interested in overseas bands who don't speak Japanese. I think they don't need them as the Japanese live scene thrives enough without international acts)
• Cultural differences

They're all true as far as I'm concerned. Although I'd disagree with some opinions mentioned in the string of articles, Turning Japanese is a good introduction of the Japanese music industry (but just an introduction)..

I will look at the live music a bit more deeper next time.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (27/9)

The latest int'l album chart came in.

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 27 September 2010

1. Linkin Park / A Thousand Suns
2. Maroon 5 / Hands All Over
3. David Foster / David Foster Presents Love Again
4. SHINee / SHINee The 2nd Album"Lucifer"
5. Clémentine / Animentine -Bossa Du Anime-
6. Underworld / Barking
7. Katy Perry / Teenage Dream
8. Weezer / Hurley
9. 2ne1/ To Anyone Vol.2
10. Oasis / Time Flies...1994-2009

source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/
also check the last week's chart here

You will find it look totally different from int'l charts in your country. If compared to the UK and US charts that I'm quite familiar with, the following things can be significant:

• The biggest difference should be that there are two titles which you're never familiar with (I'm not either!). SHINee and 2ne1 are both Korean pop idols. Korean Pop (so-called K-POP) is huge I guess not only in Japan, but also everywhere in East and South East Asia for the last 5 years or so. It's phenomenal but I can't discuss enough this time. Maybe next time...
• Underworld topped the last week's int'l chart and still remained in Top 10 this week, although they reached only #26 in the UK album chart for its first week. They are I guess the artist who are now much bigger than they are in their own country.
• Another band that I'd like to mention here is Weezer, whose album entered at #8 in the oricon chart. The band is huge in the states (#6 in the US album chart for its first week) but is never going to be in the UK (it reached just #49).
• FYI Underworld and Weezer were both headliner of the Green Stage (=main stage) at Fuji Rock in 2003 and 2009 respectively.

More chat updates will come soon...

Carl Barat: what we can learn from his stay in Japan?

This week was mad. Carl Barat of The Libertines came to Japan for promo and special acoustic performance for Topshop/Topman opening party in Shinjuku. These two events themselves were not something important here now. But the fact that he added a very intimate in-store live performance in Tower Shinjuku to his tight schedule WAS a big thing. It's fair to say that his forthcoming solo album won't be as popular as The Libertines' records. However, it was very after the band's reunion gigs at Reading/Leeds Festival in England. 80,000 festival goers appeared to watch the special performance but now he'd be to play in front of only 300-ish people in Shinjuku. So many of the band's devotees in Japan now paid attention to him.

What happened then? The 7th floor of Tower Shinjuku was jam-packed...looked crazy in a good way. Please watch this:


I was there and remember this young man singing along with a big smile. To me, it was great to know that there are still these crazed music fans here in the international music sciene in Japan.

Carl was great as an artist as well as as a person. As far as I saw as one of his fans, he always took care his fans and wanted to play live for them. That attitude is what all artists should have. This story clearly represents his attitude: after performing at the closed Topshop party, he brought his acoustic guitar with him, left the party and played 4 songs for his devotees who were waiting for him outside of the shop. That's was genuinely amazing. As watching him playing there, I was thinking why such an exciting thing never happens in Japan. One said to me that this sort of thing was too risky so that we should get him stop doing it. Although I get the point, I believe it was not that risky and dangerous in this one of the most safe country in the world...

Anyway, here the video of Carl playing in the street after the party is. Hope you enjoy it:.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart

Do you know Oricon? It's a Japanese version of Billboard in the states or Official Charts in the UK. Here is a thing: most of artists names and album/single titiles are written in Japanese in the charts. What does it look like? Have a look Oricon international chart here. If you can't read Japanese then you can't see who are chart-in. Thus I'll translate weekly int'l album chart into English every week here so that you can see what are hot in Japan. Here is the latest int'l album chart:


Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 20 September 2010

1. Underworld / Barking
2. Katy Perry / Teenage Dream
3. Charice / Charice
4. Oasis / Time Flies...1994-2009
5. Clémentine / Animentine -Bossa Du Anime-
6. V.A. / Perfect! R&B 3 Wild and Sexy Playlist
7. Stone Sour / Audio Secrecy
8. V.A. / Beck the Movie (OST)
9. Lady Ga Ga / The Monstor
10. Eminem / Recovery

source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/

Summer Festivals

Entrance gate of Fuji Rock Festival '10

My favourite festival Asagiri Jam (the pic taken in 2007)

Now summer is over. This summer was boiling, extremely hot and killed a lot of people. It was such a hell but I can't complain. I'd say, my hometown Yokohama, a suburb of Tokyo, is still hot this week like 30 celsius degree in daytime. But it was 35 degree last week. So now everybody feels like autumn has come.

Anyway, an extremely short summer festival season is now over in Japan. I mean, two major and only summer festivals for international acts took place within only two weeks: Fuji Rock Festival and Summer Sonic. There are newer and smaller international music festivals that take place before/after summer, which is great. However, Fuji Rock and Summer Sonic are far more influential to the Japanese market.

Here is a list of key festivals that have international acts:

• Fuji Rock Festival: http://www.smash-uk.com/frf10/
• Summer Sonic: http://www.summersonic.com/2010/english/
• Asagiri Jam: http://www.smash-jpn.com/asagiri/ (Japanese only)
• Punk Spring: http://www.punkspring.com/10/english/index.html
• Loud Park: http://www.loudpark.com/10/english/
• Metamorphose: http://www.metamo.info/ (Japanese only)
• Wire:  http://www.wireweb.jp/ (Japanese only)
• Taico Club: http://www.taicoclub.com/ (Japanese only)

That's it? Yes, that's it. Japan, that has the second biggest music market in the world, has that few festivals. The number of festivals is I think actually reasonable...or some people might feel it's too many. The international market in Japan is tiny. Domestic music occupies nearly 80% of the popular music market there. For international acts, regarding cost and energy to come and play in Japan, they won't consider to fly to this island country in the far east Asia say 5 times a year. Thus, it's like "less demand and less supply" strikes a good balance to keep the market working, which is a shame for me as a big fan of international indie music.
We still have some fesitivals due to happen soon but the summer is over in any way. Now it's time to welcome bands playing their headlining shows in Japan.

Introduction

"refuses"?? No! it should be "refuse"!!!

Konnichiwa! (translated to "Hello!" in English) This blog is dedicated to the music business and any interesting matters related to popular music in Japan.

I'll try to make this blog as useful and helpful as possible for people who want to know how the Japanese music industry works. For the last few years, I saw both the Japanese and British music scene at first hand as you can see in my profile in the right sidebar. It feels like I can give you something a bit more interesting than anybody else would.


I put some useful links in the left sidebar. These are all "must read" websites - I highly recommend to have a look them.

Please feel free to leave your comment. English is not my first language so please let me know if you find any of my blog posts which are difficult to understand!