Not totally, however, if I saw an artist that was very attractive or insanely fugly i'd check them out. If they were average i'd probably give them a miss. This is just if I saw some random pictures.

But If I like the song it doesn't matter about looks, since I would be LISTENING to them not looking at them while I'm listening.

Yes, they do. All my favorite singers are "pretty", and I tend not to give the less "beautiful" artists too much attention.

I think they matter in how they draw you in. I admit, I'm more likely (if just walking on the street or something and see posters of artist's upcoming albums) to pick artists who are good-looking than non-goodlooking.

That said, nowadays I tend to check out music first, because advertising is not as traditional as they used to be, and they have less affect nowadays for me personally.

However, I admit to being shallow when it comes to JE boybands, although I think some of them are actually pretty decent actors. And DBSK, although it was actually their song that drew me in...

Although in all honesty, no one in the music industry (and by music industry I mean pop and mainstream industry) is really ugly. I think some are plainer looking than others and some does not live to the beauty hype, but in terms of measuring against the standard of beauty no one truly lacks that.

Yes, they most certainly do. In pop music, an artists' image is a large part oft heir appeal and I can't deny the effect it has on me. I usually hate male artists but I definitely don't mind listening to Chris Brown and David Archuleta. Are the looks a factor? I would say so.

I'm like half-and-half, I can totally compromise if the music is great like Tony An's solo work. his material is very good, but he's not exactly that good looking to me.

Then there's AXS (access)...Hiro is sexy as all, but Daisuke needs to go sit in a corner somewhere and retire. Looking at their videos is hard for me to do because Daisuke (even though he's a legend...) is just HARD to look at.

But he's a moderately popular musician on his own now...Groups like TVXQ, I have to question myself by saying...If the five of them, or rather now-a-days, the three of them weren't good looking to me, would I still have considered making [Hug] my number one song in 2004?

When I listen to the song now, all I can think about is how HAWT Hero was back then with his bouquet of roses...and how adorable MAX was with the little kitten...But that's all the visual stuff. The song on it's own, just wasn't strong at all---It's was (for me) their looks that made me give them a second chance.

In fact, it wasn't even until their second album that I started to appreciate their vocal talents over their looks...So do looks matter?

Sadly, for me yeah sorta...Cuz, I mean I just don't care to much for artist's that look BLEH...

yup they're a prime eg. in that you don't need to know how the heck they look like to appericate the type of great music they make

Well, it's okay to have pretty posters in your room...
But okay: No, I don't really care.

looks are everything to me as shallow as that sounds :)
if i think someone looks fierce it makes me interested and gets me into their music
i mean i have ugly singers on my ipod but i dont listen to them as much

Basically no. If an artist is ugly but has great music, I can still listen to them and enjoy their music. But I probably wouldn't buy a dvd or something, haha :D

Of course the more attractive ones get more of my attention, because I watch their videos, concerts etc., and maybe even buy goods and such. I listen to many JE artists, but I don't like them just for their looks, of course not. I wouldn't listen to someone just because he or she is pretty, the music has to be good.

When I was a child, yes very much so. But now that I'm older, I know what is most important :yes.

Well, sometimes you hear a song on the radio, and you really love it without knowing who's singing it. So I think you can love music without taking looks into consideration. But sometimes you see a video of an attractive artist, and you like it, without paying too much attention to the music.
This issue has two sides, right?

yes and no. i don't care what anyone that i'm listening to looks like, because i'm not going to be staring at them, i'm listening to their music. i have to say that i'm in the same boat as karenpang, i actually like some johnny's groups for the music (and every other boyband i listen to, for that matter). i like two groups and i don't even find them very attractive.. maybe 2 or 3 of them, but that's about it. i had quite a few KAT-TUN songs before i knew what they looked like lol.

however, i'm more likely to support someone i find attractive. most of the albums, singles, photobooks, ect. that i own are pretty korean boybands.. and koda kumi. i'll buy albums of my favorites who need the sales regardless of what they look like, i'm not that shallow, but most things i buy because i think the cover is pretty, the booklet is pretty.. and i don't even need to explain photobooks, i'm sure.

In an ideal world looks wouldn't matter and talent would be the only requirement. However it would be fake to say that they do not. I always had the feeling that the entire J-Pop industry was focused on being young and pretty.

Looks are the first thing that usually intrigues a person and gets them interested. I still remember Kumi saying avex refused to promote her because she was "fat" to their standards. Leah wasn't an excellent singer and her Japanese was poor but she was popular because she was very pretty.

However I think looks are only work to a certain extent. If the artist is attractive, they will attract fans in the short term. However if they have no talent/bad management/etc.. their fanbase will soon fade unless their fanbase was actually formed from another career like acting/modeling.

I very much agree. In the end, it really is survival of the fittest.

I'm agree with you. If music is really great I don't care about what look the singer. A lot of beautiful guys & girls don't make good music!