[article] Why Asian boy-bands are successful with 5~7 members

[Keiichi_JPU]

EDIT: oh my, posted this in "artists & bands", should've been in the general Asian Music Chat area. I'm sorry, hopefully someone can move it
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I'm currently following a university course called "Youth, Family and Intergenerational Relationships in Japan", and I'm reading quite an interesting article about adolescence and teenagers in Japan. And by chance, I happened to have found an explanation of the huge success that boy-bands have! Take a look, just wanted to share this with anyone who's interested

Source: Merry Isaacs White - Taking Note of Teen Culture in Japan: Dear Diary, Dear Fieldworker

Discussions of consumer industries, especially those focused on youth, emphasize their control over their audience, their manipulations in extracting the pocket money of young innocents. Their research is indeed profit-driven and "applied," but it is thorough and accurate, as they need to know their market in great detail and because manufacturers spend large amounts of money on their youth-marketing manuals. Marketing think tanks engage in solidly empirical work and are quite open to learning from adolescents themselves. Preconceptions do not sell teen gear. They collect information of all kinds, from (of course) the amounts of ready cash young people have to less obvious data, such as how a thirteen-year-old feels about her mother, what a fifteen-year-old thinks the government should do about the environment while not neglecting how she feels about baring her midriff, and how many close friends she has.

One example of the use of such information by the highly interrelated pop-star industries came when I interviewed an editor at one of the leading pop-star magazines targeted to junior high school girls. He told me of the research they had conducted that showed girls of this age tending to form friendship groups consisting of about five to seven girls. This led the promotion agency to which their magazine was "affiliated" to seek out (and create) boy pop-star singing groups of this number. Their rationale was that if there were about the same number of boys in the idolized group as in the group of friends most important to a girl, then there would be harmonious adoration without competition: each one could idolize a different performer in the group. Their strategies, and the close and sensitive relationship between media and "manufacturers", seemed based on a nice use of applied social science.

[Mirrorcle Monster]

Wow...a really interesting article...there are lots of things companies control..

[Ranma Matsuri]

I already knew about the personality thing but this is quite interesting. I wonder if the same rationale applies to girl bands with like 9 members like Momosu and SNSD.

Wrong section though but the mods will move it soon enough.

[Keiichi_JPU]

Originally Posted by Heavenly Zerase

Wow...a really interesting article...there are lots of things companies control..

Yeah, I also found it really interesting! The whole article is much, much longer, but I'm really not allowed to scan it without breaking author's rights.

But it's definitely interesting, yes

@ranma matsuri: yes, I realized straight after I clicked "submit", I was like damnit!

[dreamland2.0]

Thanks! I find that very interesting!!

[FIRSTKLAS]

It's guess it's a "something for everyone" idea: have a good number of members in your group and each one is bound to appeal to someone.

Doesn't explain EXILE though.

There's, what, 20 of them in that group or something? And they all look like leathery old men with fake-n-bake tans.

[Polyrhythm]

I wonder how that author would rationalize the popularity of AKB48 o_o

[AyuGAME]

^LOL...

or NAKED BOYZ? yuck...

[Polyrhythm]

^You think that's gross? You have not heard of....

http://www.tokyohive.com/2010/09/aki...ew-unit-ojs48/

http://www.tokyohive.com/2010/10/40-...-samurai-rose/

[Ranma Matsuri]

^

Older people forming Idol groups is actually kinda cute.... you know, as long as they don't release PB's or calendars with bikini shots.

Not sure how you would explain the success of the 48 concept, I know part of their "thing" is the "idols you can talk to" bit. They hold a lot of handshake events and reading the member's profiles they go from incredibly ordinary to... well, unique. Maybe people like having a lot of options?

[Nackar_91]

Originally Posted by FIRSTKLAS

It's guess it's a "something for everyone" idea: have a good number of members in your group and each one is bound to appeal to someone.

Doesn't explain EXILE though.

There's, what, 20 of them in that group or something? And they all look like leathery old men with fake-n-bake tans.

There's 14 members in all, but most people just know the vocalists, ATSUSHI and Takahiro. And especially Takahiro is popular with girls for his looks. You could say they're the face. I'm guessing they're also popular for their music, I've actually seen men and women of all ages confessing to liking Ti Amo, Someday or Futatsu no Kuchibiru. : P

[Chibi-Chan]

Originally Posted by Polyrhythm

I wonder how that author would rationalize the popularity of AKB48 o_o

I was about to write the same... XD Interesting question, ne?

[TITANIC]

Originally Posted by Polyrhythm

^You think that's gross? You have not heard of....

http://www.tokyohive.com/2010/09/aki...ew-unit-ojs48/

http://www.tokyohive.com/2010/10/40-...-samurai-rose/

I read an article about OJS48 as well
http://www.tokyograph.com/news/id-6660
hahha wonder how their debut single will do