【Discussion】Globalize J-artists/Jpop; what should be done?

[Yagami Raito]

Hi everyone I I hope you're all doing well despite what's going on around the world right now.

I wanted to have a discussion with you about the current Jpop industry seen from outside Japan and gather some of your opinions and views on this subject.

I don't want to lie about my motivation here. In fact, I am currently working in Japan on a new official digital platform that is already planned to be used by some J-artists in a near future. I want to make it accessible to fans around Japan and, in the long run, try to reach more people around the world!
That may sound easy... But when it's something official and that you have to fight with stubborn people that don't understand global standards, it's a real nightmare.
Unfortunately, I can't really disclose any good details but it may result as something similar to Weverse. The majority of the contents will be accessible for free, but some options, as for example embedded Fanclub services/premium content will be charged for the users that register to those.


So here are the main questions :

1. What should be done, at least on a digital level, to make Jpop more global and accessible to a worldwide audience?

2. As a Jpop fan/listener living outside of Japan, what are the difficulties you have to consume/enjoy Jpop related contents from your favorite artists?

3. As a fan living outside of Japan, what would you expect from a Fanclub? For TeamAyu members, let me know the issues you may have enjoying it and your complaints.

4.Any other issues? Let me know.

Of course, I won't be able to change the whole industry that, I think, should be revised from a deeper point.
I will use your opinion and comments as reference to make Jpop/Jmusic more accessible worldwide and create a better fan community for each artist.

[KarenPang]

1. What should be done, at least on a digital level, to make Jpop more global and accessible to a worldwide audience?

For starters , make information language friendly cos this's 1 of many things that KPop overtook JPop the last decade or so

Marketing as well cos unfortunately Japan still has a very closed in mindset way of thinking & doing things

Which's somehow ironic given that on 1 hand they want to do the Olympics :|

Japanese way of doing things is if they want to get things done , everyone all has to say yes . Nobody can object to it , if just 1 person objects , then the plan will not be executed

I know this 1st hand due to personal experience

Let alone whenever Japanese artistes come here before , most of the time they always tend to be surprised there're people that knows who they're

I think sometimes Japanese underestimate themselves cos a lot of times they could have capitalised on overseas markets but for a wide variety of reasons , that did not happen

Except if you're a charity , isn't a company's main goal is to earn $ & profit ?

Sometimes also it's the artiste's agency themselves at fault too

Like for Johnny & Associates , they held off using SNS for the longest time & it felt like a plague to them

Only the last few years that changed for the better somewhat . J&A lost out a lot big time cos they're not a monopoly any longer

2. As a Jpop fan/listener living outside of Japan, what are the difficulties you have to consume/enjoy Jpop related contents from your favourite artists?

I base the answering of this question from my own experience

Years ago when I became a BREAKERZ fan , it was through MTV Taiwan . After I found out about them via cable TV , I wanted to search more details about them online but even up to now I can't even find decent up to date information about them , not even in English

So I took it upon myself to update about them anything everything for the last decade or so

Streaming & all that , not really a concern for me cos I never believe in streaming sites

Videos / performances wise , it depends on the artiste & which company they're under in . At least now those musicians under Sony Music Japan , their videos uploaded on YouTube are not stupidly region blocked now

3. As a fan living outside of Japan, what would you expect from a Fanclub?

Other than priority ticket balloting for concerts or fanclub events :

- Fanclub blog update
- Magazine be it digital or physical
- Miscellaneous stuff like exclusive fanclub related video , computer/handphone wallpaper

I've been really lucky that from day 1 , BREAKERZ's fanclub take things seriously & so happens that this year they revamped their entire fanclub to the next level

That and also continuing to issue physical birthday & Christmas cards too alongside with renewal gifts

Of course those are secondary stuff but I like that they do not treat their fanclub members as disposable & make me feel it's worth to continue to renewal my fanclub membership on an annual basis which this has been going on for years

And I will do that again this year

[Yagami Raito]

Originally Posted by KarenPang

1. What should be done, at least on a digital level, to make Jpop more global and accessible to a worldwide audience?

For starters , make information language friendly cos this's 1 of many things that KPop overtook JPop the last decade or so

Marketing as well cos unfortunately Japan still has a very closed in mindset way of thinking & doing things

Which's somehow ironic given that on 1 hand they want to do the Olympics :|

Japanese way of doing things is if they want to get things done , everyone all has to say yes . Nobody can object to it , if just 1 person objects , then the plan will not be executed

I know this 1st hand due to personal experience

Let alone whenever Japanese artistes come here before , most of the time they always tend to be surprised there're people that knows who they're

I think sometimes Japanese underestimate themselves cos a lot of times they could have capitalised on overseas markets but for a wide variety of reasons , that did not happen

Except if you're a charity , isn't a company's main goal is to earn $ & profit ?

Sometimes also it's the artiste's agency themselves at fault too

Like for Johnny & Associates , they held off using SNS for the longest time & it felt like a plague to them

Only the last few years that changed for the better somewhat . J&A lost out a lot big time cos they're not a monopoly any longer

2. As a Jpop fan/listener living outside of Japan, what are the difficulties you have to consume/enjoy Jpop related contents from your favourite artists?

I base the answering of this question from my own experience

Years ago when I became a BREAKERZ fan , it was through MTV Taiwan . After I found out about them via cable TV , I wanted to search more details about them online but even up to now I can't even find decent up to date information about them , not even in English

So I took it upon myself to update about them anything everything for the last decade or so

Streaming & all that , not really a concern for me cos I never believe in streaming sites

Videos / performances wise , it depends on the artiste & which company they're under in . At least now those musicians under Sony Music Japan , their videos uploaded on YouTube are not stupidly region blocked now

3. As a fan living outside of Japan, what would you expect from a Fanclub?

Other than priority ticket balloting for concerts or fanclub events :

- Fanclub blog update
- Magazine be it digital or physical
- Miscellaneous stuff like exclusive fanclub related video , computer/handphone wallpaper

I've been really lucky that from day 1 , BREAKERZ's fanclub take things seriously & so happens that this year they revamped their entire fanclub to the next level

That and also continuing to issue physical birthday & Christmas cards too alongside with renewal gifts

Of course those are secondary stuff but I like that they do not treat their fanclub members as disposable & make me feel it's worth to continue to renewal my fanclub membership on an annual basis which this has been going on for years

And I will do that again this year

Thank you so much for your detailed answer!! I wasn't expecting someone to write so much. Thank you again!
Let me just tell you, that I hear you when you speak about that everyone has to say YES lol

Even now, the majority thinks that undertaking a global marketing is not worth the efforts put into it when you compared to the domestic market. I can understand to a certain extent yet the Japanese domestic market is shrinking every year and I think there's a ton of things that can be done to appeal the global market without that many investments... In particular, as you said, the access to official (and updated!) information in different languages that Japanese!

[KarenPang]

Originally Posted by Yagami Raito

Thank you so much for your detailed answer!! I wasn't expecting someone to write so much. Thank you again!
Let me just tell you, that I hear you when you speak about that everyone has to say YES lol

Even now, the majority thinks that undertaking a global marketing is not worth the efforts put into it when you compared to the domestic market. I can understand to a certain extent yet the Japanese domestic market is shrinking every year and I think there's a ton of things that can be done to appeal the global market without that many investments... In particular, as you said, the access to official (and updated!) information in different languages that Japanese!

No problem

Unfortunately not a lot of Japanese artistes are willing to do things in a global setting & it's still a minority few of artistes who have done that

The majority still feel content to be stuck and promoting within Japan itself

Luckily over the last few years that has changed but it's not like the huge impact that KPop had over the last decade or so

Also you have to take into consideration a lot of factors if you want Japanese artistes to do things in a global setting

Some would want to do that but others chose not to do & vice versa

Also regarding the Japanese culture way of doing things , yes I know & it's really annoying especially if you proclaim yourself to be a global bank :s