yeah being on a no name label based in north america is a lot less rough than being on a no name label based in an extremely culturally rich country with one of the most flourishing music industries on the entire planet for sure

poor ichiko aoba

o w8

no chill

well professionally im sure she is doing just fine, aside from us north americans thinking being relatively unknown in the western world means you are unsuccessful and unknown

"extremely culturally rich country with one of the most flourishing music industries on the entire planet"

Album Rating: 4.5

h e n t a i

japanese music industry is amazing compared to here. there are tonnes of artists there that may be pretty much obsolete to the western world that are massively successful in their own country. i mean unless you measure success by being well-known by countries who treat people in the field like garbage.

http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/global/1568815/why-japans-music-industry-is-booming-for-now

http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2014/01/8-mind-blowing-facts-about-music-business-in-japan.html

http://www.wipo.int/about-wipo/en/offices/japan/news/2015/news_0034.html

cases where cultural isolation and the push to become 'civilized' (based on western perspectives of the term) create a breeding ground for artistic enrichment

"i still don't get what makes the japanese music industry more survivable than ours though, is there an at-a-glance version you could provide"

check those links

Album Rating: 3.5

they don't use online services thats why

"they don't use online services thats why"

no, that is just one aspect of many of why.

the latter link i dropped there Toad explains why japanese artists have different versions of their releases (ala boris 'smile' etc) and why japanese releases often get special bonus tracks and extras too and why that is and how it stems from and perpetuates a good music industry

so anyways, yeah

thats why im not too upset about ichiko's relative obscurity over here

Album Rating: 4.5

as long as the artist is happy and stable who cares, so what if you're an unknown to a soulless market

it's so interesting though that this push to 'civilize' (again, to conform to western notions of the concept) has in some ways liberated Japan and in others really depraved them. Like the whole porn censorship thing also stems from that push to catch up and appear civilized to the western world when Japan historically has been an extremely sexually liberal country compared to our culture which is rooted in the awful oppressive elizabethan views on sexuality. anyways they started censoring pornography to appear more 'civilized' and that resulted in weird shit like tentacle porn and other odd niches that overcompensate for that.

i mean it makes sense if you have to censor a dick just use something that looks like a dick that isnt a dick.

truly fascinating stuff

Probably the coolest part of their music industry for the consumer and artist is the fanclub related stuff they do and the amount of stunning limited editions they can do since people actually buy the music over there. If people join the fanclub the artist gets direct money from you (especially compared to the amount from a CD purchase) and you get a bunch of exclusive stuff, the most extreme of this being fanclub exclusive shows which are only available for members. Plus sometimes those are filmed on put on either DVD/Blu Rays in limited editions or in the most extreme case make a fanclub only DVD/Blu Ray.