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

[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