[Article] Put your music where your mouth is, Canada (Ayu mentioned)

[ArchangelLegend]

^ Yes, I 've read your post well and then voice my opinion. I was saying that marketing does not make the author's point any less valid (even though I disagree with the author). Suppose it was marketed, they can still have the same reactions and the author can still make the claim that Canadians are being close-minded. The fact that something is promoted or not, bears little of how open someone is. Suppose J-pop was highly promoted in Canada, there can still be people there being close-minded to the music. I can say that everything you are saying is 100% true but that's besides the author's point. I too can talk about marketing all I want but that really belongs in another thread. I'm not disagreeing with you, marketing is a factor of what people are exposed to, but that's different from the essence of the subject.

[ayumixfan]

Originally Posted by hpg23

I find the language barrier thing quite stupid. As the article mentions, American music is heard all around the world, even when a lot of people don´t understand English well or even at all (I mean... even when English is a world language most of the world´s population can´t understand a song). So why is it heard still? Because of the amazing voices and the amazing musical compositions of it? Well, no (not saying that American music is all bad, but you understand my point, right?). I´ts because marketing. And the thing is, we, the fans, are not going to make good publicity of J-Pop, because it´s just not enough. It´s Avex and the other record labels who have to invest money on it and give people a chance... C´mon!!!

Apart from that, yes, people are very CLOSE MINDED and sometimes RACIST. I am so tired of them when they say, here in Spain, "Oh, stop listening to chinese "music" " (refering to J-Pop, that´s it). I would just shot them down, really, it gets on my nerves. And the fun thing is, that those people get extremely offended if they get confused with Mexicans or Latin Americans by foreign people. Really, stop being hypocrital and get yourselves a life.

See you say that the marketers don't bother investing, so is that the fault of the people to not want to hear it ? I don't think so. Not everyone is going to look for foreign music to listen to when there's music they like playing in their country. If people around the world listen to american music, thats because they like it. I don't see how that makes them more openminded than north americans. A lot of people internationally INSULT the american culture, yet they listen to the music, what does that tell you. does that meean they're open-minded to the US or just their music >_>

ONCE AGAIN i find ur comment very rude. Uh... jsut because someone mistakens the langauge doesn't mean they're racist =_= I'm asian myself but when I see asians I assume they're chinese or korean, SO WHAT! does that make me racist against my own kind now? No, ok (I like being asian) so they might be kinda close minded on FOREIGN MUSIC, but htat doesn't mean they don't accept foreign cultures at all. Its liek saying I hate apples so I don't accept fruits as a total. one things doesn't cover a whole. I know that its kinda rude of them to tell you to stop listening to that music, but thats just because they're inconsiderate of your preference of music, not being they don't like other cultures.

Sorry, I'm not personally attacking you, but some things you said right there is very offensive IMO. This author is SO rude. She needs to stop making assumptions. If you want to persuade people to try new things, just reason without the insults please.

[ArchangelLegend]

^ Yes, the author made the wrong step, from disliking a song to an entire nation being close-minded. She even stated "we aren't really the best in embracing other cultures." Anyone can hate a song and embrace other cultures (marketed or not). And as you mention, it can be the other way around too, someone can insult a culture and listen to their music, which may be awkard.

The reason is simple, they just didn't like the music. Not that Canadians are close-minded and hate Germans and their music.

[emi♡]

There are probably a million reasons why people around the world listen to American music, and it doesn't all have to do with the market, although, I'm not going to say that America having the biggest industry has nothing to do with it. It most certainly does, but that's not everything.

and what hpg23 meant by the last comment, was that, there are many people around the world who are adamant about people not being racist towards them, to the point where they even get angry if people call them something they aren't (to use his example, mexicans and "latin americans"), yet they are racist towards other cultures themselves, calling japanese things chinese and such.

To which I say...it is very annoying, but it's more ignorance than racism. You can't blame people for being stupid when that's all they know.

actually my favorite quote in this matter comes from pirates of the caribbean lol towards the end i think, when the crew leaves Jack and Elizabeth...he says, "They done what's right by them, can't ask more than that." And that's very true, of all people.

[hpg23]

^hahahaah

ayumixfan, sorry if I gave that impression with my post, but it was not my intention at all to sound rude. I was just saying that actually, if you see someone with asian features and you don´t know from which country he/she is, call him/her asian then, since that´s how they should be called, but don´t call them chinese or korean or whatever, since that person could get offended (I say this from my personal opinion and based on my personal experience). The example I listed was because those people I mentioned already know that I listening to Japanese music and they still name it chinese just because they think they are chinese. I mean, if I were from Japan I would get offended, cause no one likes to be called something that they aren´t (not saying that Japan is superior to China, I think that all countries are equal, just in case you are going to attack me for this comment, too). You have your own cultural identity already, so stop cheaply switching other people´s. And I agree totally with what emiko said.

Back to topic, I was just saying that in the modern music world, marketing has a lot to do with people liking something. Not all people are going to play Kingdom Hearts or watch some anime series and get hooked on the theme song, and find J-Pop that way. Really, people just don´t even bother.

Anyway, I think that people talk so much about being all one world, every culture is equal, and all that, but in the end there´s still some social taboos and differences that people have not changed yet. I understand perfectly that you can dislike Ayumi´s music or Japanese music in general, since music is a matter of taste, but I think that some people just close themselves the moment they hear: hey, Ayu is japanese. And specially with Japan, I think there´s this kind of "stigma" (don´t know how to express this, stigma is too strong) of being nerd or freak or whatever just for liking things that come from there. Fortunately, I think that all this will gradually change over time... I mean you can´t pretend people to change after many years of cultural imperialism.

And I´m not saying any of this with the intention of being rude, politically incorrect or old fashioned, I´m just voicing my opinion and I think that people from every country should have the same chances, and really, since we are lucky enough to live in such a diverse planet with so many different cultures... why don´t we make use of all that?

[critter333294]

hpg23: I agree, people tend to close themselves off to things that are different, because lets face it, as much as we want to deny it even today in such a diverse world, people DO NOT like change. They hate things that are not what they're used to. Now there are always exceptions, but I know if I were to go to a party and cut on STEP you or something, people would be like WTF? Because it's not something they're used to. It takes a long time for people to accept something other than the norm, and even then there's still always that one group of people who will never accept it.


So yeah that's my 2 cents...

[RikkuChii]

I commend the person who wrote this article.

[ayumixfan]

Originally Posted by hpg23

^hahahaah

ayumixfan, sorry if I gave that impression with my post, but it was not my intention at all to sound rude. I was just saying that actually, if you see someone with asian features and you don´t know from which country he/she is, call him/her asian then, since that´s how they should be called, but don´t call them chinese or korean or whatever, since that person could get offended (I say this from my personal opinion and based on my personal experience). The example I listed was because those people I mentioned already know that I listening to Japanese music and they still name it chinese just because they think they are chinese. I mean, if I were from Japan I would get offended, cause no one likes to be called something that they aren´t (not saying that Japan is superior to China, I think that all countries are equal, just in case you are going to attack me for this comment, too). You have your own cultural identity already, so stop cheaply switching other people´s. And I agree totally with what emiko said.

Back to topic, I was just saying that in the modern music world, marketing has a lot to do with people liking something. Not all people are going to play Kingdom Hearts or watch some anime series and get hooked on the theme song, and find J-Pop that way. Really, people just don´t even bother.

Anyway, I think that people talk so much about being all one world, every culture is equal, and all that, but in the end there´s still some social taboos and differences that people have not changed yet. I understand perfectly that you can dislike Ayumi´s music or Japanese music in general, since music is a matter of taste, but I think that some people just close themselves the moment they hear: hey, Ayu is japanese. And specially with Japan, I think there´s this kind of "stigma" (don´t know how to express this, stigma is too strong) of being nerd or freak or whatever just for liking things that come from there. Fortunately, I think that all this will gradually change over time... I mean you can´t pretend people to change after many years of cultural imperialism.

And I´m not saying any of this with the intention of being rude, politically incorrect or old fashioned, I´m just voicing my opinion and I think that people from every country should have the same chances, and really, since we are lucky enough to live in such a diverse planet with so many different cultures... why don´t we make use of all that?

ohh ok, sorry for being so RAWR on you lol ~! Its just i get tired of people assuming things aobut other people. Sometimes i just feel like people try TOO hard to force their friends to listen to japanese music. You don't seem like that kind of person, but some people on this forum give me that vibe with their responses. They seem to think all american music is trashy and I think thats really silly.

[Pow!]

Yeah, sometimes this problem is like a cycle, I mean, when one person who never listen to jpop or maybe he listened but didn't like it, he tend to dislike it and even sometimes made labels to people who listen to it as a nerd/something similar. And when one other person who likes to listen to jpop/something similar and he didn't like american music, he tend to label american music trashy because of the lyrics, etc etc. I think they are the kind of people who is close minded, for labeling something they don't acknowledge very much, I mean not 'ALL' japanese or american music is trashy. Labeling something because of just one, two, even thirty, or a hundred things you didn't like is not right..

Everybody have the rights to choose which kind of things they like and dislike, so we can't force anybody else to listen to what we think is very great, and assuming people as a nerd or freak because of things they like and dislike is very rude, imo.

But, yes, there is something like stigma (like hpg23 said) about liking japanese music. I often (but not always) get this vibe from people around who dislike jpop, and it seems that they thought of me as an 'otaku'. I don't like it. I want to say, 'Hey, I like american, jamaican, and latin music too, as long as the music fits my ear!' but just because I like jpop, anything else doesn't matter for them.. ugh,, it's ridiculous,,
but of course, not all people are like that

Originally Posted by emiko

There are probably a million reasons why people around the world listen to American music, and it doesn't all have to do with the market, although, I'm not going to say that America having the biggest industry has nothing to do with it. It most certainly does, but that's not everything.

Yes, it's true. One of the reason why other language won't sell well is because the music industry. I mean, if MTV (in the whole world) shows Ayu's pvs along with other artists 'regularly' (not just as a midnight or early morning show, bleh), Ayumi might become very famous, not as just the JPop Empress..

[ArchangelLegend]

I also want to point out that by the author's logic, if I don't like certain American songs, then I am close-minded despite that fact that I grew up with these songs, exposed to them very well, and listened to them several times before I made an opinion about them (whether it be pop, rock, dance, techno, acoustic, rap, oldies, etc.). It does not make sense that I'll be close-minded to my own culture and music that I know very well.

Some long-term fans here just don't like some of Ayu's songs, and it will not make sense to say they are close-minded of Ayu's music (only to the author).

As I mentioned, people usually stick with what they are used to and grew up with. It's just a part of who they are and what they become. Yes, they are people who are culturally close-minded, but not because of disliking a song (even if they call a song Chinese when it's really Japanese, that's more of an ignorance issue).

[AyuRox]

OMG! I totally agree. And y'know whats really ironic/contradictory? ppl say that music is universal, but is it truly universal when there are ppl with attitudes like that? I'll never understand it when a person says "I don't like music when I can't understand the language". Actually, because I listen to music I don't understand the lyrics to (I assume that's the reason), I find myself listening more to the instrumentation than the vocals. Even if the song's in English.

[zyoeru]

Nice article. It's true, a lot of people are unwilling to experiment outside of English language music.
Like my dad, he claims he's this "muso" and he's so unwilling to listen to anything outside conventional music...
He doesn't like early Nightwish because of Tarja's vocals, he doesn't like Gackt because of his deep voice, he doesn't like Rammstein because he considers them a "joke band", he only likes Ayumi because she's pretty, but he's even said that he doesn't like music where he can't understand the lyrics.

I don't mind someone not liking music because the dislike it, but for someone to dislike a music based on language, I see this as a form of racism tbh.

To me, vocals are just another instrument, sure they have the added meaning of words, but even without words it's still an instrument, so it makes me laugh when "musos" say that vocals aren't an instrument, and vocalists who can't play an instrument are untalented...

But yeah. That's all I have to say on it really. xD

[evolution7931]

ayumixfan knows what he's talking about.

And I love the analogy "Ppl overseas constantly bash the USA yet they listen to American music, so does that mean they LIKE the USA?" Its the same thing.

that article is a disgrace

& do you see Japanese people listening to music other than Japanese and English? Why do Korean albums BOMB there? Why don't they listen to C-pop? Maybe for the same reason WE don't.. Just because they listen to music in their native language and English doesn't make them any more open minded than us. They are raised listening to Japanese and with English media all around them (shows, music, movies etc). I don't see THEM venturing off to buy Korean/Chinese/French etc music en masse, so STFU