Why Avex?

[*Petit*]

Something I've been thinking about lately is why there are certain labels that appeal to foreign fans when it comes to japanese music. At least it seems to me that foreign fans (at least the english speaking ones, which are my point of reference) prefer one (or two) labels.

One thing is that female japanese artists are more popular among foreigners than the male ones. Another thing is that they mostly seem to be on either Hello Project or Avex. Also fans are much more likely to catch up on a new and hardly charting not famous artist from one of these two labels than f.ex a debut off Pony Canyon orGIza.

One might say that many of the top artists are from these labels and that's why they get people's attention, but that's really not the truth. GIZA used to have many top artists, and even today many are more popular than f.eks the H!P ones. How often do you encounter fanatic Mai Kuraki fans? Or even a single faithful fan of Rina Aiuchi? About as often as you encounter fans of hardly charting avex artists as sifow, beni arashiro or H!P's Cute?

And how did this relationship and or awareness of label become established? Personally I hardly know which label any western artists are on at all, and I coulden't care less...

So what's making these artists from certain labels so addicting to the foreign fans? They're not subject to what's called the avex marketing machine, so there's gotta be something else.

(I'll probalby state my opinion later, I'm just curious to see other people replies or if anyone even have an opinion on this..

[bondingo]

Well avex is the most common label among the artists that I listen to since many of my favorites are signed under it, such as Ayu, Amuro Namie, Koda Kumi, and BoA. However, the label makes no difference to me, as artists such as Shiina Ringo, Utada Hikaru, Yuna Ito, MISIA, and Kamiki Aya (GIZA) are all under different labels and yet I would view them no differently if they were signed with avex. I think avex itself (possibly moreso than others) is just extremely money-hungry so I'm not a fan of the label itself, rather I just happen to like many of the artists affiliated with it.

[LacusClyne]

well, Avex IS a very big company, they have one in taiwan too. and there are a number of artist under Avex.
Avex is strong in marketing, which is a reason why a lot of people will remember this company

[AyuGAME]

foreigner usually the first song their hear usually was coming from avex artist but after that usually they searching another artist from another company...

[Cloud]

In fact in China, J-Pop fans tend to be among avex-fans, VR fans, and Johnny's fangirls...

[ayu_fan929]

Originally Posted by *Petit*

And how did this relationship and or awareness of label become established? Personally I hardly know which label any western artists are on at all, and I coulden't care less...

I think it's just different in how things are run between the Asian industry and the American/Western industry. I too hardly know which label any of the US singers come from, but for Asian artists, I somehow do. I guess it's because the power an Asian record label has is a lot more than a US record label? I dunno. Also, I see the Asian record labels promoting their unity and closeness in the media, such as EEG or Gold Label Family (both HK) or SM Town/YG Family (Korea) or a-nation (Japan). I don't think these kinds of things happen in the US. So maybe that's why a relationship is established; the record companies make it that way hoping that if you support one artist from their company, you support other artists from their company as well?

[*Petit*]

^

Yeah I think so too. The label becomes kind of like a brand like Starbucks or Burger King. Also it seems that byusing the same poeple writing and producing songs the label manages to produce a certain sound, even though there are a lot of different artists.

[Jayee19]

I agree with ayu_fan929 and *Petit*.

[hallelujah_united]

The music festivals are a really good way for the record companies to allow fans who support one of their artistes to get to know the other ones from the company as well, which is why there seems to be a more apparent "label" supporting culture in Asia.