My Two Cents on the MoMusu/Anime Expo Controversy (The Groove Music Life)
Should Up-Front Works seriously rethink their global strategy and what kind of channels they use when planning their artists future live appearances in the western world? This question is very accurate after what has happened behind the scenes of LA Anime Expo and how Stockholm Expo was surprisingly canceled last spring.
CJ Marsicano has a thought for this question. It’s very clear and I’ll outrightly buy it. Why try to push H!P acts to the western audiences via unstable Anime Expos when U-FW could cooperate with major established western booking agencies and such? With this kind of strategy change H!P’s artists could get even wider audiences. And again I have this hopefully not so absurd vision: Grand Western H!P tour in Europe and US.
Comment by Piper G — 2010/02/20 @ 4:01 pm
The difference between working with an established booking agency and working with a fan convention is this: one costs UFA money with no guaranteed return and the other almost invariably makes money.
In order to secure a Japanese musical act most anime conventions pay an appearance fee in addition to covering the performers’ travel, lodging, and a per diem for food. The bands are also usually provided free space to sell their merchandise both during the show and throughout the weekend as well as free publicity for the appearance. Some bands also require a guaranteed minimum attendance so that they can say for certain that they played to N thousand screaming American fans.
As much as I love Morning Musume I don’t think they (or any other performer from Japan, really) could fill a 7,500 person auditorium on their own. Those of us at AX who really cared about seeing well bought reserved seats but at least half of the auditorium was filled with people who had been in the standby line. My boyfriend happened to turn around during the concert – while the front half of the room was going absolutely wild the back half kind of looked like they just walked into a Rocky Horror screening or a Catholic Mass without having any idea of what goes on.
That’s part of the benefit of an anime convention – because the concert is cheap/free and goes on as part of a weekend full of entertainment there are a lot of individuals who come into a concert just out of curiosity and become fans as a result.
The tradeoff is that the anime con industry is volatile and almost entirely volunteer run. This means that the folks you see at cons are very passionate but only a select few really have an eye for business. The SPJA has done some great things throughout its lifespan and it’s a shame that their current CEO seems to be bent on dismantling the organization and destroying its reputation. I blame it partially on the CEO and partially on the Board that appointed him, and I’m surprised that no one has yet looked into the organization’s bylaws to attempt to fix the problem from the inside.
Comment by Hanachan — 2010/02/20 @ 9:37 pm
I think you just described a good chunk of how I feel about the H!P-in-the-West-thing and the AX situation better than how I ever wish I could. *claps*
Comment by zush — 2010/02/21 @ 6:33 am
@ Piper G > Yours is of course more realsitic view than my H!P Grand Tour daydream but as my interest to anime, manga & cospaly is almost zero I still keep thinking how many my kind of ppl are there who are into H!P (and widely speaking into J-pop and rock) but don’t care much about going to Anime Expos. I only want to see my H!P idols, everything else is quite irrelevant. That’s why best concert venues for me to go are for example concert halls, theaters and clubs where you can see the whole shows with decent stage setups and with devoted crowds around you.
I’m not going to the financial questions because they are more guessing than knowing facts on my side but I want to throw this not so new idea into the air: H!P making it’s first steps to the west is not big business for sure. At this stage U-FW does not think “big” and that’s realism. Long tours and big venues are out of question but small places like clubs could be more considerable choices for H!P’s acts. Could small scale concept like they have used in Japan Nite club tours work also with groups like Buono! and Berryz Kobo?
Comment by Piper G — 2010/02/21 @ 8:52 am
Anime cons are capable of very good stage setups. The question is who they are using for their tech, how much they have worked with that person on the setup of the venue itself, and whether that person has all of the information he or she needs about the performers through their technical riders. If AX had used the Nokia Theater again last year MM would have had a smaller audience but a vastly improved stage setup.
If Melon was still going to be around I’d say small clubs would be an incredible venue for them, and they’d also make a great venue for H&A. The sad part is that while it would make for great concerts for the other groups, it’s not really profitable for UFA at that point. What has to be taken into consideration is the opportunity cost of performing overseas. In this case I’m not talking about the physical expenses of travel, lodging, and food. Rather, it’s this question: how much money could my band make in Japan in the time they’d spend overseas?
Because of the expense of travel and the limited audiences I’d say Buono would be the best candidate out of current H!P for a small venue tour. It’s made difficult by their age and the fact that the group members are some of H!P’s best sellers right now. Three days out of the country is doable but a week or two weeks is a bit trickier.
Comment by Pata — 2010/02/21 @ 6:28 pm
Just copy what AKB48 did: Have a convention pay for your trip and appear as guests at THEIR event, but then put on the “full” concert at an outside venue (although still backed by the con).