Interview with an ex-visual kei record executive

[VKHistorian]

This is probably true of many bands, which explains why VK is full of unimaginative copycats, but there are also bands who really do view their visuals as a way of getting a message across.

And the sweet, sweet irony of that is that if they are copying everyone else, they don't stand out at all.

@Berserk: I don't think it's impossible for it to be completely made up. If you look around the internet, people have pulled off some spectacular lies before- you get people making up whole new personas, claiming to be dying for attention- and it's been ages before anyone's cottoned on. I agree that it's unlikely to be completely made up, but it's not impossible. It would just mean that Mr. Satoh is a very, very good liar.

 

[Berserk]

Hell, Malice got a namedrop here:

SATOH-SAN: There are sort of gangs of fans, girls who hang out before the show, who create their own para-para choreographies, who try to uncover secrets about the band and swap them. These fans also get aggressive with other fans – both fans of the other bands at a show, or girls that they consider ‘fake fans’ of their favorite band.

TDR: What band was known for having the most maniac, violent fans?

SATOH-SAN: Most bands had some kind of hard-core followers. But the ‘bad fan’ band – that was a title that changed every year. Mirage, Malice Mizer, Kuroyume are some of the bands that come to mind.

(I'm going to stop posting until I finish the interview now XD)

 

[Amatsu]

The Roadie Chain thing seems to make sense, though, at least with the examples he gave. (Not that I believe that Kamijo writes all of the music on Sherow--I don't.)

Kuroyume -> Dir en Grey -> The GazettE
Malice Mizer -> Lareine

I'd buy that.

I think I remember reading something that said that another member of Lareine, besides Kamijo, was a Malice Mizer roadie.

edit: if this were true it would sure shed some light on Kisaki's tax evasion bullshit.

 

[flowersofnight]

But damn. I have to wonder how applicable that "contract padding" and "shadow-owning" bit is applicable to Mana

I doubt he's into that, it seems like he's not really into business-to-business deals (so far as we know). Other than his presumably above-board deals with Sony, everything Mana does seems to be by and for himself.

Oh, and I just wanted to say the little mention of Velvet Eden amused me

 

[Amatsu]

Oh, and I just wanted to say the little mention of Velvet Eden amused me

But yeah, I remember being shocked by them because his pants were so low, there were pubes sort of sprouting out.

I'm dying right now.

 

[Lem]

If you put KISAKI's name next to a lot of it I can believe it Also Matina comes to mind when I read about one guy writing all the songs for the label's bands and most of the band guys sucking pretty hard

Some of it I'm skeptical about however I can totally 100% believe the marketing of maxi-singles. I normally avoid buying singles and usually wait for an album to be released because it usually has most of the songs from the singles on it anyway

 

[Berserk]

But damn. I have to wonder how applicable that "contract padding" and "shadow-owning" bit is applicable to Mana

I doubt he's into that, it seems like he's not really into business-to-business deals (so far as we know). Other than his presumably above-board deals with Sony, everything Mana does seems to be by and for himself.

Oh, and I just wanted to say the little mention of Velvet Eden amused me

Well think about it. When Tokyo sends the tax-man, Mana can say "well sure, Midi:Nette made this much and this much and this much, but look how much it had to pay to Moi-même-Moitié! "

So Midi:Nette would pay less in taxes because of all those "expenses" that are really just going right back to Mana. Right? That would be the advantage of owning more parts of production the way he does.

And about Velvet Eden--was he saying that Dada has been a graphic designer for FREEWILL Records all these years?

 

[VKHistorian]

Well think about it. When Tokyo sends the tax-man, Mana can say "well sure, Midi:Nette made this much and this much and this much, but look how much it had to pay to Moi-même-Moitié! "

So Midi:Nette would pay less in taxes because of all those "expenses" that are really just going right back to Mana. Right? That would be the advantage of owning more parts of production the way he does.

That would be very difficult, seeing as Mana doesn't hide the fact that he owns both Midi:nette and Moi Meme Moitie. That part of the interview was talking about shadow-owners, who own a company but hide their involvement and pretend it belongs to someone else entirely, not anyone with two companies.

Nothing to stop Mana trying a tax fiddle that way, of course, but it would only work if his taxman was Mr. Bean.

And about Velvet Eden--was he saying that Dada has been a graphic designer for FREEWILL Records all these years?

I think I've read somewhere that he was indeed working for Free-Will at one point. Doesn't necessarily mean that's all he's been doing though.

 

[VKHistorian]

Well think about it. When Tokyo sends the tax-man, Mana can say "well sure, Midi:Nette made this much and this much and this much, but look how much it had to pay to Moi-même-Moitié! "

So Midi:Nette would pay less in taxes because of all those "expenses" that are really just going right back to Mana. Right? That would be the advantage of owning more parts of production the way he does.

That would be very difficult, seeing as Mana doesn't hide the fact that he owns both Midi:nette and Moi Meme Moitie. That part of the interview was talking about shadow-owners, who own a company but hide their involvement and pretend it belongs to someone else entirely, not anyone with two companies.

And about Velvet Eden--was he saying that Dada has been a graphic designer for FREEWILL Records all these years?

I think I've read somewhere that he was indeed working for Free-Will at one point. Doesn't necessarily mean that's all he's been doing though.

 

[~Z e n c h o u~]

"That guy is a graphic designer now, at FREEWILL records. But yeah, I remember being shocked by them because his pants were so low, there were pubes sort of sprouting out."

I lol'd.

 

[shazzer]

Hm actually after the first reading of the article, I phoned one of my friends and we red it together. It really fascinates me but not because of what it says but how it says stuff. To be honest, if I had such information I'd either write a book or go to a newspaper instead of publishing information like that on an unknown blog.

I once visited a university course called "literature of arguement" which said that it is not really important what we say, but how we do it. I think it is fascinating that one blog entry of somebody who might be real/ might be fake manages it to spread a tiny and unknown blog all over the internet and causes visu/j-rock fans to discuss it.

If it were a normal entry in a forum, somebody saying something like: I know that all jrocker are linked together and it is like the yakuza then hardly anybody would have believed it, most people would have trashed it but this person manages it to create a narrator who tells others well known stuff/rumours and so on combined with some drama and now a lot of people try to find out whether it is fake or not. Actually I am really more fascinated about that fact. (wow I think I am really getting what my course wanted to tell me).

 

[Amatsu]

TDR: Weeest siiiiide!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SATOH-SAN:???

Best part of the interview.

 

[Berserk]

Well think about it. When Tokyo sends the tax-man, Mana can say "well sure, Midi:Nette made this much and this much and this much, but look how much it had to pay to Moi-même-Moitié! "

So Midi:Nette would pay less in taxes because of all those "expenses" that are really just going right back to Mana. Right? That would be the advantage of owning more parts of production the way he does.

That would be very difficult, seeing as Mana doesn't hide the fact that he owns both Midi:nette and Moi Meme Moitie. That part of the interview was talking about shadow-owners, who own a company but hide their involvement and pretend it belongs to someone else entirely, not anyone with two companies.

Sure, but you never know. Just because he publicly takes ownership of it doesn't mean his tax forms don't list a Midi:Nette employee, a friend, a relative or someone else as technically "owning" it for the sake of saving some cash. And the same thing could go for Mon+Amour.

If he and Yukie Itoh are as tight as it seems they might be, maybe he's saying "oh yeah, my company has to pay her company so much money, so it's not really a profit", while the money still stays in the family, so to speak.

 

[VKHistorian]

Sure, but you never know. Just because he publicly takes ownership of it doesn't mean his tax forms don't list a Midi:Nette employee, a friend, a relative or someone else as technically "owning" it for the sake of saving some cash. And the same thing could go for Mon+Amour.

If he and Yukie Itoh are as tight as it seems they might be, maybe he's saying "oh yeah, my company has to pay her company so much money, so it's not really a profit", while the money still stays in the family, so to speak.

... that's true, I suppose. But Mana's no more likely to be doing that than anyone else with two companies. I don't see what good it's doing accusing him personally when there's no evidence anywhere that he's evading tax, and anyone else in his position could be doing the same thing.

He might be evadng tax, but as there is nothing to suggest that's the case there's no point worrying about it.

And I still maintain that, seeing as he's the public owner of Midi:nette and Moitie, I really don't see how he'd get away with it for very long. Unless, as I said, his conversation with the tax people went something like...
Mana: Well I don't know what you people are worried about. Here are my taxes, all in order, nothing missing *crossing fingers*
Bailiff: *mumble mumble* aaawww, *mumble* teddy! *falls over doormat*

 

[Berserk]

... that's true, I suppose. But Mana's no more likely to be doing that than anyone else with two companies. I don't see what good it's doing accusing him personally when there's no evidence anywhere that he's evading tax, and anyone else in his position could be doing the same thing.

I'm not accusing him! I know there isn't any evidence. I just wonder if that's why he has so many "different" companies--it could be a way to move his assets around so he can save money. It doesn't seem unlikely.

And I don't think Tokyo really cares how he talks about it in niche fashion mooks--it's the documentation that counts.

 

[Geisha]

Well, I can believe some of the business practices the article describes, but stuff like that goes on in the music industry everywhere, not just in VK and not just in Japan, and secondly, there is a lot of generalisation/exaggeration. The list of labels on the chart is hardly exhaustive and there are artists whose music/lyrics are too recognisable to be ghost-written, who dress up before they are signed/after they go major, don't do uchiages, have male fans and so on. And yeah, it's a little weird that this showed up on some obscure (English) blog.

Well think about it. When Tokyo sends the tax-man, Mana can say "well sure, Midi:Nette made this much and this much and this much, but look how much it had to pay to Moi-même-Moitié! "

So Midi:Nette would pay less in taxes because of all those "expenses" that are really just going right back to Mana. Right? That would be the advantage of owning more parts of production the way he does.

What would they charge each other for, except perhaps costumes? That would hardly be a large sum.

I just wonder if that's why he has so many "different" companies--it could be a way to move his assets around so he can save money. It doesn't seem unlikely.

He only has two companies; one is a record company and the other a fashion label. Makes sense: it would be rather odd to sell fashion through a record company.

 

[VKHistorian]

I'm not accusing him! I know there isn't any evidence. I just wonder if that's why he has so many "different" companies--it could be a way to move his assets around so he can save money. It doesn't seem unlikely.

Maybe. *shrug*

But as I said, there's really nothing to suggest that he's more likely to be doing that than anyone else who owns more than one company. It's probably a bit of a moot point, if you get my drift.

And I don't think Tokyo really cares how he talks about it in niche fashion mooks--it's the documentation that counts.

I'm not saying that all read the fashion mooks- I very highly doubt that . What I'm saying is that, as he's publically claiming himself as the owner, sooner or later that would come to the attention of the finance people, who may start asking questions.

 

[Berserk]

What would they charge each other for, except perhaps costumes? That would hardly be a large sum.

I have some ideas, but I think I'm getting into conspiracy/rumor territory at this point, so I'll just drop it XD

 

[VKHistorian]

Well, I can believe some of the business practices the article describes, but stuff like that goes on in the music industry everywhere, not just in VK and not just in Japan, and secondly, there is a lot of generalisation/exaggeration. The list of labels on the chart is hardly exhaustive and there are artists whose music/lyrics are too recognisable to be ghost-written, who dress up before they are signed/after they go major, don't do uchiages, have male fans and so on. And yeah, it's a little weird that this showed up on some obscure (English) blog.

I keep wondering what was with all the 'etc' on that chart. Does it mean there's more information (more companies) but he doesn't want to tell us?
Or maybe he can't tell us coz they'll kill him to death, don'tcha know?

All bands have male fans- and for that matter, female fans who aren't fangirly types only in it for the looks. I think the only reason 'Mr. Satoh' was acting as though only deranged, shallow fans exist is because they're the lowest common denominator, and marketing people like targeting their stuff at the lowest common denominator.

It did annoy me a bit though. Being a young, female VK fan (mostly 80's/90's/early 00's- I only like a few newer bands. But that doesn't make me any less of a VK fan because old VK is still VK) who isn't the fangirlish type (I like the music and have a moth-to-flame attraction to bizarre things) I found myself wanting to go and find Mr. Satoh and... do something intelligent. "See, we're not all stupid!"

 

[Berserk]

^^I think that's the reason why Mana always encourages the males to come out to his performances. He doesn't want his fanbase to be the lowest common denominator. He recognizes that good fans exist, and I think most musicians do. Mr. Satoh represents the pessimistic extreme, I think.