A note from Masa of NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST to their fans world over.
A refresher course in how to not be a douche.
In previous instances, fans have come up with all kinds of lovely replies to these kinds of messages from bands. “They only communicate with us to tell us off!?” ; “What do they expect, this is the internet, grow up!”
So let me remind you of a few things;
Have you ever had your Tumblr shut down for posting gifs, scans or internet rips of your favourite band? No? That’s ridiculous?
No its not. All of those things are in breach of copyright, and bands would be completely within their rights to shut you down. Do you think they don’t because they can’t? No, they do it because they understand that you do it to show your appreciation. And if you think these bands don’t see you on the internet, you’re even more wrong. They aren’t half wits, they can use the internet just as well as you can, how do you think they made their band look like your favourite fantasy?
However, their appreciation of your appreciation draws the line at uploading their product. All the photoshoots your share, all the videos and twitter pictures and translations you post are there to promote and explain their music, which they want to sell to you.
And they’re trying goddamn hard to sell it to you. Japanese Visual Kei bands could win awards for their selling strategies - they blaze across social media, they make funny videos by the dozen and play shows like demons, touring as far as they can even when they’re tiny indie bands. So when you post all that stuff on your Tumblr, they - quite rightly - expect you to buy their fucking music.
And a last note to convince you all why you should listen to me; I have seen what it means to bands to be able to grow and become successful. And I have seen how awful it can be for them when they can see the growth, but the success is, instead, a minus figure in their bank account. It’s not nice.
You will probably be surprised how many artists have international labels (JPU Records - not that I’m biased - Okami Records, Gan-Shin Records, to name but a few), or have their music available world-wide on iTunes. And if they don’t, buy a Japanese iTunes voucher. Expensive CD imports aren’t the only option.
Stop thinking that just because you aren’t in Japan you don’t have a responsibility to abide by the rules. Pirating is stealing no matter where you are. And if you don’t have enough money to buy something, you can’t have it.
pixelskylines
gummygunk
amandla
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blakekathryn
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jacobvanloon
