Qs from Thennary Nak

Thennary Nak asks:

"And speaking of cdjapan, do you guys have any say on where the singles were available? Or do you just have to hope that the label you're working with will see the merit of having a release available to an overseas friendly store?"

All that's handled by Speed Disk, although I think more and more places are realizing the importance of making things available overseas, at the very least to Korea and Taiwan, where VK has some solid popularity. And they may have realized that if they don't make Chemical Pictures, with an American in the band, available to Americans, I wouldn't be very pleased. :-P

"I mean with the recent singles on a site like cdjapan it makes purchasing them pretty easy for an overseas fan like myself and I would love to be able to buy a copy of Präparat as well if it was available there."

I'd love to have Praparat available, but distribution for that is handled by Marder Suitcase, who did not market it as well as we would have liked. ;_; I suggest at the very least finding some mp3's!!

"And have you thought about teaming up with a company like Japan Files or Maru Music to have your music released digitally for overseas to buy as some other vk bands have done?"

To be quite honest, I'm wary of these companies for a few reasons. If we did I'd actually like to read over the contract personally. It's a lot easier when it's someone I know and trust--the guy that runs Hear Japan is a friend--and can tell me the ins and outs of the business. It's a new business model and I think everyone's a bit apprehensive, especially when you have this tiny network of indie bands who suddenly have all this attention from new sites like that wanting to sell your music. It sounds exciting but you want to go into it level-headed.

Also, one of the reasons that Japanese bands haven't necessarily marketed toward overseas very heavily is that profits from live shows tend to have a more immediate monetary value for bands. You get a headcount every night, a payout every night, money from your merch table, you pay your makeup girl, your staff person, and then you put the rest in the band account. CD sales are a bit more complicated.

It's all pretty confusing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!