It's the time to think about this now

[DarkSky]

Do you remember these old times, where Eurobeat was ''integraded'' in children in Japan. The time that Velfarre was still there and the time where everybody knew Eurobeat in Japan, the time that there was parapara for children on televison, the time where not only Avex was releasing Eurobeat music.

Japanese music interests are chancing rapidly and it seems house music is becoming more popular in Japan.

There are even TV ads where a PC-user says he's listening Eurobeat to make him look silly because he should buy a Mac.

I think everybody should understand that the promotion of Super Eurobeat Vol.200 is very important and a music label such as Avex knows what its doing. A small label such as FARM-Records can't save our genre.
Only Avex can.

If the promotion of SEB200 fails, Eurobeat will come to its end.

[zoupzuop2]

Do you remember these old times, where Eurobeat was ''integraded'' in children in Japan. The time that Velfarre was still there and the time where everybody knew Eurobeat in Japan, the time that there was parapara for children on televison, the time where not only Avex was releasing Eurobeat music.

Japanese music interests are chancing rapidly and it seems house music is becoming more popular in Japan.

There are even TV ads where a PC-user says he's listening Eurobeat to make him look silly because he should buy a Mac.

I think everybody should understand that the promotion of Super Eurobeat Vol.200 is very important and a music label such as Avex knows what its doing. A small label such as FARM-Records can't save our genre.
Only Avex can.

If the promotion of SEB200 fails, Eurobeat will come to its end.

You make a good point; Avex has immense power in the Eurobeat field, and could single-handedly revive or damage the genre's presence. (Seeing how Avex has handled SEB so far, we can only hope things work out.)

But Avex will never kill Eurobeat. The way things are poised now, it simply cannot die out so easily.
Consider: there are MORE labels producing MORE Eurobeat now, than there were in Eurobeat's heyday. It would be foolish of them to branch off into smaller groups if they'd be crushed that way; why, then, have they done so? With the sound adapting to recent tastes (even if it's not exactly a taste we all may prefer), Eurobeat has done what some genres fail to do in terms of maintaining longevity.
Also, we have never seen independent production at the levels we have in recent years. Alongside Akyr's publishing of independent remixes and original creations, we also have independent projects like Disko Warp, RainbowDragonEyes, DJ Bouche, DJ Command, and the Anime remix albums (IIRC the label putting that out is Akiba), to name an infinitesimally small few; why would they bother if there were not a viable market? Also, we've seen a surge of original Eurobeat, along Eurobeat remixes, with the massive increase of popularity of Vocaloid software mascot Hatsune Miku and other available characters in that whole... scene, if you will.

Even if nothing can keep Eurobeat "alive" after Super Eurobeat 200, consider that it has lasted very close to 20 years. Given that most music scenes barely scrape past 7-10 years, Eurobeat has done phenomenally.

[SuperEuroJimmy]

Eurobeat won't die as long as there are people buying it.

And I don't think it is dying at the moment. Just not in a 'boom'. For some reason eurobeat always manages to get back, as long as people keep buying it. If they stop doing that (like some of you?!?), then that's going to be the downfall of eurobeat.

The artists aren't doing it for the money anymore. They aren't earning a big fortune (or even a meagre wage), but they love what they're doing, so they aren't stopping. But if Avex (or whatever other publisher) isn't getting enough money to release new cds/dvds/whatever, they'll of course stop it. That would mean no more eurobeat on cds. And because the Japanese actually do promote their releases quite a lot (especially the big ones), that's a great loss of free promotion for the labels. I doubt they'd get as much money for their stuff if they would sell everything they have online, or their own releases. Then it won't be profitable at all for anyone to keep doing their thing. They'd just keep throwing money at it, without getting anything back. That would truly kill eurobeat.

I wonder why you say Farm Records won't be able to 'save' eurobeat? Because everyone is brainwashed with labels exclusivly tied to Avex? If Farm would release Love ParaPara monthly, I think they could be a good competitor for dear old Avex.

I don't think it's Avex that has immense power, but we do. If we stop buying eurobeat, that would kill it. Even if Avex and the labels release awesome stuff, if no one buys it, it'll be game over pretty quick.

Also, don't worry about the promotion of SEB 200. They're pushing that one pretty big. I mean, no dvd releases from Avex at all this summer (except SEB200, I guess). They've been announcing it for over a year (Road To SEB 200). This should be something really big.

And even if that can't save it, they'd better release Initial D 5th Stage RIGHT NOW. >: (!

[drnrg]

Avex or no Avex, Eurobeat has become a kind of underground music genre. Only it's most die hard fans will follow long after AVEX throws in the towel.

The good side to that is that like Zoup said, a lot of the producers just love writing and creating songs. A good venue for tham to keep doing that would be to release thier music(once free of Avex) on online purchase stores like Juno, ect.. I sure wouldn't mind a song or two from each label on those sites on a monthly basis.

Even then if Avex sets tham lose, they might be able to release all thier extended catalogs on sites like Juno, so I'm not too worried about the future of Eurobeat

[the_ditz]

From what I saw in the record stores I visited in Japan (with the exception of HMV Shibuya) virtually every store stocked far more Farm Records Eurobeat releases than the Super Eurobeat albums, so I highly doubt that the scene would die if SEB died. Perhaps this is something to do with the J-Euro tracks from Plum etc that feature on the Farm releases, but since returning from Japan it is clearer to me that Super Eurobeat perhaps appeals more to the foreign fanbase while the Farm releases are far more Japan-centric. I for one really enjoy the labels on the Farm releases, but I would miss Delta and GoGo's if they didn't feature on a regular monthly release.

[#Infinity]

I'm pretty sure the Farm releases feature a lot of genres besides eurobeat such as hyper techno, though.

There are even TV ads where a PC-user says he's listening Eurobeat to make him look silly because he should buy a Mac.

Are you freaking kidding me? That's absolutely insulting to my favorite genre of music ever.

[Mikaeru]

There are even TV ads where a PC-user says he's listening Eurobeat to make him look silly because he should buy a Mac.

Are you freaking kidding me? That's absolutely insulting to my favorite genre of music ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOW_rZnTaN4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHbhma7tSHQ - English version for comparison

[thejti]

Actually to be quite honest, Eurobeat wasn't really downplayed there. If anything they were kinda showcasing the genre on his iPod (the Apple product) with iTunes (another Apple product) where his music (Eurobeat) is on. I can see the confusion though.

[trainerkelly]

Actually to be quite honest, Eurobeat wasn't really downplayed there. If anything they were kinda showcasing the genre on his iPod (the Apple product) with iTunes (another Apple product) where his music (Eurobeat) is on.

Yeah, that's what I got too from the commercial.

[Will154]

I think it's actually making fun of the PC programs more than Eurobeat...But it would be still cooler if Mac would listen to Urobito

[drnrg]

They are not making fun of Euroneat at all. The guy askd him what¿s he listening to and he responds Eurobeat adding to that that he can download his favs from itunes and such. If anything it's kinda pimping Eurobeat. I for one am curious and would like to have known what Eurobeat is after watching that commercial for the first TIME. At least that's how I see it.

[the_ditz]

I'm pretty sure the Farm releases feature a lot of genres besides eurobeat such as hyper techno, though.

That's very true, but it seems like even Avex are trying to include tracks on Super Eurobeat that push the boundaries of the genre into the hyper techno and eurodance fields (examples being Mari San - Secret Destination and Peek-A-Boo - Koko Soko).

I purchased the Farm compilation LoveParaPara Eurobeat Hits 30 in Tokyo, and I absolutely love it! It was being very heavily promoted in a lot of the music stores from what I saw - much more that Super Eurobeat (hell, I couldn't even find a copy of 197 - King of Eurobeat or anything advertising it).

Super Eurobeat is not the beginning and end of the Eurobeat scene in Japan.

[#Infinity]

Why don't SEB records even show up in Japanese stores anyway? That's sure to take a tremendous toll on the sales of the whole series.

[the_ditz]

Why don't SEB records even show up in Japanese stores anyway? That's sure to take a tremendous toll on the sales of the whole series.

Like I said, I think since the genre is no longer in a boom phase, the main target audience are the parapara crowd, which is why you are probably more likely to find the Farm Records release that have close connections with the parapara scene. Super Eurobeat as a series appeared to be a more "niche" series of Eurobeat in the Japanese stores I visited (mainly Tower Records and HMV, but I visited a few independents as well and only ever found LovePara and Anime compilations).

The Super Eurobeat series is targetting more hardcore fans, and the fact that they were so difficult to find hints at a low number of fans it has in comparison to current "boom" genres such as house. Hell, even the J-Trance releases were easier to find than SEB.

[#Infinity]

You know, I really don't get why Avex is constantly faultering up the format of Super Eurobeat like they're completely desparate to improve the sales of the series when not only do their records not appear in almost any record store in Japan, but also all the big parapara clubs like Velfarre and Twinstar are shut down, which would probably significantly deviate many fans away from parapara as well.