synthjunkie wrote:Going back to the whole eurobeat thing, of course I know that eurobeat is Italian in origin, and mostly made in Italy, but the fact that the producers signed onto a contract with a Japanese record company still makes it a Japanese product. It is what it is, and I don't think eurobeat would be where it is today, lasting over 20 years, if it weren't for the fact that it was signed onto a label such as Avex who have really made it last this long. I can't think of any other label in either Europe nor America that has let any form of Italo-disco or Eurodance to last for that long on such a big label, to the extent of its popularity it has had with Avex for THAT LONG.
Good form them, but it doesn't matter if Avex has kept Super Eurobeat alive for over two decades; that's just a matter of business decision. For all I know, Avex could have ended the series back in 2003 or something because other musical avenues were far more profitable. Since what they have is a monopoly over an entire musical genre, they've worked hard to ensure its survival in Japan, but the series has still increasingly struggled to the point of barebones revenues. If eurobeat had been successfully marketed to foreign consumers, let's say Europe, Avex wouldn't have to be constantly making radical changes to the series and would probably even pick up newer talents and visionaries to carry on the legacy. Frankly, if they really wanted eurobeat to continue existing in Japan, they should expand its consumer base so that it becomes profitable enough for people to take seriously.
synthjunkie wrote:Japan is xenophobic, get over it. It's something that in the Western culture we see as discriminatory, but they do not see it as such. We have a mindset in Western culture about racist and discrimination that is not really shared in the same viewpoint in many Asian cultures. They see it as a way to protect their identity, and see us as the threat. It's their culture, and if you don't believe my words, go ask anybody who has lived in Japan there for a couple of years.
And THIS is exactly what set the nation miserably far behind the rest of the developed world before the Meiji Revolution. Japan in the 1500's was just being introduced to foreign culture and ideas, with the spread of muskets and Christianity. In response, Tokugawa Ieyesu began a 250-year regime of isolationism, feeling threatened by outside influence. I can understand his concern with Christianity because that directly attacks the Japanese mindset, but otherwise, closing Japan off from foreign trade caused their economy to lag for hundreds of years before finally being warned of this in the 19th century.
How did Japan gain access to eurobeat in the first place? By exchanging trade agreements with Italy. The genre may be marketed towards Japanese audiences, but it's still an essentially European music, hence the name 'eurobeat.' The trade of goods and ideas is cornerstone to the success of advanced markets.
synthjunkie wrote:They just want to protect something that they have, in this case, Eurobeat.
Japan is protective of their
culture and way of tradition, yes, but I do not understand how a musical product, especially one manufactured in Italy, can act the same way as Shintoism. On the contrary, from what I know of, Japan is one of the greatest trade partners of media in the world. The gargantuan success of car brands such as Toyota and Nissan is due to their availability in the rest of the world, giving them higher profits and thus more ability to improve their product. Selling a Honda Civic in the United States isn't going to "threaten" Honda's identity or image; it simply opens the product to somebody overseas who may enjoy it just as much as a typical Japanese customer. The vehicle's original creators are still the same as ever, so there's no way the product would lose its "Japanese" heritage unless a Canadian became the new CEO or something.
Heck, even manga and anime, to take an example from Japanese media, enjoy profound success all around the world, despite being an unmistakably Japanese product. Its origins, in fact, come directly from the influence of western comic books such as DC and Marvel. By hybridizing these ideas with traditional elements, the result is an identifiable Japanese art form with massive profitability. Shows like Dragonball Z and Speed Racer became hugely popular in Japan, and their range of fans expanded greatly after being introduced to foreign territories. Art doesn't domestically suffer from being opened to other countries, it thrives off of it.
Whatever you say, eurobeat's identity as a Japanese product still does not explain why Avex went from slowly expanding eurobeat's availability to the rest of the world to reverting their online store policy to Japan-only credit cards and suddenly removing their entire catalogue from the American iTunes store.
Bonkers wrote:I am sure if someone like Lady Gaga were to experiment with Eurobeat influences, then all other pop artists would as well. The general American public doesn't like hyper, sped up, chaotic, chipmunky music, so if Americans were to begin producing Eurobeat, the tempo would be lowered, and the hyper synthesizers would become used only at the last 4 beats in the 4th measure before the verse or chorus.
It would not be Eurobeat.
Eurobeat didn't immediately come into its present form in Japan. Initially, it was relatively indistinguishable from Saw productions, before slowly evolving into a new sound entirely during the early 1990's. Of course new audiences wouldn't take to a radically unique genre of music just like that, but bridging the gap could certainly lead to people's eventual appreciation of less commercialized eurobeat. Songs like From Heartache to Heaven and I Won't Fall Apart sure wouldn't be bad starting points to bridge the gap between American dance pop and a regular eurobeat production.
Resurrect the Aerobeat series 
Make a new fitness craze where you workout to Eurobeat songs 