Eurobeat Prime :: Forum

Bonkers wrote: 22 Dec 2017, 15:25 Funny how they wait to the tail end to put energy into advertisement.

Simply because it's Avex' 30th anniversary. Nothing else. Not because of SEB.

I still think its fucking lazy of AVEX to end off a 20 something year series with four non-stops in a row. I don't need that. I can do those on my own. Anyway, what a jip.

The following version of translation is tough to call the annoncement of the SEB end.

avex 30th × SUPER EUROBEAT 250 Anniversary

Everything started from SUPER EUROBEAT

avex 30th × SUPER EUROBEAT 250 Anniversary In

2018, a double anniversary year,
avex will raise SUPER EUROBEAT!

ROAD TO SUPER EUROBEAT VOL. 250, entitled "
Special Project" from series 247 to 250!
From beginners to old fans, we will deliver the content that all Eurobeat fans can enjoy!

And SUPER EUROBEAT to the new stage! !

Please expect

I assume they'll do a retrospective starting with volume one and cover the early days of eurobeat on 247.

para_rigby wrote: 23 Dec 2017, 19:03 I assume they'll do a retrospective starting with volume one and cover the early days of eurobeat on 247.

That's what I've been wondering if these 60 tracks will come from the 1st volumes of SEB.

Bonkers wrote: 24 Dec 2017, 01:02

para_rigby wrote: 23 Dec 2017, 19:03 I assume they'll do a retrospective starting with volume one and cover the early days of eurobeat on 247.

That's what I've been wondering if these 60 tracks will come from the 1st volumes of SEB.

In that case, I expect it will be heavy on TIME records?

These two have got to make the cut

Heartbreaker
Dark In The Night

and possibly these :

What Kind Of Cure
Loving Honey
My World
Bang Bang
Be My Babe

I predicted back in 2013 that the Super Eurobeat series would be ending soon since the releases were becoming repetitive and major names were beginning to leave, e.g. Ferretti, De Vincenzo. I also mentioned that Avex was not budging on its localised marketing and advertisement strategies despite major pushes from Western social media like this forum to diversify, which I thought would ultimately lead to its own downfall. I said that the series would conclude at the end of the 220s, and even though I was technically wrong, I do believe the series metaphorically 'died' at that time with the change to the release schedule and whatnot - a major red flag.

Back then I was scolded almost unanimously on this forum for my 'negative attitude' and not wanting to listen to the genre anymore since - despite my support for individual artists and labels - I refused to support an out-of-touch, xenophobic organisation like Avex. In fact, one of those Avex fanboys who told me to leave the forum back then for my negativity towards the conglomerate and refused to listen to anything I had to say, Wataru Akiyama, is now commenting in this thread rather hilariously about how aghast he/she/it is with Avex and echoing my exact sentiments from 2013. Talk about an own goal. Thanks! I accept your apology in advance, by the way.

There is nothing surprising about this announcement at all. Sad, but unsurprising.

The Oricon sales charts tell an interesting story. Recent Super Eurobeat album sales have declined significantly. Between 221 and 245, album sales have more than halved, yet physical album sales across the US global music industry has not declined anywhere near that much in the same time period. In the United States, physical album sales represented about ~$7 billion revenue in 2013, and in 2016 the figure for physical album sales is a squint over ~$5 billion revenue. In that same period of time, total US music industry revenue has actually increased from $14.6 billion (2013) to $15.7 billion (2016) due in large part to digital format sales. If physical sales figures had dropped so far to the low hundreds, yet global music sales are actually increasing because of digital formats, would it not be common-sense thinking for Avex to ask themselves, 'Hmm, this isn't working, maybe we should try something else?' If this line of thinking can be generalised to the whole Avex Group, then I am hardly surprised that the conglomerate's share price has stalled to what it used to be 10 years ago.

Soure: https://www.statista.com/chart/4713/glo ... -revenues/ (US music industry revenue figures)

By the way, I am quoting the US music industry since they have the most readily-available figures, but a quick search for Japanese music industry figures look similar (total music industry growth not as strong, but a similarly marginal decrease in physical album sales compared to the US and a similar upswing in digital sales): https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/ ... year-just/

And this bring me to my point. It boggles my mind how tremendously difficult it is to buy Super Eurobeat music in this day and age STILL - physically and digitally. Importing a physical disc from Japan still seems like the best option for a Western listener, which is ludicrous. Shipping costs are still out of this world. A quick Google search for 'buy super eurobeat 244' and a variety of similar search terms revealed no digital purchasing options. Presume that I am somebody who has been out of the genre for several years (correct) and want to get back into the genre by buying Super Eurobeat digitally (not correct, but just presume), how do I do it? Is it on the iTunes store? Is it on Beatport? Is it on some obscure Japanese music purchasing website where I need a Japanese credit card, a Japanese address and a Japanese Social Security Number? Do I need to scrounge through all these sites to find a suitable purchasing option, with the possibility that there is actually none? In all honesty, I have no idea where to buy Super Eurobeat music digitally nowadays, and I should not need to go on a treasure hunt to look for it.

I think the Oricon sales figures and a comparative analysis with global music industry revenue figures prove that Avex has had no strategy for selling Super Eurobeat and is completely out-of-touch with Western fans. We all knew that years ago, and many of us predicted that this day would come sooner rather than later, but it totally pisses me off how a conglomerate like Avex who should care about revenue and the bottom line killed off a series due to its own mishaps. I do not buy the arguments that genre listening habits have changed, digital music killed eurobeat, etc. Even the argument that eurobeat has become repetitive and stale (true) can be explained by Avex's passive-aggressive attitude towards its Western listeners. When the Eurobeat labels' stances towards the West are different to Avex's, conflict will inevitably arise and that will affect the amount of love and effort the labels put into their music. We saw this play out when we witnessed the labels speaking out against Avex on this very forum, and let us not forget how some of them revolted against Avex with that 'Eurolovers' fiasco on YouTube. That sure sounds like a healthy, cooperative relationship where Avex values and takes on board the labels' opinions... Not.

People here are saying that Avex would rather put its energies into its other ventures that are more profitable. True, but I do not even buy that explanation in its entirety. Why did Avex not at least try the digital sales strategy and opening themselves up more to a Western audience with Super Eurobeat? For the minimal effort and funds involved in this, with a strong likelihood of posting a profit, I cannot comprehend why they did not bother to try it out when we have the artists' livelihoods on the line. If there was no major difference in sales after exhausting those options, then I can understand their decision to kill off the series, but they did not even attempt anything of the sort. We got to a 'beating the old dead horse' situation with physical album sales and localised marketing strategies instead, except they kept beating it until the horse was decomposed.

On a final note that nobody seems to have mentioned, the timing of this announcement is - true to Avex form - impeccable. Whose genius idea was it to announce the end of Super Eurobeat only mere days before Christmas? From the sounds of things, it looks like the labels and artists had no advanced notice of this either, so I can just imagine how this has affected their mood at this time of year. Not only are Avex maliciously incompetent and ignorant buffoons, but they have no human leadership capabilities since they obviously do not give a shit how any of the stakeholders in this debacle feel during the happy holiday period.

Even though I no longer listen to the genre, I am disappointed, angry and upset with this announcement for a variety of reasons. I share #Infinity's sentiments; sad that Super Eurobeat has come to an end, but in many ways I believe that there was no other way forward without a change in Avex's beliefs and values. Super Eurobeat could have played out very differently in the past decade if Avex had aligned themselves more with the rise of globalisation. Instead, they tried to fight it for no good reason by sticking locally, and now we have the artists and producers whose livelihoods have been affected by Avex's negligence and incompetence, both financially and sentimentally. Avex are the only ones who have themselves to blame for this near-decade-long disaster and the death of Super Eurobeat.

Jay wrote: 28 Dec 2017, 05:58And this bring me to my point. It boggles my mind how tremendously difficult it is to buy Super Eurobeat music still in this day and age. Importing a physical disc from Japan still seems like the best option for a Western listener, which is ludicrous. The Internet is not the same as what it was 10 years ago, let alone 3 years ago. A quick Google search for "buy super eurobeat 244" revealed no digital purchasing options. Presume that I am somebody who has been out of the genre for several years (correct) and want to get back into the genre by buying Super Eurobeat digitally (not correct, but just presume), how do I do it? Is it on the iTunes store? Is it on Beatport? Is it on some obscure Japanese music purchasing website where I need a Japanese credit card, a Japanese address and a Japanese Individual Number? Do I need to scrounge through all these sites to find a suitable purchasing option, with the possibility that there is actually none? In all honesty, I have no idea where to buy Super Eurobeat music digitally nowadays, and I should not need to go on a treasure hunt to look for it.

First, I agree with everything you had to say.

Second, I'll answer to this question you had here.

SEB is on iTunes and mora; some tracks are also recochoku (spelling?). You can also listen to SEB on Spotify. Except that they are ALL region-locked to Japan. iTunes is the easiest for a westerner to setup and buy from thanks to stores selling Japanese iTunes cash cards. The issue is, Apple plans to kill off iTunes and migrate it to Apple Music by the start of 2019. Which means, if you actually want to download files to keep locally on your PC, all you got is mora and it's extremely difficult for a western fan to buy without an insider's help. The shop doesn't even accept foreign credit cards; even if you are physically in Japan. So, you have to use Cash Cards (there are tons of options, such as WebMoney, etc.). And then, there's the language barrier. Recocoku accepts foreign cards, but you need a Japanese IP which can be easily spoofed with a proxy or VPN. For Spotify... we're not getting into it.

So, yes... iTunes is the "easiest" way. then, you have *sigh* physical CDs.

Don't get me started on how hard it is to get indie/doujin eurobeat if you don't know anything without using services that scalps everything listed and where next to none digital options exist.

On an unrelated note, glad to see you! It's been a long time even though you're sorely here for that rent.

　

Avex is the one to blame for all this, if people tell otherwise it's their problem.
Eurobeat needs more support and less of beating a dead horse, something people in the community seem to enjoy doing a lot. If you're out, you're out, leave space for people who still enjoy the genre and for newcomers to grow loving it more. A lot of bitter people here don't make it any welcoming (and I include myself in this) but we should at least try, give our best, keep it good..... keep it somehow

M2-EB wrote: 20 Dec 2017, 00:16 The problem with non-stops in Super Eurobeat is that they have a selection of hundreds of songs to choose from, over 20 years of material and it's just the same stuff you've already heard in a million other non-stops. I get the appeal of using successful works to sell but I guess this is pretty pointless now… they might as well surprise people and for once not use <literally any song that was featured in +15 non-stop albums>

I'm so starved for new songs just throw them at me I don't care, just make a non-stop with new songs and never release extended versions and leave the fans go nuts to get these you'll never release

The issue here lies within music licensing. Avex licenses the music from the Italian labels to be able to exploit it. The contracts say that's only for a specified amount of time. Could be 5 years, could be 10 years. If Avex released a track in the 90s with a licensing term of 10 years, they can't be using that track in a non-stop mix now. UNLESS they pay for it and purchase a new license to exploit the track. But obviously licensing old track just to put em in a non-stop mix doesn't necessarily lead ot more sales so business-wise it wouldn't be a good choice

OH GOD! NO! NO! NO! I'm so sad about this news. I listen Eurobeat daily in my ipod where ever I go. Eurobeat has always been in my life when I had ups and downs in my life. It truly changed, inspired and made me happy and good person. I guess nothing really do last forever but I will always keep listening to it and keep the legends alive through their music! So whatever happens to Eurobeat in future, atleast it will be in peoples' heart and I hope the amazing producers, singers will still have the fire in them to keep it alive without Avex!

Couldn't agree more with Jay...

Danko wrote: 28 Dec 2017, 21:20 OH GOD! NO! NO! NO! I'm so sad about this news. I listen Eurobeat daily in my ipod where ever I go. Eurobeat has always been in my life when I had ups and downs in my life. It truly changed, inspired and made me happy and good person. I guess nothing really do last forever but I will always keep listening to it and keep the legends alive through their music! So whatever happens to Eurobeat in future, atleast it will be in peoples' heart and I hope the amazing producers, singers will still have the fire in them to keep it alive without Avex!

are you a musician? help keep the genre alive. the individual labels and artists certainly are still doing it, just the name " Super Eurobeat" is going. avex doesn't own a universal genre.

johnjohnjohnnycake wrote: 31 Dec 2017, 08:20

Danko wrote: 28 Dec 2017, 21:20 OH GOD! NO! NO! NO! I'm so sad about this news. I listen Eurobeat daily in my ipod where ever I go. Eurobeat has always been in my life when I had ups and downs in my life. It truly changed, inspired and made me happy and good person. I guess nothing really do last forever but I will always keep listening to it and keep the legends alive through their music! So whatever happens to Eurobeat in future, atleast it will be in peoples' heart and I hope the amazing producers, singers will still have the fire in them to keep it alive without Avex!

are you a musician? help keep the genre alive. the individual labels and artists certainly are still doing it, just the name " Super Eurobeat" is going. avex doesn't own a universal genre.

Well I have done little bit music in my free time and nowdays I help my cousin in music who is very talented but he does mainly hip hop, rap kind of music. But I mean like Avex should release Euromach, all unreleased songs, SEB 70-170 and Eurobeat Flash in extended like in mora or somewhere else.