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Aug. 18th, 2014 11:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
puss_nd_bootsSo it seems that Alice Nine is leaving PSC. I have to admit that I was kind of stunned by the news. I figured if any band was going to bolt the mothership, it would probably be BORN, the one PSC group that's failed to land a major deal (other than the two new acts).
How do I feel about this? I think it's going to be good for them in the long run. They'll have fewer restrictions on them (no "keep to the PSC release schedule and have something to put out every February or March"), they might be able to do a true world tour now and they'll definitely get more magazine coverage, because Alice Nine haven't gotten any covers in the back end of forever. (I'll have reason to buy SHOXX again! There haven't been any PSC acts on that cover in well over a year!) If they get a lenient new management, they might be able to do side projects - session bands, acting, modeling, etc.
Plus, you have to admit that the marketing of their last album and its associated singles was terrible. Supernova supposedly was the band's first flop album - that's because PSC released just about the whole damn thing in advance. You had the three singles in three months - Daybreak, Shadowplay and Shooting Star. (Let's not even get into the absolutely ludicrous notion of NINE versions of the Daybreak single. NINE.) You then had the iTunes Japan-only "album preview" consisting of Kaisen Zenya and Exist (which overseas fans got hold of anyway). And then came the Shining single. That is now SIX TRACKS of a 12-track album that were available to the public in advance. Of the remaining songs, one was an SE and the other a one-minute instrumental interlude, leaving just FOUR full songs we hadn't heard when the album came out. That's an EP's worth of new material for a full, limited-edition price. Can you blame everyone but the most devoted Number Sixes for saying, "I have most of this anyway, I'll just rip the other four tracks from a friend's CD" (or even download them)?
And, yeah, if being free of PSC means a U.S. tour? I'm not going to complain one bit. XD
Seriously, I want the best for this band. GazettE may be my greatest J-rock love, D=OUT my newest J-rock love, and SCREW the steady love that never goes away, but Alice Nine was my first J-rock love (and Shou my first bias). That means something.
How do I feel about this? I think it's going to be good for them in the long run. They'll have fewer restrictions on them (no "keep to the PSC release schedule and have something to put out every February or March"), they might be able to do a true world tour now and they'll definitely get more magazine coverage, because Alice Nine haven't gotten any covers in the back end of forever. (I'll have reason to buy SHOXX again! There haven't been any PSC acts on that cover in well over a year!) If they get a lenient new management, they might be able to do side projects - session bands, acting, modeling, etc.
Plus, you have to admit that the marketing of their last album and its associated singles was terrible. Supernova supposedly was the band's first flop album - that's because PSC released just about the whole damn thing in advance. You had the three singles in three months - Daybreak, Shadowplay and Shooting Star. (Let's not even get into the absolutely ludicrous notion of NINE versions of the Daybreak single. NINE.) You then had the iTunes Japan-only "album preview" consisting of Kaisen Zenya and Exist (which overseas fans got hold of anyway). And then came the Shining single. That is now SIX TRACKS of a 12-track album that were available to the public in advance. Of the remaining songs, one was an SE and the other a one-minute instrumental interlude, leaving just FOUR full songs we hadn't heard when the album came out. That's an EP's worth of new material for a full, limited-edition price. Can you blame everyone but the most devoted Number Sixes for saying, "I have most of this anyway, I'll just rip the other four tracks from a friend's CD" (or even download them)?
And, yeah, if being free of PSC means a U.S. tour? I'm not going to complain one bit. XD
Seriously, I want the best for this band. GazettE may be my greatest J-rock love, D=OUT my newest J-rock love, and SCREW the steady love that never goes away, but Alice Nine was my first J-rock love (and Shou my first bias). That means something.
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Date: 2014-08-19 03:51 pm (UTC)I’m sort of hoping Alice Nine’s boldness spurs a mass exodus from the company – or at least puts the fear of losing all of them into the higher-ups. BORN has the most reason to leave – they joined the company at the same time as ViViD and D=OUT and watched the other two get major contracts while they languished as the company’s only indie band (at least until the newbies came around). SCREW took so long to get a major deal that they’d almost given up hope. And while I’m not into ViViD – they’ve always been too generic J-rock to me – I’ve been told by longtime fans of theirs that they used to be a lot better, and that they haven’t been the same since PSC rushed them into Budokan before they were ready.
I think GazettE was able to negotiate a sweetheart deal with PSC based solely on their status as the company’s biggest band. I could see where that would breed resentment, especially among the B-level bands – those who have gone major but not played Budokan or a similarly sized arena. (That would be SCREW and D=OUT, and possibly Kra. I’m not even sure Kra’s being released by a major label anymore, but they do have special status as the longest-lived PSC band).
I read what both Saga and Shou wrote – they were definitely reassuring. They’re going to go silent for awhile, the way SuG did, but then they’ll reemerge – and when they do, we’ll get the band as they were meant to be. Everyone will benefit – except PSC. Their loss, and they asked for it.