OK, so that’s an eye-catching title for a blog, but it’s a track on the new album by London-based Emmy the Great, who played a fantastic acoustic set in Tokyo last night with Tim from Ash. I thought the very neat umbrella stand at the venue, due to the approaching typhoon, was a nice touch. Live music events are quite orderly in Japan and start and finish early - we were all on our way home at 10pm.
This blog coincidentally follows hot on the heels of Richard Morris’ (19 July) on UK music and creativity. UK artists are well represented in Japan at our big music festivals this year, with Coldplay coming here as well, to headline at the Fuji Rock Festival at the end of this month. Fuji Rock is Japan’s answer to Glastonbury, in a beautiful setting and aiming to be "the cleanest festival in the world" There is an incredibly strong UK line-up at Fuji Rock this year including the Arctic Monkeys, The Vaccines, Feeder, Kaiser Chiefs, The Chemical Brothers and Twickenham’s very own Noah and the Whale and more.
The other big festival, Summer Sonic , sees Mercury Prize 2011-nominated Tinie Tempah, Beady Eye, James Blunt, Two Door Cinema Club and Suede, amongst others flying the flag for the UK.
As a percentage of the Japanese market, international repertoire has been gradually in decline over a number of years, largely due to the increasing quality and popularity of domestic artists. But UK music still attracts loyal fans in this, the world’s second largest music market. There are several things about how the Japanese music market works that are a bit different to the UK and sometimes surprise people – like the desire for special tracks for “Japan only” releases or the way sync works. But this is still the largest market for “physical product”, or CDs to you and me, and so a great opportunity for UK artists with the right sound and image to appeal to the Japanese.
If you want to learn more about how this market works, we’re currently recruiting for our 8th BPI UKTI MPA music trade mission to Japan, taking place in the week commencing 3 October. This provides a comprehensive seminar programme on how the Japanese music industry works, the opportunity to showcase your company to the Japanese music industry and some great networking. If you are interested in applying please email debi.blackgrove@bpi.co.uk to receive details of how to apply.
Mel Barlow
UKTI Japan
Melanie.barlow@fco.gov.uk