Hey guys~
I really don't want to start a flame war or some kind of long debate on the subject, but Eiji (the leader/vocalist/songwriter for both キボウ屋本舗(kibouya honpo) and 秘密結社コドモA (Himitsu Kessha CODOMO A (秘密結社コドモA))) just posted this on his blog, and I really felt like this is something fans of his/theirs should definitely read.
The translated entry
- September 08, 2008 00:47
- Reasoning in today's world
Toketsu Kuma has recently been receiving many e-mails recently that
- apparently, my previous bands are releasing CDs?
Weeeeell...
- I had no idea.
- Did the other members?
I understand that it's just business
- and many different things happen for different reasons,
- but I just wish someone would've let me know.
- I know it's the past,
- but since this is our flesh and BLOOD,
- I'm angry, and also sad.
I really just wanted to say
- that sanbun and Toketsu Kuma records
- didn't have a thing to do with this.
- I'm sorry.
*notes: Toketsu kuma is eiji's own label he formed after kibouya's disbanding, and sanbun is the abbreviation for サンドイッチで１２０分？, eiji's current band/project with takken.
Original entry on eiji's blog
I know there's probably some little translation errors, but those are the basic ideas.
The main reason for posting this is that, since both of these are re-releases, many people buy under the ideal of "supporting the artist", and I feel like it should be known that in this instance, you're only supporting the label, not the artist.
m( )m thanks for reading.
x-posted a couple places
edit: thanks for translation notes, karmik~
- Current music: ＤＥＮＴＡＫＵ - ファミコニックス
[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
Well also keep in mind that contracts of this sort are a very complicated matter involving lawyers, etc, and while it's possible that the band simply didn't buy their Music back from the company, it's also likely that the initial contract guarantees ucp full rights. We don't know what the situation is, so it's likely that kisaki, the shrewd businessman he is, drove a hard bargain.
Again, I'm not saying that ucp is in the legal wrong, but the exclusion of the artist in the process as a whole (and the lack of notification) when the artist still has a sizable fanbsse and is still totally active in music, is not so much their passively excersizing their rights as it is a fairly direct slap in the face.
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
I think it's pretty low that Eiji wasn't at least TOLD about the releases. The scene is small enough that KISAKI could have definately contacted him.
That being said, if UNDER CODE was a major label, this wouldn't be an issue at all. Ask any musician on a major label if they knew about the "super value pack" they just released and wait for the "huh?" Or better yet, look at hide! He DEFINITELY isn't seeing a penny from his new releases.
And really, was VIDOLL asked before their best album was re-released? I doubt it. What about Schwardix Marvally? It's possible, but I doubt [kapparecords] really tracked them down and said "Hay guys, releasing a best album of your stuff!" And I'm sure the members of MIRAGE and Syndrome had nothing to do with their best albums either.
The truth of the matter is that it's kind of a low blow, but shouldn't turn people against UCP at all. And, at the very least, these re-releases are priced fairly, have enough content, and are ideally meant to expose the music to the world (OK, we know that's what the internet is for, but who's to say that KISAKI doesn't truly believe that company is distributing the stuff outside of Japan?).
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
Keep in mind I don't disagree with you. I think Eiji should have had absolute creative freedom. Only problem is... he didn't purchase Kodomo A/Kibouya rights back. Had he done that, I think his fans would have a right to be pissed at UCP.
However, he left those projects in the gutter by not securing his property. In which case, the fans should be redirecting their anger to 50% UCP, and 50% Eiji.
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
D: I have like... 5 of them ~_~; I don't really know where to look, and I'm not into trading with mp3s, so meh. :/ Even so, I love DENTAKU the most out of every band and project Eiji's been involved with :3
There's really no other explanation for having 438737 final lives D: I'm glad I was never a big fan of Phantasmagoria or KISAKI, because the man's raped the band so perfectly during the past year.
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
I think the fact that the UC contracts mean that they can do that and hold all the music rights pretty much says it all, I mean I know they weren't forced to sign anything. but it's still a cunty thing for a small label to do.
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
:| on the internet, nothing is unanimous. someone has to be cool and ~go against the grain~.
Yeah, all the japanese fans are saying that under code's making fools of us, and I agree :\ I think as long as we can get the word out well enough, we should be able to negatively impact the sales enough to make UC notice. Yeah, they own the rights to the music, but the fans are here to support the artist, not the label. sry.
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
lol@hytseraph
but yeah, I always said eiji should leave UC and I'm glad he did. He didn't fit the label at all, and besides, I always disliked UC's marketing strategies.
i encourage codomo A/kibouya fans to boycott this releases and get the old CD's used at second hand shops or auction sites or just DL mp3s, this releases are not even authorized by the original artists, it's kinda worst than a bootleg.
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
Haha, well like, floating around the intrawebs somewhere are like, I think around 35 releases? but every other week someone's like "LOL HERE'S 15 OTHER RELEASES YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF" to add to his immense discography (I dunno if you've been there, but myself and a few other people maintain DENTAKU's Last.fm wiki). as frustrating as it, admittedly, is, i still respect that project so much ;3;
yeah, I'm still totally convinced all this FINAL FINAL stuff is a sales tactic ;x
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
Exactly! As much as it upsets me that I can't get all DENTAKU releases XD, I love it how he's not doing it for profit but because he loves it.
Well, I still love VK even with all its faults (which are.. a lot), but I agree that angura > vk in many respects. D:
I never liked them much to tell you the truth. They had like two or three songs I liked okay, and when I saw them live twice a year ago, they... well, they weren't bad, but not mind-blowing either. We had tickets for their "last live" too, but then they announced that there'd be like 983745 other last lives as well, so we sold our tickets. XD;
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
ITT TRUTH
He really is. Like, the work ethic he puts into DENTAKU (45+ fuckign releases?) and how he's essentially stripped the entire business end out of it and is only in it for the music with toketsu... i respect him so much.
Actually, I'm more glad he got out of VK as a whole. :| angura > vk, fan-wise, music-wise, everything-wise
Phanta was actually pretty good though! Like, their lives with the huge stages and chapels and staircases and shit. but that's probably because of I'm getting nostalgic for malice mizer ;3;
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
...Which is pretty fucked up, seeing as he's one of the best artists UC has ever had. D: Haha. I'm so glad he's no longer related to UC, I've become really fed up with the label. Now if only Siva (and maybe Nega, if that'd make them as good as they were before joining the label) left UC, I could stop following them. x_x;
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
LOLWUT
yeah, i dunno, I kinda always felt like eiji's stuff was the least popular on under code anyway... I mean, no one ever bought + uploaded sayonara kinou or yoroshiku ashita, and pretty much all of every uc release gets upped somewhere.
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
D: Oh yeah, damn. But hey, that'll then be the first time I won't be sorry that no-one's uploaded something I haven't bought.
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
he like, babbles about being president of the curry club and being like IF THE WORLD WAS ENDING TOMORROW, MY LAST MEAL WOULD BE CURRY.
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
if all goes according to plan, no one will even buy them to upload x__x
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
No problem :D
....Omg, Eiji, wtf? That is just.. beyond awesome. XD
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
I really want to see the lives that come with the DVDs and I want the store extras like HELL, but since eiji basically all but asked everyone to not buy them, there's no way I'm buying them.
For once I'm going to just download something and not feel guilty for buying it, haha.
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
↑truth
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
:x i will edit the trans, thank you a ton!
haha, yeah, he has that one, and also http://yaplog.jp/bibinano/ which is like... his stuffed toy's blog? He just posts about curry every 19 seconds, haha.
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
It's really upsetting to hear something like this is happening to him. I wasn't really planning on buying the CDs before this either, but now I'm definitely not going to buy them. D:
Thanks so much for the translation, and also for the link to his blog, I'd forgotten where it is. XD;
(By the way, I think that by "せめて一声かけて欲しかった" he means he would have wanted someone to at least let him know that they're doing this, rather than that he wanted his voice to be heard ^^ And he says it's "their" flesh and blood, not just "his", but yeah.)
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
Kisaki business as usual.
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
:\ yeah, I remember the PLC thing.
Yeah, I mean, I can say I was planning on purchasing both of these and no longer will be as of his entry. Like you said, however, the primary purpose of this post was to inform people that Eiji/toketsu are disconnected from these releases.
And I'm sure they signed a clause citing almost this exact situation regarding artistic rights, but for the artists to be 100% excluded from the process is cold and unnecessary, imho.
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
The same thing happened with PLC when they split (err, were dropped from, really) their label - they waited a while, and then released a "best of" that had no benefits for the members, only the label. It's their prerogative to do so, and obviously these kinds of things are complicated and there's generally no clear "ethical" black and white situation . . . but it is unfortunate that the label is still able to profit when the artist is not.
Thanks for sharing this info! Regardless of how people feel about it, information is ALWAYS good.
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
also, eiji's solo project DENTAKU has been INCREDIBLY active (see: at least two CDs a month every month) since late 2005 and was functioning primarily (if not solely, I'm not sure) on free distribution and eiji personally incurring costs of production. tl;dr This has nothing to do with UCP being a business venture.
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
He's not asking anyone to boycott it and he isn't saying that UCP is breaching contract, he's simply saying that he wants the fans to know he had no voice in this and is not seeing any of the profits.
No one has said it was wrong even, the purpose of his/my posting this is to be informative of the subject.
| and re: toketsu kuma, eiji doesn't WANT to make money. He sells full albums for Y1000 and severely limits the copies pressed when he could easily charge Y3000 and make more copies it'd sell out just as easily.
If you want my opinion on it, I think he wanted a) total creative freedom, b) wanted to "honestly" build his project from the ground up, and c) wanted to branch out his fanbase (he mostly plays with underground/indie bands now, few vk)
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
Edit: UCP won't even be making a handful of this, it'll be that international group that sells some UCP stuff. UCP is getting royalties, at best.
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
Well, ever since Eiji's contract with UCP expired, he lost all rights of Kodomo A/Kibouya Honpo. UCP owns the live footage and PV's as it's own property, and since no one is being forced to buy this stuff, I see nothing wrong with it.
Eiji let his contract expire/let Kibouya Honpo die because of Toketsu Kuma. He's just pissed that he didn't stick with a better business venture. All artists on a record label have an option to keep their old stuff to prevent this from happening. He didn't do that, so now UCP can rightly do what they see fit with not Eiji's stuff, but UCP's stuff.
tl;dr Eiji messed up and is whining about it v___v
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
yeah, their music is great, but their politics leave something to be desired :|
and I feel like this is right in the vein of the whole kisaki-just-won't-die thing. They're squeezing UC like a dry damn sponge. When was the last time they released a simple one-type release, or maybe like, an A-type with a dvd, and a B-type with the same songs and no DVD.
It's like one of those "WHEN YOU BUY MARIJUANA, YOU'RE FUNDING TERRORISM" things. I really want to see the lives that come with the DVDs and I want the store extras like HELL, but since eiji basically all but asked everyone to not buy them, there's no way I'm buying them.
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
This pisses me off mainly because I am a huge fan of Kibouya Honpo and Codomo A. :/ Like I understand that UCP is trying to make a profit but what the fuck? It probably went like this:
"We need to fill in this date for a release if we want to make our quota. None of our bands can make new music by then and we already have a bunch of best-of's. Okay, let's whore off Kibouya and Codomo. Screw asking, they're not on our label anymore and we have the rights."
I love UCP and it's my favorite label but Jesus they know how to rip people off.
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
yaino ._.;
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
4rlz.
I mean, I understand that there are contracts that give undercode rights to their music, but to not be asked about this sort of thing...?
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
Oh wow, that's fucked up. :| Poor Eiji. I'd be pissed, too.
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread[Archived] re: kibouya honpo/himitsu kessha codomo A best-of re-releases
dude, that's fucked up >O
2008-09-08
Approve Edit Restrict Delete Lock thread