Post by Kenji-kun on Aug 29, 2004 8:01:27 GMT -5
Since Friday, I've been going to the annual anime convention in my hometown Toronto called CNAnime anime expo 2004. Today (Sunday) is the last day for it. Sorry...I don't take pictures. Maybe next year. 
Yesterday though, I went to the "Tofu Records - JPOP JROCK Panel" at around 1pm.
The Tofu Records representative was a woman named Yaz Noya. After she introduced herself, she asked the audience what artists we liked. I held up my hand about three times, and shouted out "move", "B'z", and "Tackey & Tsubasa". My friend Lucas got to blurt out "Do As Infinity" and "BoA". She noted that Tofu Records only supports Sony Music Japan artists, and are considering signing people from other labels...which is highly unlikely IMO. Who knows? The majority of the session was Q&A about the Japanese music market in North America and issues about imports.
Towards the end of the session, she played a L'Arc-en-Ciel concert video, which was cool. At the end, we filled out short questionnaires for Yaz and were given L'Arc-en-Ciel picture-cards and buttons. I only got the [L'Arc-en-Ciel] SMILE button, as I didn't want buttons of each member of L'Arc-en-Ciel.
We waited for Yaz to finish collecting the questionnaires from other people, so Lucas and I could ask her specific questions. My first question was "other than albums, does Tofu Records release singles?" and the answer I got was "no, the selling of singles in North America is really difficult". Lucas then asked a funny question: "who does T.M.Revolution's choreography?" The answer he got was "I think he does his own choreography". We all laughed at that. She also mentioned that TMR intended to have an unisex image. We laughed some more. Then I asked, "will we be seeing Vivian or Kazuma in the future?" and the answer I got was, "no, Vivian and Kazuma only paired up for the moment single". I also asked, "what about SIAM SHADE? Will you be releasing their stuff?" and the answer I got was "no, because they broke up. We can't release anything if a band breaks up".
After we finished asking her questions, she gave us Tofu Records stickers as well as a Tofu Records sample CD. It took us 20 minutes talking to her after the session...and it was worth missing another show.
Yesterday though, I went to the "Tofu Records - JPOP JROCK Panel" at around 1pm.
The Tofu Records representative was a woman named Yaz Noya. After she introduced herself, she asked the audience what artists we liked. I held up my hand about three times, and shouted out "move", "B'z", and "Tackey & Tsubasa". My friend Lucas got to blurt out "Do As Infinity" and "BoA". She noted that Tofu Records only supports Sony Music Japan artists, and are considering signing people from other labels...which is highly unlikely IMO. Who knows? The majority of the session was Q&A about the Japanese music market in North America and issues about imports.
Towards the end of the session, she played a L'Arc-en-Ciel concert video, which was cool. At the end, we filled out short questionnaires for Yaz and were given L'Arc-en-Ciel picture-cards and buttons. I only got the [L'Arc-en-Ciel] SMILE button, as I didn't want buttons of each member of L'Arc-en-Ciel.
We waited for Yaz to finish collecting the questionnaires from other people, so Lucas and I could ask her specific questions. My first question was "other than albums, does Tofu Records release singles?" and the answer I got was "no, the selling of singles in North America is really difficult". Lucas then asked a funny question: "who does T.M.Revolution's choreography?" The answer he got was "I think he does his own choreography". We all laughed at that. She also mentioned that TMR intended to have an unisex image. We laughed some more. Then I asked, "will we be seeing Vivian or Kazuma in the future?" and the answer I got was, "no, Vivian and Kazuma only paired up for the moment single". I also asked, "what about SIAM SHADE? Will you be releasing their stuff?" and the answer I got was "no, because they broke up. We can't release anything if a band breaks up".
After we finished asking her questions, she gave us Tofu Records stickers as well as a Tofu Records sample CD. It took us 20 minutes talking to her after the session...and it was worth missing another show.
