(08-06-2009, 12:25 AM)Tokio Wrote: Oh my gosh, I don't know what to do with myself now.

Well, VAMPS had better drag their little butts back here next year and I had better be on the team again

I, too, have never done anything like this before. So it really was a huge learning experience. And for those of us who want to work in the music industry one day (me!) I think it's a great learning curve. Gives us a chance to actually do something and gain work-ish experience.

And of course, the more and longer we do things the better we get. Personally, I think we did pretty good for a little rag rag team of fans working on short notice. We were semi organized, had goals, worked together, all that. Not bad for newbies with little money!

As someone who knows nothing about promotion here are my views on things:

- I DO liked that we promoted them EVERYWHERE. Not just anime/jrock/japanese sites but music sites in general. We didn't trap them in the animesphere, we put information on just regular music websites. I think that is great because I want them to be seen and respected as a rock band not as that-band-those-weird-wapanese-kids-listen-to.

Also, it gets their name out there. Even if people don't check out the band, their name has at least been seen. And the more people see them the more likely they are to check them out.

-Even though I don't think they got played on any radios(?), we still at least did SOMETHING rather than nothing. They're not going to get anywhere without fans, so it's great that we tried our best.

-I LOVE the fact that people were willing to donate money to get things done. I hate the fact that none of us are millionaires so our funding was limited. Paid advertisements on popular websites helps them get some exposure so even if we didn't convert any fans we did - once again - get their name thrown out there.

-I do think we should have used HYDE's fame to our advantage a bit more. VAMPS is still new-ish so a lot of people aren't familiar with them, especially casual fans who might like HYDE/K.A.Z but don't keep up with all the news. So maybe we should have used their names a bit more, like: HYDExK.A.Z (VAMPS) USA TOUR! - or something like that. Put their names on everything to catch people's attention.

I think we should have done that when advertising on jmusic/japanesey places to catch people familiar with HYDE/K.A.Z. And then on regular music websites just pushed them as VAMPS because people there are less likely to be familiar with Hydaz so there's no need to push their names there.

-I like that we had a leader (You H.P!) and we all respected you. It makes it easier to get things going when there is someone directing rather than everyone running around like headless chickens. But at the same time anyone could through out ideas and we'd work together modifying ideas and supporting each other.

I keep trying to think of more ways we can promote them without breaking the bank. What have we missed? What are other bands doing that we're not? If we're going to keep promoting VAMPS in the future then we need to learn what tricks other marketers use. And of course, we need patience. These things take time.

I am sad that the whole tour did not sell out. It feels like we did everything - flyers, radio requesting, paid ads, posting info everywhere - and they still didn't sell out. I keep thinking "what could we have done better?" I feel very disappointed it didn't go the way we wanted it to.

I hope they do come back in the future and we'll get to try again and help them sell out.

I think the main problem is that the music is just not known....and we did what we could to correct that problem. And we had mimimal effect.

When I was driving all over San Diego County putting out official fliers and my own fliers, I did mention Hyde's name.....and L'arc-en-ciel's name. Many, many people, even in the Japanese communities, just stared at me. They did not have a clue who I was talking about. :(

I overheard a couple of people say that they found out about the concert from the posters or from reading an ad in a Japanese newspaper. So we reached a few that way.

My own opinion is that somehow we need to get them airplay. And not just once....but airplay. I am cheap and I personally would not pay $30 to go and see a band that I had never heard of. But if I liked their music, then I might go. If I really liked their music, then yes I would definitely go. So to me, the question is how to get the airplay?

I think another brick wall is the fact that you cannot walk into a music outlet and buy their CDs. People are not going to want to pay for shipping from Japan. Yes, Amazon does carry Love Addict but what about the price? Almost twice of most CDs plus how are you going to find it when the band is unknown to most people?

I am personally willing to keep on the one radio station in the San Diego area to play their music. But since I have now lost my full time job with no other employment in sight, I can no longer afford to be donating money for the cause. But bugging the radio station costs nothing but my time so that is feasible.

The above is only my opinions. Please feel free to disagree.....