I agree. I mean, as much as I LOOOOOVE HYDE and L'arc and VAMPS, there is no way that I'd pay for a fanclub subscription, unless it was like $10. Here in the USA people are not used to that and it would be very hard to get them to comply. I do know that the club comes with its nice perks but still, as a person who works and has bills to pay (lots of them) like many other people, I have other priorities. Even for entertainment I'd rather buy their cd's, dvd's and go to their concerts. To me the fanclub is more of a luxury that I can't afford (unfortunately).

(07-10-2009, 01:38 AM)Tokio Wrote: I think the fanclub may be opened one day, but you have to remember that it won't be easy for them. They'll have to change around their whole site to allow overseas registrations.

Also, even if the website content is in Japanese they'll still need to provide support to members in English/Spanish/Whatever. What if they bill you twice? What if the goods you bought are damaged? What if you never received registration stuff? Someone will have to offer support for overseas fans.

And of course, there needs to be a huge enough demand. I'm sure they don't want to change around their website and hire English support and only have 100 people join.

Also, it all takes time. Once they agree to open the fanclub they'll need time to rework things and hire support, while still writing/recording albums, planning tours, working with their other bands, doing promotion, managing the fanclubs and websites, so on. I'm sure opening the fanclub would be a lower priority.

I don't think pay-to-join fanclubs are as popular these days here in America. I think pretty much every band website I visit has a free open community. You don't get all the perks of a paid-club but a lot fans these days don't want to pay for anything. So it might be hard to convince many overseas fans to shell out $50+ for a website.

(Especially when some perks - like fanclub only concerts - don't apply to us because we're not in Japan)

Only really hardcore fans will pay, but there might not be enough to warrant spending the time (and money) to open the fanclub. I'm sure if enough people are willing to pay, then they'll consider it.

I like to wear pants.

I think L'arc in general has been a little hermetic about going to occidental countries. Artists like An Cafe, BoA, and Miyavi took less time arriving to our country. I am sure they have their own reasons, but I DO feel how hard it is to be a fan of japanese artists and would REALLY love some treat like having 1st hand information in our native tongues... :-(
Here in Mexico, with what a L'arc-en-Ciel DVD + shipping costs, you can eat 3 meals a day (complete meals, no fast food) for a whole month; for that same amount you can pay the monthly fee of a small flat, which is about 1/4 of a regular 30 days salary... it is madness! VAMPS prices are a little more endurable... but almost the same @_@ A lot of fans can only feed their fondness on Internet and –sadly– piracy.
But, what can we do? possibly handling English is complicated. I mean, even having -J, their messages in English are not perfect, having an official site in English would be very hard I guess.

(07-10-2009, 09:30 AM)tracycoder Wrote: I pay almost $100 a year to be a member and i know tons of overseas fans that are also members. I do think eventually it will be opened actually if they were to open vampaddict we would all be hydeist since you get access to both websites with your hydeist/vampaddict account i really dont think that was a coincidence there. We are getting more and more overseas members in hydeist everyday we speak english in there and the Japanese fans seem to somewhat accept us and will even talk in English to us if they can.

Look at all the wonderful thing thats happened lately 1) The Myspace page 2) we get an english store to buy goods even if shipping is ridiculously expensive 3) THE TOUR!

They are really trying to reach out to us and i think the fanclub will eventually be opened and I do think they are already trying to get it open but we just have to be patient and see how it goes.

how did ya get to be a member ny how?

(07-11-2009, 02:08 PM)13loodrose Wrote:

(07-10-2009, 09:30 AM)tracycoder Wrote: I pay almost $100 a year to be a member and i know tons of overseas fans that are also members. I do think eventually it will be opened actually if they were to open vampaddict we would all be hydeist since you get access to both websites with your hydeist/vampaddict account i really dont think that was a coincidence there. We are getting more and more overseas members in hydeist everyday we speak english in there and the Japanese fans seem to somewhat accept us and will even talk in English to us if they can.

Look at all the wonderful thing thats happened lately 1) The Myspace page 2) we get an english store to buy goods even if shipping is ridiculously expensive 3) THE TOUR!

They are really trying to reach out to us and i think the fanclub will eventually be opened and I do think they are already trying to get it open but we just have to be patient and see how it goes.

how did ya get to be a member ny how?

You go through a middle person/organization and they set it up for you. Hence, the extra fees.

I believe you can sign up through Celga: http://www.celgajp.com/

(07-11-2009, 02:25 PM)Tokio Wrote: I believe you can sign up through Celga: http://www.celgajp.com/

Actually, since May 31st, no one can join HYDEIST anymore (through Celga or anywhere) cuz they stopped accepting new applications cuz of VAMPADDICT. Celga doesn't list VAMPADDICT on their site yet, but ppl can always contact them & ask about joining^^

(07-11-2009, 06:42 PM)Akito Wrote:

(07-11-2009, 02:25 PM)Tokio Wrote: I believe you can sign up through Celga: http://www.celgajp.com/

Actually, since May 31st, no one can join HYDEIST anymore (through Celga or anywhere) cuz they stopped accepting new applications cuz of VAMPADDICT. Celga doesn't list VAMPADDICT on their site yet, but ppl can always contact them & ask about joining^^

From my understanding when you join vamp addict you also get access to hydeist. So technically you do join vampaddict but you are still a hydeist as well... you have access to both websites with the one account.

I am a HYDEIST but I can access the vampaddict website with my hydeist login..

If you become a HYDEIST you can enter to VAMPADDICT and vice versa. Even though HYDEIST stopped accepting members at the moment, NOT VAMPADDICT. We met new overseas and Japanese members who joined HYDEIST through VAMPADDICT. The sites are connected.

There are several services you can use to become a member (until both FC are not officially opened).

(07-11-2009, 07:16 PM)tracycoder Wrote: From my understanding when you join vamp addict you also get access to hydeist. So technically you do join vampaddict but you are still a hydeist as well... you have access to both websites with the one account.

I am a HYDEIST but I can access the vampaddict website with my hydeist login..

That's true, if you're already a HYDEIST, you're automatically a VAMPADDICT & you can access both sites. & vice versa