Wow, being in an indie band in Japan seems to be tougher than being in one in Korea.. I'm beginning to feel quite lucky to play that January gig!
For the best result, I would imagine that you need a booking agent to get a tour of Japan. It also makes sense to have some distribution in the country that you want to play, but in this topsy turvy world of digital media, that has become less important.
There are no such things as Booking Agents in Japan , they don't exist. There are Promoters who set up tours for bands , usually high profile bands but no Booking Agents.
The clubs are pay-to-play , yep , you pay to play an if miraculously you pull enough kids to cover the hall rental ( from 100,000yen onwards depending on the club) you might get some money back
Best way to get a tour to Japan is to tour a Japanese band in your territory , ie. exchange tours. But dotn expect money , think of it as a working holiday more then a business trip.
A Japan release will help a little but from a labels perspective whether they tour a band or not has zero impact on CD sales , so they arent keen to touch tours ......unless they are a small hobby label doing it for love of music and not love of the Yen
Commenting by HaloScan
