Apps to support visual bands

The world music industry is restoring. According to the International Recording Industry Association (IFPI), the global music market in 2017 is about 17.3 billion dollars. This is an 8.1% increase from the previous year, which is increasing year by year and is expected to expand further in the future. While selling out content such as CDs and downloads are declining, the factor driving this growth is "streaming" (however, as of April 2018, Japan can not say that the wave is on that wave). Also, the world 's largest event promotion company, "Live Nation", revenues in 2017 was $ 10.3 billion, a record high for the seventh consecutive year. Growth of the live market is also visible.

Thus, there is a transformation in the music industry at the global level now. The way to enjoy music is diversifying using technology, and on the contrary live and festival are booming seeking "experiences". Tech Stars, which operates acceleration programs in the United States, began operating a program specializing in music, and as an industry also showed interest in technology, the soil that accepts new services seems to be spreading (Japan's movement is the same as in the world Although not limited).

The service to be introduced this timeUNITED DREAM CORPORATIONTo provideVisUnite (Visionite). It is a support application of visual series. Fans can support their favorite band through the application, and the bands supported also have merits such as getting the right to appear on the live. I talked to Mr. Ichihashi, President and Representative Director.

Gifting app with its own live event

VisUnite (Visi Knight) is a community application that can also gifting, specialized for visual bands. Gifting is that the user sends points etc. to the performer. Users can send virtual items named LOVU in VisUnite as a cheering point to artists and support their favorite bands. Fans also have a ranking, and certain desires for approval such as "I am most supportive" are also satisfied. This mechanism also serves as a trigger for the artist to remember the user, so that the distance between the user and the artist is close to that on the online as well as in a real place like live.

Mr. Ichibashi of UNITED DREAM Inc.

When you open the application of VisUnite, articles like artists posted by artists line up like SNS. An artist posts an article and the user plays a LOVU on that post. Artists can also monetize by gathering this LOVU, and it also leads to promotion by being picked up in the rank within the application. And especially young artists are happy, there is a possibility of getting live casting rights, he says.

VisUnite is "VisUnite Fest (Visi Night Fest)It manages its own live called "It's a live performance." In addition to popular visual bands chosen by VisUnite, artists who have won votes cast in VisUnite's app also have a cast feature. There are several groups that have performed in the Budokan in the casting artists, and live performances are packed every time. It will be an opportunity for appealing to young artists. So in order to support your favorite artists, users will also actively cooperate in voting in the application and spreading in SNS.

(Credit by UNITED DREAM)

Active artists participate as supporters

Actually, "visual system" is the birthplace of Japan. Although it is not clearly defined, it is a rock band accompanied by a unique makeup and sound, and it is said that there are many cases that it is not such a major presence overseas. As it is, the word "visual system" is similar to sushi (sushi) and karaoke (karaoke), "a word with Japanese as it is", called overseas as "visual-kei" There seems to be it.

There are many cases that visual music is the theme song of animation, and Japanese animation is sold abroad as cool Japan, there are many foreigners who get to the visual system from the theme song and become a fan of the band . There are many foreigners in the live where the visual band such as VisUnite Fest and others mentioned above appear, and it is not uncommon that case more than 10% of the audience are foreigners. It seems to be going to visit the band 's live band for sightseeing to Japan (sightseeing may be more appropriate for live). By the way, many foreigners visited from Europe and Asia where many Japanese animations are broadcasted, and surprisingly from Brazil etc.

Mr. MiA of VisUnite's official influencer and guitarist

VisUnite has not only artists as users using applications, but also about 25 official influencers and supporter artists. One of themMiAMr.

VisUnite is a service we make for artists as well as users. So some artists have become supporters and have received feedback. (Ichihashi)

VisUnite thinks that it is a good service since hearing the first vision, and I support it all the time. In the first place there is no service specialized in the visual system, and there is an event like VisUnite Fest, so young artists are born a chance, it is a good mechanism.

Just platform alone will not improve the industry. VisUnite listens to the opinions of the user and the opinions of our artists seriously and is reflected in the service. (Mr. MiA)

Visual series from Japan, find a chance to gifting service

Mr. Ichihashi originally worked as a sales company for a watch company. However, I wanted to contribute to the Japanese entertainment industry and retired. Initially I was involved in the management of distributed media and influencers, but gifting services and other services were taking the spotlight in the world.

Because I was thinking of handling entertainment services, of course I checked the gifting service and so on. With that I noticed, the women were distributing the popular service, and there were many patterns that men were watching.

On the other hand, I have been involved in visual bands since long ago, men are the performers and the audience is accustomed to the composition of women. So I thought that there would be a big market if you specialize in a genre that gender is reversed and also applicable to the world of visual system. (Ichihashi)

Mr. Ichibashi and MiA exchanging views on VisUnite

Mr. Ichihashi has been doing band activities since he was a student, and is well versed in music and band activities. As mentioned earlier, the visual system is a field attracting attention from the world as contents originating in Japan. We decided that it is worth challenging as a project, and United Dream Company has steered to the VisUnite business.

Mr. Ichihashi who consolidated the concept consulted those who are active as a visual series actually. Although artists are not necessarily familiar with technology, there seems to be a harsh evaluation, but there were many people who support MiA who was already popular as a visual guitarist already. "It is better to do because it is funny. If it was useless, let's do something new again" he said.

Everyone at first, I think that it was an impression that "doing things you do not understand strange guys" (LOL)

Just talking about the vision from a place without anything, increasing the number of people who cooperate little by little, when you trust each other little by little by watching the product or running a live event.

Claphan and ticketing, until the point of selling. To services that can support artists

As mentioned earlier, Japan is a field of MusicTech that combines music and technology, it is hard to say that it is ahead of the world. For example, even when it is live, there are many cases where photography is prohibited in relation to labels and offices, and there are few opportunities for live broadcasting to be delivered if it is a big festival. Mr. MiA says "Since the office and the label have historically controlled, the artists have more thoughts like that".

On that point VisUnite has not yet deployed the service, but he seems to be thinking about enriching the live experience through the application, for example, making it possible to take pictures with only one song or broadcast live. Moreover, it also contributes to the diversification of artist's monetization by implementing a mechanism that can incorporate sponsorships, advertisements, etc. on live and can monetize other than admission fee through VisUnite Fest.

Mr. Ichihashi is willing to make it a hangout place for people who like visuals, with the feeling that VisUnite is "like VisUnite if it's about visuals." It is currently focused on gifting, but there are lots of things you can do still more, such as community features, live distribution, avatar and other fans' functions, such as ticketing, merchandising, and artistic functions such as cloud funding. And full-scale overseas correspondence is about to come.

VisUnite is a coined word that combines Visual-Kei (visual) and Unite (join), meaning "to connect the world of the visual world" is put in it, "I feel that I can make something that connects the world There is ".

The visual system is meaningful that Japan is the birthplace that Japan is strong content, and there are fans around the world, so there is necessity to transmit to the world. VisUnite is a new service just launched in 2017. I would like to continue to expand functions and fans in the future and to transmit the Japanese "Visual-Kei" to the world together with artists.

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