RUMORS CONFIRMED ~ MUSIC STATION REFUSES TO ACCEPT TOHOSHINKI AS GUESTS
A New Fever - DBSKer
By: S-Diary + aleyna @JpopMusic Forums + Luffa @DBSKer
I guess what we all thought about Music Station conspiracy was true.
S-San (one of the Japanese staff members of Tohoshinki) made a recent post in his blog confirming the rumours about Music Station's refusal to invite DBSK into their program.
Many fans have been speculating for quite some time the reason why DBSK never appeared on the show, especially with the recent #1 on weekly Oricon (their third one, which broke a record as foreign artist with three #1s). DBSK has been consistently in the top 10 weekly in Japanese Oricon charts with their singles and last album. Music Station usually invites singers in top 10 in Oricon atleast once to perform. However, this has not been the case with DBSK, as S-San points out even with the insistence of the company to let them on fairly.
Their lack of promotions in such a major show as Music Station has become jarringly apparent and discussion spring up everytime they release a single as to why they are still not invited. Majority say that its because of Johnny's Entertainment stronghold on Music Station, pointing out that no bands/artists that posed a threat to that agency have ever been invited.
S-San never expicitly states the show's name, however he mentions that Tohoshinki was on the show's #1 list this week, yet still weren't given the chance to perform.
The post also explains the lack of sales of the group, owing to the fact that they are still placed in Foreign Artist category in music stores even though they should be under Jpop. Fans who recently visited Japan confirmed this. They all found it quite hard to find Tohoshinki's CDs in stores, sometimes they were not there at all. Many times, they were put under K-pop or Foreign Artists section. So this really explains why sales get poor after promotions stop ... their CDs aren't in visible places for someone just browsing the Jpop section can pick up and see.
I was wondering how S-San posted about this sticky topic, knowing how hush-hush Japan usually is about these matters. He sounds frustrated, and is probably making his last desperate attempt to try to change the situation - by letting fans know what we all sort of feared existed behind the scenes (of the group not exactly getting equal oppotunity), isn't going away anytime soon. But he urges fan and says that "...the store's customers will have the most impact". The fans in Japan must speak up to store managers about DBSK's CDs being put under "Foreign Artist" section instead of where they rightfully should be - under JPOP.
We all know that
TOHOSHINKI does
Jpop, and they pretty much talk, look and sound like
Jpop artists, but that doesn't mean everyone will see them as local artists, when they really are not. They will always be Koreans anyway, unless they change citizenship. Although honestly I think it would be beneficial for their sales if they would be categorized as
Jpop in every music store, but then again you can't have it all.
The big issue here is
"Music Station" and them snubbing the group and their music. Because technically it's all about music, right? This year
TOHOSHINKI has clearly been one of the best groups in Japan and they have proven that with their current achievements especially in the
ORICON and their ever increasing number of Japanese supporters each year.
I believe
TOHOSHINKI has performed in
"Music Station" with
Koda Kumi for the song
"Last Angel" in November 2007, but the group has never been invited as sole performers in the program. But if it's true that
"Music Station" is connected with
Johnny's Entertainment (JE), the company behind boy groups like
ARASHI,
KAT-KUN,
NEWS, and
HEY! SAY! JUMP, so it's no wonder why they aren't so enthusiastic to have
TOHOSHINKI's presence there. They probably think it's a way for them to proteect their talents or whatevr you call that behavior.
If you wish to read the original article from
S-Diary in Japanese
click here, otherwise read the rest of the translations at
DBSKer ( click here ).
Tohoshinki / TVXQ / DBSKhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TVXQSpiderLiliezhttp://spiderliliez.livejournal.com
