Japan Music Marketing - Playing Gigs in Japan - Promoting your music through live gigs at Japanese Live Houses

Selling and Promoting Your Music in Japan
Japan Music Marketing Resources for foreign record labels, bands and artists

The Music Market in Japan - How to Make it "Big in Japan"

Article 3:

Playing Gigs in Japan

Promoting Your Music at Japanese "Live Houses" and Other Venues

If you are an indie artist/band or record label searching for "booking agents" or "concert promoters" in Japan you will not find any. Well, not like the ones in other countries. In Japan, venues do not pay bands to play so there is no revenue. Since there is no revenue, there are no booking agents or promoters (who exist on taking a cut or percentage of the show revenue earned by the artist/band). There are several concert/event organizers in Japan, but it is expensive to bring over and pay foreign artists. So they only work with relatively famous artists and their record labels that they know they can make a profit from. If you are not known in Japan, they will not be interested.

Doing live gigs is the best form of promotion in any country. So how do indie artists get gigs in Japan? If you do not live in Japan, but can afford to pay for all the expenses (airfare, hotels, food, personal expenses, local travel, guide/translator/manager, etc.) then you can use one of the few companies that specializes in setting up and managing gigs for foreign artists and record labels. These companies do not pay you or any of your expenses. You must pay them for their services. If you have a deal with a record label in Japan, they should be able to set one up for you. If you are with a small label with little financial resources, you can cooperate by offering to pay for some of the expenses, like your airfare, etc (but negotiate that into your deal).

Indie artists and record labels that already live in Japan usually set up gigs themselves by auditioning for the venue manager or renting the venue and producing the event themselves. They usually have to sell tickets and do their own show promotion. In effect, they have become their own booking agents, event producers and promoters.

In short, you have to "pay to play" or "audition to play" in Japan. For most indie bands and labels, doing live shows is a promotional expense NOT a revenue-generating activity. (Actually this is becoming more the case in other countries where there are fewer live venues that will pay decently for an indie artist/band.)

The venues where most indie artists/bands play is called a rai-bu house (live house). These are venues set up especially for live musical performances. They also offer food and bar service. Some are designed like upscale clubs with world-class sound systems, lighting and stages with seating capacities over 1,000 people while others are a little more sparse in terms of interior design and equipment (i.e. a neighborhood pub). Most fall in-between.

There are hundreds in Tokyo alone and all across Japan in most major cities and even smaller towns. Venue capacities typically can range from 50 to 500 people. All drum kits, amps, effects, cables, PA, and other stage, lighting, recording equipment, and engineers are included or can be rented.

Some live houses will hold auditions and then "book" bands for certain nights. 3-5 bands may be booked for the night and each band may get a 15-45 minute set. There is no pay. The bands usually have to sell a set number of tickets (15-20 tickets at $15 to $35 each). If they don't sell their quota then they must pay the difference. For foreign bands, this quota may be waived and the band may play for a fee (or for free if the live house operator is nice or thinks that you will attract customers). Since foreign bands cannot fly to Japan just for a 5-minute audition, you should send a video of a previous live performance and your CD of course (or a Japanese web page with music clips, videos, photos, and Japanese bio may be enough). It is also a good idea to contact Japanese artists and record labels in your genre who may be able to put you on their show schedule. They won't pay for any of your expenses but you don't have to setup the gigs yourself or do any promotion.

If you can speak Japanese, have a good budget, and are keen at event production then you can book a live house (i.e. rent the space) yourself. In Tokyo, rental fees for a decent live house can range from $1,000 to $5,000 for a Friday, weekend, or holiday night. You get the venue from about 3PM to 11PM (soundcheck usually at 4PM). Shows typically last from 2 to 3 hours maximum and start anywhere between 6 to 9PM. The live house usually opens its doors 1 hour before start time. There are hefty charges if you go overtime. Tickets and merchandise can be sold to recoup costs.

Live house operators usually have no problem renting their venue to a foreign band/event producer/record label as long as they get paid the rental fees. They don't care about your other expenses like airfare, accommodation, etc.

If you are not receiving any "pay" for the show (and are not selling items) you do not need to get a special work visa—which can take a long time. If you have a valid passport and come from a country which has a visa requirement waiver agreement with Japan (USA, Canada and most European countries) then you can enter Japan on a temporary visitor's entry stamp which is normally valid between 90 days and 6 months depending on your nationality. If the Japanese immigration officer finds that you have a criminal record then you will not be permitted to enter Japan. Please check with your nearest Japanese consulate or embassy for details.

Shibuya-AX Live House in Tokyo Live House Stage and Interior

If you are lucky enough to be invited to play in Japan by an event organizer, then that is great. There are several music festivals held during the year in Japan. (Access the Members Resources area to get a list of music festivals/conferences in Japan that invite/book foreign artists.) If you have sent your music and presskit to the right people in Japan, you may be surprised with an invitation to play. Creating a Japanese web page/presskit is a good start at getting some attention in Japan. Click here to get a Japanese web page and add yourself to the TopMusic.jp Music Guide.

A live house has everything so the band only needs to show up with a guitar, bass and pair of drumsticks. This helps "indie" artists to travel light since many will use the train system to get to gigs. Guitars, basses, synths, pianos, etc. can sometimes be rented at the live house.

Metropolitan Tokyo-Yokohama has a population of 35 million so you may want to only play in this area depending on your budget. However, since Japan is about the size of California State and the train system vast, fast and reliable, it is possible to play gigs in many major urban areas throughout Japan. Osaka and Nagoya are the 2nd and 3rd largest cities respectively. The bullet train can take you to northern cities like Sendai and Niigata or southern cities like Fukuoka and Hiroshima in several hours. With a Japan rail pass, you can cover most of the country in a short period of time relatively inexpensively (assuming you don't have tons of gear and a huge entourage) and establish a good fan base in one tour. Some tours have the band playing 7 shows in 7 different cities—all in 8 days! If you're coming from America then you will start feeling sleepy late in the afternoon or early in the evening Japan time and wake up very early morning Japan time so you may want to give yourself a couple of days to get used to the time change (if your budget allows or else drink a lot of can coffee or energy drinks from the vending machines).

A live tour should be coordinated with other advertising and promotion to be most effective. In addition to posting your tour schedule in your Japanese web and mobile pages, there are several music websites in Japan where you can promote your live house tour. Most live houses will use flyers and posters to promote the shows that they organize themselves. If you are renting the live house for yourself then you will have to do this yourself or hire someone to do it. In most cases, if people know it is a foreign band, they will be more interested in checking you out. Needless to say, you should also have your music readily available for Japanese to purchase either from a traditional retail shop in Japan or a website that caters to Japanese customers and that accepts YEN in the popular payment methods in Japan. You can sell your CD's directly from your Japanese web page so all you have to do is let the audience know your website URL.

A good idea is to get a bunch of bands/artists together so you can all share the expenses (and experiences) of a live tour in Japan. Some record labels bring over 3 to 5 bands/artists for one tour (i.e. a showcase for the label).

Remember, the main goal of doing live shows in Japan (your first tour anyway) is music promotion—developing a fan base and generating publicity—not making an income. It is a marketing cost that you or your record label pays in order to increase sales of your music products in Japan. Nevertheless, a tour of Japan is a fun and wonderful experience for most foreign artists.

If you are contacting potential Japanese distributors/licensors for your music, it is a good idea to let them know that you are also committed to playing (and perhaps paying for) a live tour in Japan as part of sales promotion.

The best form of promotion is performing live shows in Japan.

Live shows/tours are the best way to establish a loyal fan base in Japan and to promote your music. It also helps in getting publicity in other media and motivates your distributor to push your product at stores.

If you can setup gigs yourself you can save money but unless you can speak/read/write Japanese, this may be difficult. You can either contact Japanese record labels or artists in your genre to help you or use one of the companies that specializes in planning/managing live tours for foreign artists and record labels. The costs of touring in Japan will vary depending on the number of members and amount of tour support services required. In addition to everyone's transportation, accommodation, food, and other personal costs, the tour planning/management company must also be paid for its services.

If you are wondering about how much doing a Japan tour costs simply go to your local travel agency and ask them how much a standard tourist package would be for Japan (staying 7 days and visiting Tokyo and Osaka) for the number of people in your band—then add some extra to come up with a conservative budget for your tour! If you have that budget ready and at least 4 months leadtime (and valid passports with no criminal records) then contact the companies that specialize in the planning and management of live tours and concerts for foreign artists and labels in Japan.

Click here to read an article that appeared in The Austin Chronicle about the doing live shows in Japan and the experiences of some foreign artists in Japan.

Quick Links

Get distribution in Japan

Promotion in Japan

Find a Japanese record label to release your music

Send your demo to Japanese record companies

Do a live tour in Japan

Create a Japanese web + mobile page

Links to Live Houses (Venues) in Japan

See what foreign artists are "Big in Japan"

Articles about The Music Market in Japan - How to Make it "Big in Japan"

1. Japanese Market Opportunity for Foreign Music - If you are in the business of selling music, do not forget Japan!
2. The Music Business in Japan - Indie Music Culture and Record Companies in Japan
3. Playing Gigs in Japan - Promoting your music at Japanese "Live Houses" and other venues
4. How Much Does It Cost? - The activities and related costs of selling and promoting your music in Japan
5. Useful Tips On Visiting and Doing Business in Japan - Info and advice for visiting and doing business in Japan

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