MBW’s World Leaders is an everyday sequence by which we flip the highlight towards a number of the most influential trade figures overseeing key worldwide markets. On this characteristic, we converse to Kaori Hayashi, the Los Angeles-based CEO of Japan-headquartered live performance promoter HIP (Hayashi Worldwide Promotion). World Leaders is supported by PPL.
Kaori Hayashi has promoted reveals for a number of the world’s largest artists in Japan.
The broadly revered reside music exec serves as a key hyperlink between main artists from the likes of the US and UK with Japan, the world’s second-largest recorded music market.
Hayashi’s present management place within the international market follows a world background, having grown up in Japan, and learning on the College of London within the UK. After she graduated, she moved to Los Angeles and labored on the William Morris Company.
Hayashi’s’ journey within the reside music enterprise in Japan began together with her working as an assistant tour supervisor to Mariah Carey on a stadium tour of the market.
Now, as CEO of Japan-headquartered Hayashi International Promotion (HIP), the Los Angeles-based exec lists a few of her profession highlights as selling main reveals in Japan by superstars like Bruno Mars, Maroon 5, U2, Taylor Swift, and The Weeknd amongst many others.
“Bruno Mars’ Japan tour wants particular point out as I closed the deal and made an announcement on the finish of September 2022 for 5 Dome reveals in October,” says Hayashi.
“Usually, tickets go on sale six months prior to indicate date however right here we solely had 4 weeks to promote them and he grew to become the fastest-selling stadium artist in Japan.
“Everyone thought I used to be mad, together with my very own workers (so they are saying afterwards), however we managed to promote out in two days.”
HIP ended up promoting out 5 reveals on the Tokyo Dome for Bruno Mars in This autumn 2022 totalling over 200,000 tickets. The corporate additionally offered out three reveals on the Dome for Maroon 5 in This autumn.
Based over 40 years in the past, reside music powerhouse HIP is the biggest live performance promoter in Japan and handles festivals and live shows for each international and home artists.
Lately, along with bringing varied international superstars to Japan, HIP has additionally been liable for taking distinguished US rock pageant manufacturers into the market.
“Everyone thought I used to be mad, together with my very own workers (so they are saying afterwards), however we managed to promote out in two days.”
One such pageant was Ozzfest, in partnership with Sharon Osbourne. It debuted available in the market in 2013 and returned in 2015.
“Ozzfest Japan was actually a breakthrough pageant for all rock genres,” remembers Hayashi.
“In Japan, there are two classes of followers – worldwide followers and home (Japanese music) followers.
“Ozzfest grew to become the primary rock pageant to combine each classes of followers collectively beneath one roof by offering a line-up of distinguished Japanese bands and western rock bands enjoying on two separate levels side-by-side alternating. It was very cool and Sharon Osbourne helped reunite Black Sabbath for the primary Ozzfest Japan which was actually epic.”
HIP achieved success once more with one other American pageant export, Slipknot’s laborious rock and metallic pageant Knotfest, which debuted in Japan in 2014.
Knotfest befell in Japan most not too long ago in April 2023 after being rescheduled a few instances as a result of pandemic. “The success of Knotfest has proven that the curiosity in laborious rock remains to be as robust as ever, ” says Hayashi.
“[Plus,] with our sold-out stadium reveals of Bruno Mars and Maroon 5 within the final quarter of 2022, we had seen that the demand for prime worldwide expertise was huge.”
Like most international markets, Japan’s reside music sector was badly impacted by lockdowns as a result of Covid.
“For home artists, the enterprise successfully closed from March 2020 to July 2020, thereafter, reveals did return however with considerably restricted capacities till final yr,” explains HIP’s CEO. “For worldwide reveals the market was closed from March 2020 till the center of final yr as foreigners have been banned from coming into Japan.”
Commenting on Japan’s post-pandemic comeback, Hayashi says that the restoration for worldwide acts “has been spectacular” however that “the restoration for home artists has been slower however we anticipate subsequent yr to see a full return to 2019 ranges”.
Seeking to the long run, HIP’s Hayashi argues that she want to see “a much bigger precedence” given to Japan and Asia typically on the worldwide touring circuit.
Hayashi explains that, “for some international excursions, the Asian dates are tagged on on the finish whereas the significance of the area warrants a better focus in mapping out tour itineraries”.
Right here, Kaori Hayashi tells MBW about different challenges in Japan’s reside music trade for each home and worldwide acts, her views on ticket pricing, streaming, and her total predictions for the way forward for the market’s reside music enterprise…
What are the most important challenges in Japan’s reside music enterprise?
One of many largest challenges is in securing venues for worldwide artists. Japan has a vibrant native music trade the place reveals might be booked as much as two years upfront.
With worldwide acts we regularly have a six-month interval or much less to safe a venue. Our largest venue, the Tokyo Dome, is the house of the Tokyo Giants baseball workforce which limits the dates obtainable for reveals. The scenario is enhancing with extra venues changing into obtainable such because the Ok Area opening later this yr with a 20,000 capability.
One other problem is entry to knowledge when deciding to advertise a present. Streaming knowledge is simply obtainable to the labels and the most important ticketing corporations don’t share client knowledge.
What artistic or enterprise tendencies are you seeing available in the market that you may inform us about?
We’re lastly seeing using cellular ticketing though Japan remains to be behind many developed international locations in its adoption.
With venues, we are actually seeing the encouragement of personal possession with current tenders soliciting bids from native and worldwide property builders. Nonetheless, most of the well-known venues in Japan are nonetheless owned or partly owned by native governments.
The place are the most important alternatives in Japan for worldwide artists?
The most important alternative for a world artist is to totally cross over to the followers of home music. Japanese acts account for practically 90% of all tickets offered for reside music occasions in Japan. One artist that has achieved that is Bruno Mars. Not solely do you want to be extremely proficient you additionally want to indicate loyalty to your Japanese followers and repeatedly carry out within the nation whereas actively selling your reveals.
He additionally cleverly intergraded Japanese music on stage, talking some Japanese to be one with the followers on stage. I assumed that actually hit Japanese folks’s hearts and so they admire him for it. He makes the trouble.
What are the most important challenges for worldwide artists and their representatives in Japan?
One main problem is to understand that your recognition abroad doesn’t routinely switch to Japan. Due to this fact, you might have to scale down your expectations for Japan at first, as an alternative of an enviornment present as elsewhere you might have to play in a theatre or perhaps a membership.
As I discussed earlier than, you’re competing in a market dominated by Japanese artists. It’s essential to settle for requests to look in native TV reveals and different media with a optimistic and easy-going perspective which is a problem if, as can occur, you don’t have any concept of what’s going on round you.
What are your predictions for the reside music enterprise in Japan in 2023?
The marketplace for worldwide artists seems to be very promising. After an absence of over two years, followers have a pent-up demand for main acts as we noticed within the final quarter of 2022 with Bruno Mars and Maroon 5 (pictured inset).
I additionally anticipate a rise in attendance of native reveals as all of the remaining restrictions from Covid are lastly withdrawn. Followers will lastly be allowed to scream and shout and take away their masks.
plans are being thought of by the federal government in Japan to require concertgoers to hold ID playing cards to attend gigs to assist combat ticket touting. What are your views on that plan and the way large an issue is ticket touting within the reside trade in Japan?
The Japanese authorities has been proactive within the combat towards ticket touting. In 2019, it banned the resale of tickets for greater than face worth. Though this has not eradicated the position of ticket touts, it has made the secondary ticket market much less engaging for Japanese corporations. Using ID playing cards isn’t so simple as it sounds because it pertains to a MY Quantity Card, just like a US social safety quantity. The federal government is attempting to advertise folks to use for an IC chip-equipped My Quantity Card which isn’t but compulsory. It is just utilizing the sort of card that the digital ticket might be checked to an individual’s ID.
Due to this fact, there’s the problem {that a} important share of the inhabitants have but to use for the My Quantity card and that bodily tickets are nonetheless very a lot in use for a lot of reveals.
There was plenty of debate round dynamic ticket pricing. What are your views on this methodology of ticket promoting?
In Japan, dynamic pricing is used extensively within the journey enterprise however thus far has had little impression within the live performance enterprise. I’m certain sooner or later dynamic pricing may have an vital position in Japan, however we do have a robust fan membership tradition the place artists want to deal with their loyal followers pretty and wouldn’t wish to obtain complaints about totally different ticket costs for a similar class of seat.
What tendencies are you seeing when it comes to ticket pricing in Japan for the reason that reside trade reopened after the Pandemic?
After a few years of zero inflation, we are actually experiencing value will increase in Japan however far lower than the US or Europe. Consequently, there was an increase in Japanese live performance ticket costs.
Again in summer season 2019, AEG’s Rick Mueller stated extra artists within the US have been in a position to promote 2,000 to 4,000 capability reveals than at any time in historical past. Is that this rising ‘center class’ of reside acts one thing you’re additionally seeing in Japan? In that case, how a lot of a spotlight is that ‘center class’ of reside acts for HIP?
The success of those “center class” acts in Japan is a consequence of the event of latest venues. Zepp’s been growing a nationwide community of venues of between 2,000 to 2,500 capacities, all following the identical primary design. This has helped us plan nationwide excursions for these “center class” acts.
How aggressive is the reside market at the moment for promoters primarily based in Japan versus international promoters equivalent to Live Nation and so on working available in the market?
We solely compete with Dwell Nation for worldwide acts, most of our reveals are home acts the place we compete with many Japanese promoters.
What impression, if any, has the expansion of music streaming in Japan had on the reside enterprise available in the market, when it comes to worldwide artists touring in there?
Music streaming in Japan has grown impressively in the previous few years however nonetheless lags behind the US and different western markets. The labels in Japan are actually in a position to launch worldwide artists by way of streaming that they in any other case wouldn’t have executed. Nonetheless, the main target of the labels is on home artists, and, with a couple of exceptions, scant advertising {dollars} are spent on advertising new worldwide acts.
Bodily music, and notably CDs, are the dominant listening format in Japan – does this continued demand for bodily music translate to robust merch demand at reside live shows?
The excessive gross sales of CDs can result in some deceptive conclusions. Many home acts embody varied live performance ticket affords, meet and greet alternatives and different promotional objects within the CDs can result in followers shopping for many instances over the identical CD.
Japanese followers love well-made merchandising and sometimes queue for hours to purchase objects earlier than they’re offered out. I consider it’s from the will to have some bodily memento of the present.
