The Klassic Note Spirit Part 10
"The Year 2016 and the Smooth Return and Rise"
TAKING IT TO THE INTERNET
With indie artists on the rise and many of them I know of getting their major label debut, it's no wonder I like to give more of them on their new songs to support them. And the easiest way to do that is to listen to their music videos online, specifically YouTube. And the trend for this did not stop ever since last year, as I give more male vocalist groups in hopes of balancing the scales. Artists like LuckLife, LILI LIMIT and The Floor became big contributors in the next few years as I find more wonderful tunes that aren't written by Anime producers and sung by voice actresses. This was also an example of the huge increase of music videos I'm getting every year on that YouTube playlist I created a couple of years ago, which makes music accessible to more even though I'm already in Apple Music Japan by now.
Speaking of Apple Music, I subscribed to Apple Music Japan by the end of the year to firstly, listen to new songs more reliably on the date of release, and also, to be able to listen to more artists easily following the listening to less famous artists who would otherwise not leak their new songs online. Examples include Tsuzuri Zukuri, which have hard to find resources to listen to due to lack of popularity, so I decided to invest. Paying up to $130 a year, this might be the most expensive and best investment I've contributed to the Japanese music industry till now. I know it's a streaming service and not buying music so they let a small cut of my subscription, but still, this is the easiest way to support them as I listen to it more often and more artists open up their music library to the rise in music streaming services.
THE SELF-DOUBT
Due to the drop in new songs from the previous year and much criticism from my own methods for not giving songs off the bat which I used to, this year I decide to come up with a stronger standard based on much research from the past year. With this in mind, I cam up with the Song Integrity Survey, asking honestly about how I felt about the song in first impression as with how I started with giving J-Pop. However, I also added on long-term review opinions, making 2.99 Star Project a little less like a trip to hell and never coming back (which saw significant comeback for some of them who went there), and giving better chances to promoting star ratings on the flat 4-star song majority I've been stagnant on. This became a definitive benchmark for future years but it was hard to not create bias to familiar melodies with this system. This eventually was fine-tuned to follow past year standards accordingly as I have to manually change ratings to create a flexible rating system.
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| The first year results utilising the Song Integrity Survey. As you can see there is a healthy trend towards higher rating songs shown by the green line. |
QUALITY AND QUANTITY
Over the years, I noticed that giving songs every year seems to have a trend, and I naturally try to break a trend sometimes to avoid following into market trends. In general, and since the financial year in Japan starts in April, most songs are releases in certain peak periods following each season's start and end (mostly end) so to promote sales and of course, show a better report every year to be honest. As much, in Klassic Note, it is always dull in January following the start of the year after Song Awards which is good. It also gives me time to find new songs and recover from the season end that is December. February and March are riddled with releases as many push new songs whether it's for Anime or just because it's going to end the year on a good note. May is the next best month to release new songs following the Spring season conclusion, So is August which is lesser compared to May, and November and December months are the most hectic in releases. It's like Black Friday for music releases, to be frank. This in turn will also make giving songs tend to peak on those months, as seen in the Hall of Fame document. The balance between quality and quantity thus heavily depends on these peak months as I tend to give more songs on peaks and less songs but focused on quality and songs I'll remember on in other months of the year.
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| This yer's Song Appetite Report is a good example of song increase trends. The line represents average growth in Klassic Note song count. |
LIVING IN THE TIMES
At this point we should appreciate the fact that we are blessed with so many songs to listen and enjoy, and it's as if it feels like a dream. Firstly, despite knowing this many artists up till now and knowing many artists don't even release songs yearly, it was still a relief to see so many songs release every month, even without having to find them myself. This, and the fact that it is easier to find them simply by following them on Twitter on Apple Music makes this such a joy to do despite my busy schedule. Also, seeing artists grow and get more popular as you have heard them from indie times or even Collection Artists who have been around develop new styles and break their own music barriers to reach greater heights... that can never be described as I'm living in it enjoying all of it. Finally, that Twitter account made me happier over the years as I continue to get recognised by artists and some of the people in the Internet alike, which is just a joy for me to keep sharing my thoughts about music (positively) as much as I can, promoting as much as I deem necessary even if they aren't Songs of the day. This, is truly good times in Klassic Note, which also explains the back of the increase in new songs for the year, as I truly learn to appreciate how far Klassic Note has come.
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| Thanks, guys. Sadly it's the one song I can hear from you though. A proper conversation on the Internet, by the way. |
@KlassicNote such a great song 😍— Mishi (7-3) (@Mishiiiii_) February 18, 2016
Next up: The Klassic Note Spirit Part 11 – The Year 2017 and How It All Lasted
(How it has been a wonderful decade of music appreciation I don't even know...)
(**All linked references ago were active at time of publishing this post. They are meant for educational purposes and not are not taken directly from any intellectual property)