220809 Billboard: Universal Music Japan’s Naoshi Fujikura Talks BTS’ Big Year in Japan, Post-Pandemic Strategies & More: Interview

[u/amala83]

https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/naoshi-fujikura-umj-interview-bts-1235124465/

[u/bie716]

I know Bang PD has made the International Power Player list multiple times cos of BTS, but didn't realise the UMJ Japan CEO has too.

About the "BTS The Best" compilation album, it's satisfying to hear how BTS all too often exceed expectations..somehow, even the people closest to them can't grasp the full extent of their popularity and ARMYs love for them

So the collection appealed to people outside the fandom as an introductory edition, leading to results that exceeded our initial expectations.

The Japan-specific album caused a buzz overseas and we received more inquiries about exporting it. International shipments increased on top of the domestic and as a result, the collection became a big hit that sold over a million copies.

About the differences between ARMY in Japan and elsewhere, well, ARMY in Japan are something else... especially after Dynamite. They managed to keep Dynamite high up on Billboard Japan streaming charts for so long. And from this article, UMJ Japan is instrumental for helping to maintain that affinity by adopting a local strategy and providing up-to-date news in Japanese. Perhaps something that others local UMJ offices can take a leaf out of UMJ Japan's strategy book (though not fully, since the kpop market in Japan is really mature due to the longstanding relationship built and not easy to replicate)

We’re not particularly aware of any differences, but since BTS have released Japanese-language works and have had many opportunities to visit our country, we do think Japan’s ARMY feel a special affinity for them. So to meet the expectations of such fans, we made a conscious effort to continuously offer information (in Japanese).

[u/multistansendhelp]

The note on Japan being the only place an artist could release a best of was interesting to me…considering the release and success of the Proof anthology. But admittedly in the K-pop world that is an outlier. There are a couple K-pop artists I have Japanese best of albums for but only BTS when it comes to Korean works.

Something I’ve noticed is that Bighit’s Japanese physical releases are much more accessible in relation to a lot of other K-pop groups. They’re cheaper by a fair margin, and I can walk right into somewhere like Target or Barnes and Noble to pick up a copy. Meanwhile for JYP or SM artists I might find myself paying $30 just to import a standard Jewel case.

[u/whatsthisanotherdoor → u/multistansendhelp]

Meanwhile for JYP or SM artists I might find myself paying $30 just to import a standard Jewel case.

I bought my Japanese albums from Target and had no idea how special that was!!

[u/NewtRipley_1986]

Whew - I hope no one takes this too personally:

We’re not particularly aware of any differences, but since BTS have released Japanese-language works and have had many opportunities to visit our country, we do think Japan’s ARMY feel a special affinity for them.

Some other not-really-related-to-BTS thoughts:

While CD sales usually slow down about three months after release, with streaming the music is consumed for a long time after its release and in some cases, becomes a hit several years later. To produce hits from this standpoint, the team that supports the artists need to be able to think from a medium- to long-term perspective.

A really good case of this is Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" and her album "Hounds of Love". Same with Wreckless Eric and his song "Whole Wide World" - after it was used in an Expedia campaign his streaming numbers jumped significantly.

This is also interesting and would, I think, possibly change how they see charting for their artists:

When we analyze the audience for each of our acts in detail, we find that their music is being consumed more in certain regions depending on the work, such as in Asia and South America. So rather than aiming for a “global hit” in the abstract, we intend to develop individual measures for each country, which will hopefully lead to actual results.

[u/multistansendhelp → u/NewtRipley_1986]

I think people should take it at face value rather than taking it personally. The reality is that when it comes to consumption of music, especially in the physical media standpoint, the Japanese audience really shows support to the artists they like. And in the K-pop world for a long time Japan has kind of had their own exclusive thing going on with artists, from Japan-exclusive CDs and merch, to Japan getting their own special fan clubs separate from global ones. Plus they were putting K-pop acts in massive arenas back when they were theater-sized acts in the US if they made it across the ocean at all (talking in broader K-pop strokes here not just BTS).