Nowadays, Genzo receives audition tapes from all over the country almost every day. Some are aspiring to debut as singers, while others are looking forward to joining Genzo as a man in black behind the scenes.
In addition to the audition tapes sent to the company, livehouses with branches in several major cities have also become a base for Genzo's talent scouts to discover new talents, regularly sending performance videos of outstanding singers back to Tokyo.
Iwahashi Shinichi has never quit the selection of newcomers. Although he is no longer solely responsible for the production of newcomers, every newcomer who joins the company must go through his final decision.
At this moment, he selects the one he likes from the selected newcomers, and then asks the staff to send out interview invitations. After passing the interview, he decides whether he will be the producer himself or let others do the production.
When the record company first started, every step was carefully calculated, because once it failed, it might be an unbearable burden. But now, now that it has accumulated, more attempts and failures are allowed to explore the way for the future.
Cooperation with Tetsuya Komuro is the next focus. Discovering a band is an insurance card. As the record company where the band started, it must reserve a debut spot for a new band every year. Although solo singers are not very popular, as long as they market well, they can find
The quasi-selling point is not that there is no chance of becoming popular. In addition, one or two debut spots should be reserved every year for singers who test the waters, with styles such as hip-hop, rnb, or new wave. In short, we can’t stop exploring.
pace.
In addition to discovering new talents, it also recruited a group of musicians with the goal of becoming composers, arrangers, and producers. Watanabe Manyumi ran an actor training class with great success, and Genzo also opened a music training classroom.
However, Genzo's music classroom is a school that aims to recruit composers, singer-songwriters, or people behind the scenes. "Teaching singing" is not included in it.
Singing ability, basically speaking, when you hear the first audition tape, it has already been decided whether the person has a chance to become a singer. Newcomers who are recruited into the company with the goal of being a singer will also have vocal lessons.
It is outsourced and has long-term cooperation with the vocal music classroom that has signed a contract.
Since the beginning of the new year, Shinichi Iwahashi has selected four groups from among the newcomers he personally interviewed. Half are band and half are solo singers.
Both of the two bands target solo singers: girls. Of the two bands, one is composed of male members, and the other is a female vocalist paired with male musicians that has become popular in recent years.
The Women's Rock Music Festival held in consecutive years has set off a wave of band formation centered on female vocalists. In the school's light music club, female students spontaneously form bands, and this situation is also increasing.
But for now, the popularity of female vocalists forming groups is mainly reflected in the fact that when the backbone figures in the underground music industry want to form a band, they will subconsciously consider "doing some girl pop" as an alternative, and the record companies will look at it.
Having realized the commercial value of a band with a female lead singer as the center, I am willing to choose such a band.
However, a common practice among record companies is to find a few male musicians to play teammates for a female singer who originally planned to debut as a solo singer but has temporarily shelved it because the solo market is not easy, because this can quickly form a "band"
”.
Perhaps only when women who are interested in forming a band can spontaneously meet each other on campus, or enter the underground music scene and become famous with their own music - then will women's rock truly have its own place.
However, an interesting phenomenon is that men who are good at singing and writing often appear as the centerpiece of a band. But women who are good at singing and writing basically make their debut as solo singers.
In the past few years, the situation in the recording industry was that it was easier for female solo singers to rise to prominence than male solo singers. In contrast to the boom and bust of the band market, there was a boom and bust of the solo market.
However, in recent years, "girl pop" with female vocalists has become very popular. At the same time, there are many male solo singers who have achieved success.
The reason for this has an important relationship with the end of the idol era and the beginning of the band era.
After the end of the idol era, audiences who were tired of the performances in the idol era began to pay attention to the form of self-composed singing, which allowed many composers who were originally behind the scenes to appear on stage as singers. In addition, in the band era
Open, and an important symbol of the band is its own creation, which makes the audience favor singers with creative talents even more.
Correspondingly, because the idol era has come to an end, it is difficult for new trends to be born. As a result, ordinary solo singers do not have enough shining points to attract the public. Beauty, handsomeness, and good singing skills have become non-characteristic features.
Under such circumstances, Iwahashi Shinichi believes that female solo singers without creative ability can give it a try, but there is no need to promote male solo singers without creative ability.
And the reason why female solo singers are more valuable than male solo singers despite having no creative ability is that female solo singers have another possibility: to become the leader of some kind of fashion trend.
This is also why the two solo singers chosen by Shinichi Iwahashi are both girls.
In fact, there are two male solo singers in Genzo. One is Ken Mikami, who has had no success since his debut, and the other is Masaharu Fukuyama who was commissioned by Yokichi Ohri of Amuse. Of these two male solo singers, the former is not a creative artist
Singer, the latter insists on taking the singer-songwriter route.
Ken Mikami, who is not a singer-songwriter, has been silent in the industry from the time he appeared to the time he disappeared. Now he is just waiting for the end of his contract to be packed and terminated. As for Masaharu Fukuyama, a singer-songwriter, his records have never sold well since his debut.
However, compared with the miserable situation when his first single could not even touch the edge of the charts when he debuted, later his record sales could touch the edge of the charts, and at its peak, it ranked in the teens and twenties.
The reputation, at least, has been steadily rising.
Even if the steps up are small.
But even this small increase is due to the fact that he has accumulated popularity as a radio program host and participated in TV series performances under the arrangement of his agency, which has opened up some popularity.
Judging from this change, the reason why Fukuyama Masaharu's record sales are slightly better than when he debuted is not because the quality of his music has improved, but because his visibility and popularity have increased during this period.
But from another perspective, after gaining fame and popularity, it can drive his record sales, which also shows that Fukuyama Masaharu’s music is not completely unappetizing to the audience. After all, he is just a small artist with a little fame, not a very popular one.
If a big star is a big star who has people cheering for him at the slightest sign of trouble, if he really produces some music rubbish, the audience won't buy it.
When Masaharu Fukuyama first debuted, Shinichi Iwahashi discovered that his performance in the radio program was quite popular, so he proposed to Yokichi Ozato to open a radio program with a title for him, and discussed with the producer of the radio station.
, adding some music-related links to the program period, so that the audience attracted by Masaharu Fukuyama's conversation will notice that he is a singer.
On the other hand, Amuse originally selected Masaharu Fukuyama because they originally discovered him as an actor. They did not have high expectations for him to debut as a singer. His performance was dismal when he debuted, but now he is able to make back his money and make a small profit.
At this point, the agency was very satisfied. During this period, it actively arranged for Fukuyama Masaharu to work as an actor.
In fact, for Amuse, the agency hopes that the handsome and handsome Fukuyama Masaharu will focus on his career as an actor rather than becoming a singer. Moreover, compared to his outstanding creative talent, Fukuyama Masaharu has good conditions as an actor.
It's obvious that the agency doesn't really believe that he can do anything as a singer.
Therefore, today, Masaharu Fukuyama has two identities: singer and actor. Neither one can steal the limelight of the other, but he can also add some popularity to the other identity. There is a delicate balance in it.
Male soloists are not easy to get along with, and if a male soloist without creative talent wants to show off, it is even more difficult to even think about it. But for a male soloist who is good at singing and writing, is talented, and has not formed a band, if you want to find such a new person,
It's even more of a problem.
Last year, there was such a talented newcomer. uu Kanshu www.uukanshu.com There was a male solo singer named Hara Noriyuki. His song "どんなときも." (no matter when) swept the charts and became the number one single.
songs, and all the honors of millions of singles were collected.
But the Hara Jingzhi who appears on TV has nothing to do with a handsome guy. He looks like a warm and honest clerk in a street shop. You can tell by looking at his face that he is talented.
Amuse adopted a laissez-faire attitude towards Masaharu Fukuyama's career planning as a singer, and Shinichi Iwahashi, a producer, was not in a good position to dictate to a singer-songwriter.
If we really want to say it, if Fukuyama Masaharu gave up creation, he would completely lose his characteristics. After all, in the solo market, which is not easy to get involved in, "handsome guy" is the most worthless label here.
…
The two female solo singers selected by Shinichi Iwahashi, neither of them are great beauties in appearance, they can only be regarded as beauties among ordinary people. Neither of them knows how to compose music, but they are both asked by Shinichi Iwahashi to learn how to compose lyrics.
In Shinichi Iwahashi's mind, the positioning of the two girls was aimed at young women and could create some kind of popularity among young women.
He wanted to use the term "fashion guru", but felt that neither girl was worthy of it.
However, when thinking of the term "fashion guru", the image of Ayumi Hamasaki inevitably emerged in Shinichi Iwahashi's mind.
However, at this moment, Ayumi Hamasaki is just a child, and she can only follow the fashion promoted in magazines. The time I met her in Fukuoka, she had no interest in becoming a singer.
Maybe Ayumi Hamasaki will still be a singer in the future.
Perhaps Hamasaki changed his mind and chose another life possibility.