MBW’s World Leaders is a daily collection wherein we flip the highlight towards a few of the most influential trade figures overseeing key worldwide markets. On this function, 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 exhibits for a few of the world’s greatest artists in Japan.

The broadly revered stay music exec serves as a key hyperlink between artists from the likes of the US and UK with Japan, the world’s second-largest recorded music market.

Hayashi’s management place within the world market stems from a worldwide background, having grown up in Japan, and finding out 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 stay 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 Worldwide Promotion (HIP), the Los Angeles-based exec lists a few of her profession highlights as selling main exhibits 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 exhibits 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 employees (so they are saying afterwards), however we managed to promote out in two days.”

HIP ended up promoting out 5 exhibits on the Tokyo Dome for Bruno Mars in This autumn 2022 totalling over 200,000 tickets. The corporate additionally bought out three exhibits on the Dome for Maroon 5 in This autumn.

Based over 40 years in the past, stay music powerhouse HIP is the most important live performance promoter in Japan and handles festivals and live shows for each world and home artists.

Lately, along with bringing numerous world superstars to Japan, HIP has additionally been answerable for taking distinguished US rock competition manufacturers into the market.

“Everyone thought I used to be mad, together with my very own employees (so they are saying afterwards), however we managed to promote out in two days.”

One such competition was Ozzfest, in partnership with Sharon Osbourne. It debuted out there in 2013 and returned in 2015.

“Ozzfest Japan was actually a breakthrough competition 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 competition to combine each classes of followers collectively beneath one roof by offering a line-up of distinguished Japanese bands and western rock bands taking part in on two separate phases 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 competition export, Slipknot’s arduous rock and metallic competition Knotfest, which debuted in Japan in 2014.

Knotfest occurred in Japan most not too long ago in April 2023 after being rescheduled a few occasions as a result of pandemic.  “The success of Knotfest has proven that the curiosity in arduous rock continues to be as robust as ever, ” says Hayashi.

“[Plus,] with our sold-out stadium exhibits of Bruno Mars and Maroon 5 within the final quarter of 2022, we had seen that the demand for high worldwide expertise was huge.”

Like most world markets, Japan’s stay music sector was badly impacted by lockdowns on account of Covid.

“For home artists, the enterprise successfully closed from March 2020 to July 2020, thereafter, exhibits did return however with considerably restricted capacities till final 12 months,” explains HIP’s CEO. “For worldwide exhibits the market was closed from March 2020 till the center of final 12 months as foreigners have been banned from getting 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 count on subsequent 12 months to see a full return to 2019 ranges”.

Trying to the long run, HIP’s Hayashi argues that she wish to see “an even bigger precedence” given to Japan and Asia typically on the worldwide touring circuit.

Hayashi explains that, “for some world excursions, the Asian dates are tagged on on the finish whereas the significance of the area warrants a larger focus in mapping out tour itineraries”.

Right here, Kaori Hayashi tells MBW about different challenges in Japan’s stay 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 stay music enterprise…

What are the largest challenges in Japan’s stay music enterprise?

One of many greatest challenges is in securing venues for worldwide artists. Japan has a vibrant native music trade the place exhibits may 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 greatest venue, the Tokyo Dome, is the house of the Tokyo Giants baseball workforce which limits the dates accessible for exhibits. The state of affairs is enhancing with extra venues changing into accessible such because the Ok Enviornment opening later this 12 months with a 20,000 capability.

One other problem is entry to knowledge when deciding to advertise a present. Streaming knowledge is barely accessible to the labels and the key ticketing corporations don’t share client knowledge.

What artistic or enterprise developments are you seeing out there that you could inform us about?

We’re lastly seeing the usage of cellular ticketing though Japan continues to be behind many developed nations 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, lots of the well-known venues in Japan are nonetheless owned or partly owned by native governments.

The place are the largest alternatives in Japan for worldwide artists?

The largest alternative for a global artist is to completely cross over to the followers of home music. Japanese acts account for practically 90% of all tickets bought for stay music occasions in Japan. One artist that has achieved that is Bruno Mars. Not solely do you’ll want to be extremely gifted you additionally want to indicate loyalty to your Japanese followers and usually carry out within the nation whereas actively selling your exhibits.

He additionally cleverly intergraded Japanese music on stage, talking some Japanese to be one with the followers on stage. I believed that basically hit Japanese individuals’s hearts and so they admire him for it. He makes the hassle.

What are the largest challenges for worldwide artists and their representatives in Japan?

One main problem is to comprehend that your recognition abroad doesn’t mechanically switch to Japan. Subsequently, you could have to scale down your expectations for Japan to start with, as a substitute of an area present as elsewhere you could have to play in a theatre or perhaps a membership.

As I discussed earlier than, you might be competing in a market dominated by Japanese artists. You could settle for requests to seem in native TV exhibits and different media with a constructive and easy-going angle which is a problem if, as can occur, you don’t have any thought of what’s going on round you.

What are your predictions for the stay music enterprise in Japan in 2023?

The marketplace for worldwide artists appears 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 count on a rise in attendance of native exhibits 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-about 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 massive an issue is ticket touting within the stay trade in Japan?

The Japanese authorities has been proactive within the combat in opposition to 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 enticing for Japanese corporations. The usage of ID playing cards is just not 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 individuals to use for an IC chip-equipped My Quantity Card which isn’t but compulsory. It’s only utilizing the sort of card that the digital ticket may be checked to an individual’s ID.

Subsequently, there may be the problem {that a} vital 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 exhibits.

There was loads 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 affect within the live performance enterprise. I’m positive sooner or later dynamic pricing can have an essential position in Japan, however we do have a powerful 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 developments are you seeing by way of ticket pricing in Japan because the stay 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. In consequence, there was an increase in Japanese live performance ticket costs.

Again in summer time 2019, AEG’s Rick Mueller mentioned extra artists within the US have been in a position to promote 2,000 to 4,000 capability exhibits than at any time in historical past. Is that this rising ‘center class’ of stay acts one thing you’re additionally seeing in Japan? If that’s the case, how a lot of a spotlight is that ‘center class’ of stay acts for HIP?

The success of those “center class” acts in Japan is a consequence of the event of recent venues. Zepp’s been growing a nationwide community of venues of between 2,000 to 2,500 capacities, all following the identical fundamental design. This has helped us plan nationwide excursions for these “center class” acts.

How aggressive is the stay market at present for promoters based mostly in Japan versus world promoters reminiscent of Dwell Nation and so forth working out there?

We solely compete with Dwell Nation for worldwide acts, most of our exhibits are home acts the place we compete with many Japanese promoters.

What affect, if any, has the expansion of music streaming in Japan had on the stay enterprise out there, by way of 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 means of streaming that they in any other case wouldn’t have accomplished. Nonetheless, the main target of the labels is on home artists, and, with a couple of exceptions, scant advertising and marketing {dollars} are spent on advertising and marketing new worldwide acts.

Bodily music, and significantly CDs, are the dominant listening format in Japan – does this continued demand for bodily music translate to robust merch demand at stay live shows?

The excessive gross sales of CDs can result in some deceptive conclusions. Many home acts embrace numerous live performance ticket gives, meet and greet alternatives and different promotional objects within the CDs can result in followers shopping for many occasions over the identical CD.

Japanese followers love well-made merchandising and sometimes queue for hours to purchase objects earlier than they’re bought out. I imagine it’s from the will to have some bodily memento of the present.Music Enterprise Worldwide