Yesterday's Page 5 was about what Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）would say or sing to the younger generation. Today's Page 6 will go into his professional relationship with his wife, singer-songwriter Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）, and then there is that question about streaming services.
As Mariya Takeuchi's Producer
Interviewer: Along with creating songs for many other singers, Yamashita has helped arrange and produce all of his wife Mariya Takeuchi's music since 1984. There was something that he noticed there.
Yamashita: At first, Mariya had debuted as a singer who sang whatever she was given, but she grew tired of doing activities that she wasn't meant for, and so she took 2 1/2 years off. To do something like that in the Japanese music industry of that time and then make a comeback was extremely difficult to pull off. Fortunately, during that hiatus, she came up with songs like "Kenka wo Yamete" for Naoko Kawai in 1982 and for other singers, and then I got to completely produce Mariya's 1984 album "Variety". And during the preparation time up to the album, she asked me to listen to the songs that she'd written up of which the first was "Plastic Love". I was blown away by it and when I asked her "Why haven't you released these when you could make this kind of music?", she answered "No one ever gave me the chance". And after that, the songs just kept coming out with her writing and composing all of them and making this epic breakthrough.
To put it succinctly, there are a variety of positions when one is called a singer. Do they just sing, do they write lyrics, do they compose melodies, and is their main job to compose and arrange although they help in the singing? Mariya can be called that sort of singer since she's experienced all of those, and she's been successful at all of these to some extent. When "Variety" became a hit, what I was thinking at the time was whether there were other people who had that sort of possibility. I think there are many cases where the chance was not there. Because I have been her producer from time to time, I have been able to pull out those opportunities. Therefore even now, I think that there are many other bands and singers who haven't fully utilized the potential within them.
Subscription Streaming Services: I Probably Won't Ever Get Into That
Interviewer: The ways of listening to music have evolved over the past fifty years. When I asked Yamashita whether he would allow his music to be released onto these subscription streaming services, he said at this point "I probably won't ever get into that".
Yamashita: C'mon, people who have had nothing to do with the expression of the music are freely distributing it and making money off it. That might be a win for the market, but it isn't one for music. In the past, music had to be created without thinking about that.
Questions like is it OK to sell them, is it OK for fans to come in, is it OK to get excited?...that's a whole lot of mass noise*. Music is just music, after all. What is being said as music? Without that answer, we wouldn't be able to know who we are doing this for and what we want to say to them. Expression will always be what we say to people.
*J-Canuck back here. I'm going to have to ask for some help in that final paragraph. There is that expression in the source 「集団騒擾」in that final paragraph at the bottom for which I couldn't find a straight expression although "shuudan" 「集団」and "soujou"「騒擾」can be separately translated as "group" and "disturbance" respectively. The best that I could do was put it in as "mass noise" as in all that stuff about selling and fans is simply extraneous when compared to the pure music. Is that exactly what he is saying, I wonder?
Also, I should mention about Masa's petition to get Tats to change his mind about his feeling on streaming services. You can check out the link. At this point, he's gotten 268 signatures including mine.
I think I understand Yamashita's stance on streaming. I have many friends, producers, composers or DJs alike, that expressed that music and "numbers" especially available in the digital age contribute to a consumerist attitude towards music. It's about the Tops, the trendy and latest. This in turn prompts shorter and simpler songs in terms of harmonic, melodic and rhythmic construction in the mainstream. The other side of the music is the listener and there I would observe a whole disconnection with the art of enjoying music. Often it's just "background", with attention maybe without the genuine receptivity of the authors expression. That as well, authors. People tend to make music for money, fame and to gather a following (human's desire for immortality and recognition). In Summary Yamashita's stance here is that people not involved in the creative process and out of the artistic context would get rights and benefits to the music market and industry but not the music as artistic expression and exchange of experiences between author and listener. Nonetheless I'd like to access libraries of music at demand through electronic devices, which is ironic considering that most of the time I listen to the music at home, in my room or living room where I could easily store the actual vinyls, cassette or CDs. The other times being in the car (unfortunately no 90s JDM) or doing some (small) gigs for myself with my PA speakers. (Yes I'll love to send you invites :) ) I hope this text could shed a bit of light and was interesting. Thank you for reading it. Greetings from physical Switzerland and emotional Japan !
ReplyDeleteHi, Solarriors, and thanks very much on your views on Yamashita's own views on streaming. To be honest, I'm still gathering together my own insights about his opinions throughout the article, so I think that this may turn into a conversation.
DeleteI can certainly see Tats' side of the argument. He's very firm on that the only people who should make any profit on his songs are those who had a direct hand in the production of them. The questions that he would be asking are "Did Spotify write those eighth notes?", "Did they struggle coming up with the right words to convey the right message?", "Did they pick up the instruments and play the music in the recording booth?", "Did they go around to the radio stations and ask them to play the record?". My feeling is that even though streaming services such as Spotify pay royalties, Yamashita may not feel that the payments are adequate to how much in the way of blood, sweat and tears he and his colleagues had to give to create those songs. As you mention, it's all about the artistic expression and I believe that he finds it somewhat repugnant that his art is seemingly being treated as products to be sold like cans of soup, and in the article, he did say that he would rather wallow in obscurity than jump through hoops like a circus seal to sell records.
Although he didn't mention it in the article, I also think that he would prefer fans to buy either the original LP or the CD rather than download the songs. I can also understand that because I'm not particularly a fan of streaming services. I actually also want a physical copy of an album outside of the hard drive since I enjoy holding something tangible with the work exerted to create the liner booklet along with the music inside.
On the other hand, I can also understand the fans including Masa who's put out that petition since they want more reasonably-priced access to Tats' music. I can afford to buy his music on CD, but I think that there are people in areas around the world who would love to possess his music privately instead of relying on YouTube (which may be irking Tats himself) and other platforms, but simply can't even afford a CD easily, let alone those LPs which have perhaps gone to sky-high prices, as much as most of them want to give him his artistic and monetary due.
From what I've gleaned so far, the argument seems to be about Tats' demand for artistic respect for whole albums (pay me for the whole album not piecemeal songs) versus fans' desire for better access to his material. The common denominator between the two, though, is that they cherish the songs deeply.
I’m not sure if I agree with Yamashita about streaming. Streaming is just a distribution channel for music, just like radio stations and later TV, who played a vital role in making us discover music and musicians. His argument that the streaming service people never took part in making the music can be applied to radio, TV people who never took part either. I think streaming will play a bigger and bigger role in helping us discover new music and musicians, just like Google help us discover new info on the internet.
ReplyDeleteOn a different topic. I’ve read 6 pages of his interview so far. I still find it hard to imagine why he was so mad at Akina’s presentation of Eki (which was written by Yamashita’s wife Takeuchi). It was him who later suggested to his wife to do a self cover version of Eki in order to make sure that the song’s correct message was getting across. I listened to both and I still like Akina’s better. 😆
Hi, Larry. I think that all of the observations that you've made kinda tie into Tats' personality and attitudes. I no longer think that he's a cranky curmudgeon, but he takes a very hard stance on certain things and how the music that he's made should sound even if they were originally created for other artists, including his wife.
DeleteFor example, he has a layer of bemusement about the fact that foreigners actually love his songs. If I were to bring that down to one sentence that he could say, it would be "Oh, well...OK, I guess...". Although I think that he is indeed grateful, he's made it very clear that he will always prioritize Japanese fans over overseas fans. I can understand that to a point now because of Tats' age and maybe a language barrier (although I think he knows more English than he lets on), but he also hinted that he feels that his Japanese fans are more hard-working which of course I don't quite agree with. Plus, he was thirty years younger when he declined those first offers to do concerts overseas, so I think that he really does consider himself to be a purely "domestic" guy.
Along with "Eki", Tats was also displeased with the arrangement of his "Morning Glory" which Mariya sang on the 1980 album "Miss M", thinking that it was overproduced. And this was all done together with David Foster, and a few members of TOTO and Chicago...not exactly slouches in the industry. He would cover it on his 1982 album "For You" in his way, and although I think that it is also good, I have to say that I also prefer Mariya's original more.
Part of the reason for his attitudes, I believe, stem from the fact (as I gleaned them from the interview) that he's basically had to fight everyone in the industry all along the way (I'm sure that he's made enemies), so he's probably developed a tough shell and maybe a permanent chip on his shoulder.