I read this in the J-pop forum (about J-pop artists releasing singles/albums), this one is about HamaAyu:
"In the ten month period before A Song for XX was released, Ayu released 5 singles. Then in the ten months between A Song for XX and LOVEppears, Ayu released a whopping 6 singles and double disc remix album. In between LOVEppears and Duty, another ten months, she released another 6 singles (2 of which were recuts from LOVEppears), and she also released 5 remix albums. Then there was the year and three month gap between Duty and I am..., which gave us 7 new singles, 1 album re-cut, 10 remix singles, 8 re-released singles, 4 remix albums, and 1 "best of" collection. Now that was in 1 year and 3 months in which those 31 things were released."

Wow, how interesting! If B'z release stuffs like that, we'll all be SO broke o___0 But Ayu has been the highest tax payer in the J-entertainment world for 2 yrs in a row now? At least Tak and Koshi don't have to pay as much now hehe. They've been in the top 4 since 1998. What does it feel like to pay so much tax o___0 I wonder?

Tak's interview Part I - B'z Debut & Sales Figures -

Q: So after you started the band, did B'z do alright in term of big-break and such, according to what you had planned?
T: Un... In term of result... At that time the record company was very strict, perhaps now even more so. The policy of 'show result within 3 albums' feels like a very long term project when you look at it now. But in that era, we said 'wow, that's so strict', but at the same time you'd think much more of 'how to really do something within 3 albums' or 'first we must be able to sell'.
Q: For that, you sacrificed a lot.
T: Un, when you say sacrifice, well, we pretty much didn't think of anything else... the band began with a very clear goal, 'Urenakereba imi nai' (if we can't sell, there's no use) (bitter laugh).
Q: Iya, it is an important matter.
T: Un, so we started that way. We thought hard on 'how to sell more?' I don't think that it was a bad thing, because it's not like as if we sold our souls to the devil like the lyrics of blues song. Not like that at all. However this is no picnic. We must show result. That's very clear with the starting of B'z.
Q: Because you're not amateur, show result.
T: Sou, well that is still the same even to today. But because of that, we couldn't make the bend towards the kind of music we'd like to do.
Q: Aa, you actually wanted to do different kind of music.
T: Yes, hence when I did solo albums, I always got comments like 'you're doing something that you can't do within the band, something you prefer'. I didn't want to talk about it with such person in interviews or anything. I didn't even think about answering something like that, 'this was this and that was that'. I put 100% effort to everything that I do. I've always loved what I do. So even bits by bits, I put B'z into the direction of the music that I wanted to do. From the first album to our latest work, you can see the transformation.
Q: Sou desu ne. The genre has changed so much.
T: Un. I think that's luck ne, in the case of sales figure.
Q: So that's why in the first 2, 3 years, you released many things.
T: Sou desu ne. High-pace. 2 albums in 1 year, right?
Q: Single and also a mini album.
T: Ee.
Q: There was a year when you released 8 things.
T: Aa sou desu ka. Including singles?
Q: Everything.
T: Aa hontou ni.
Q: I supposed until the year 1991, you felt that 'we must release things fast'.
T: Un. The first year however, we didn't do any concert. We talked about releasing music first. At that time, single didn't have much sale power. Releasing single and album at the same time was the most natural thing to do.
Q: Sou desu nee.
T: So for instance, we released two albums in about half a year. First album in September and the 2nd was around May the year after, I think.
Q: Yes, it was.
T: The production kept going.
Q: But in the end of 80s, there was a pattern of debut followed immediately with live shows.
T: The band boom era.
Q: Ee. Did you have different strategy by releasing music first and then live shows later?
T: Something that I said all the time then was 'we won't do any live show without first releasing at least two albums worth of music'. Another thing was 'We won't do live-houses either'. I was determined to start with at least hall concerts.
Q: Why didn't you want to do live-house shows?
T: Even if we did, there's no meaning.
Q: No meaning?
T: Mou nee... It's all different now, but at that time, I came from doing the live-house shows around Japan. Nothing came out as the result. Records still wouldn't sell. 'Do campaign rather than that'. So we did campaign instead. The funny thing was, I was also a monitor for Yamaha then. I brought Inaba along with me, we did guitar seminars around Japan. That, in another word, was live-show ne. I did the seminar first and then he'd join me. We'd perform live, just guitar and vocal.
Q: Do you remember the audience's reaction?
T: It was always very good. Everywhere we went, it was full-house. Thanks to TM-san (laugh) (TM Network, Tetsuya Komuro's band)
Q: Hahaha.
T: All TM fans came to see us.
Q: Like they'd say 'the supporting guitarist for TM, Matsumoto-san's new band is in town and he's introducing Inaba-san'.
T: Sou sou sou. They really came to attend the seminars. The records were not selling at all, so even when we were still the unknown band, we have already gone as far as Miyasaki. We've been to places that even Shinkansen didn't have a stop by station, hontou ni. But still the audience came to see us. Sugoi yo ne.
Q: So in those seminars, you gave lectures on how to play guitar and such?
T: Un, I did, but most of the audience were ladies, so how to play guitar to them was dou demo ii yo (couldn't care less). Most of the seminars were like that. Also because my reputation as a guitarist wasn't known then.
Q: Sou desu ka. So, it was more like 'TM's Matsumoto-san is here to give lectures on guitars'.
T: Sou. Well, the reason I went on tour with TM was because I was allowed to do these seminars.
Q: So it was always the day after the concerts.
T: Or the day before.
Q: Did you think about the fact that even when B'z had never done a live show before, you were already accumulating local fans then?
T: That obviously happened for sure. That's why I said there's no meaning doing the live-house shows. Those we did were already like live-house shows. There were Yamaha outlets all over Japan and we performed live in all of them.
Q: So there should be around 100 people.
T: In some places, we had 300 or more.
Q: Eeee?! B'z who wasn't doing live-shows had such audience even then?
T: Un, because guitar seminars were big projects. We took the opportunity to also do campaigns (laugh). We went to local music shops to ask for their support 'yoroshiku onegaishimasu'.


TO BE CONTINUED
from: Ultra Chronicle/ Personal Interview with Tak Matsumoto, 2003 Summer
Tak's interview Part I | Tak's interview Part II | Tak's interview Part III | Tak's interview Part IV

isolabella 2004-01-26 01:48 pm UTC (link)

Aww, poor Tak and KoshKosh! So much pressure. I liked how Tak said they had already hit all the inaka towns way before B'z became successful. I'm also so glad B'z became powerful enough to do the kind of music they wanted to do. Do you mean Tak and Koshi didn't realy like all that 80s stuff? Un, I did, but most of the audience were ladies, so how to play guitar to them was dou demo ii yo Whoa! Tak! Slamming the ladies! lol. So were they there to gaze at the beauty of Tak, or to see the shy young Inabarella?

Tak's interview (Anonymous) 2004-01-26 11:42 pm UTC (link)

It's hard to imagine B'z having to "sell" themselves - going door-to-door, so to speak! I don't recall them coming around to my neighborhood, and I live in the boondocks!! LOL Perhaps in those days women weren't too interested in guitars, but things have changed. Even at our local high school the brass band consists mostly of girls. I went to watch them recently and the drummer gave them quite a pounding!! Not quite Shane but in time.....! As for live-houses, I sure wish they'd do a few, like when Inaba-san played in Osaka as the opening act last year. Anyway, Thanks, KEENIE, for all your hard work and keep these interviews a-coming!!!!

	Re: Tak's interview (Anonymous) 2004-01-26 11:44 pm UTC (link)
	hehehehehe! I forgot to sign my name! Kate