Gaining Momentum from the Host
by Angga · August 10, 2013
A local boy group’s manager in Indonesia that was formed not a long time ago claimed that they are being bullied by JKT48 fans both in Indonesia and Japan AND also being “wrongly” accused by Japanese “Media”.
Talking to Liputan 6, a news portal from a local television channel, the manager said while showing a screenshot that is not being displayed in the website nor by giving the url :
つい先日結成されたばかりの当地のボーイ・グループのマネジャーが、自分達はインドネシアと日本のJKT48ファンから中傷を受けており、さらには日本の“メディア”からも“不当な”非難を受けていると主張した。
Liputan 6,という当地のTV局のニュースサイトで、そのマネジャー氏は根拠となる資料を示しながら語ったとのこと。しかし、ニュースサイトの記事には肝心の資料も、掲載されたというURLも載っていない。
It is somewhat interesting what kind of media covered them (and accused them) in Japan. A social media? A news portal? unfortunately without any URL as the citation, these left me with a cicada’s shell-like reading. I tried to browse through various social media in Japan such as 2ch and Ameblo and can’t find anything except one single post in 2ch with no reply and some insignificant talks in part of JKT48 thread in 2ch. I will try to re-verified about this to our authors in Japan.
One thing to note, a blogger and a social media persona from Japan that in his free time tried to promote Japanese culture using Bahasa Indonesia already made a statement on his Twitter page :
He also stated that he likes the way the manager tried to promote the group.
This has become somewhat a phenomenon in Indonesia music industry itself that even by adding “JAPAN” in your statement could generate enough attention to a single group. Selling “JAPAN” as a “certain brand” and not as a “country” to generate attention via negative marketing is now being seriously considered by -perhaps- some group management, for an example, this group.
This has proven that somewhat by generating angst from JKT48 OR any 48 fans could helped a group or an individual to paved themselves to stardom through negative marketing. Somehow, this could also act as a benchmark of how far JKT48 has grab mainstream media attention. Unfortunately, this means that the effort to introduce Japanese culture to Indonesia and vice versa via JKT48 is being smartly utilized the wrong way by (a) third party indirectly involved.
Living as a parasite, gaining momentum as a parasite, and getting enough attention as a parasite by attracting angst has somewhat becoming the basic of basic by some local marketer. A smart way to promote a newly formed group I might say. Media loves controversies and I’m sure not very long from now, in a close future, we can see the positive effect of it as the parasite gaining more momentum thanks to their host and the host’s unfortunately not smart enough-angry fans.
Heck, I even gave them some chances to gain momentum by writing this article!
That being said, Congrats to the group for showing their swift way to gain instant stardom!
UPDATE :
Tokyo Pop already re-confirmed about the dubious news in our comment form, there’s no news about them at all in Japan. It’s perhaps a faux story to generate buzz
いったい日本のどんなメディアが取り上げたのか(また非難しているのか)いささか興味のあるところだ。ソーシャルメディアか、はたまたニュースサイトなのか?残念ながら根拠となるURLが引用されていないので、記事を読んでも隔靴掻痒の感は否めない。
私は2chやAmebloなど幾つもの日本のソーシャルメディアにあたってみたが、2chで単発のスレを一件one single post in 2ch with no reply と、JKT48スレッドでもほんの僅かなやり取りを見つけたのがせいぜいだった。この件はさらに日本のスタッフに確認してみようと思う。
ひとつ注目すべきは、普段から日本の文化をインドネシア語で精力的に紹介しているある日本人ブロガーがsocial media persona from Japan、すでにこの件についてツイッターでつぶやいていることだ。
彼はまた、件のマネジャー氏のこの売り込み手法にはニヤリとさせられると述べている。
彼が言うのは、いまやインドネシアの音楽業界では“日本”という単語をつけ加えるだけで、何かにつけ大きな興味を惹けるという現象のことだろう。“日本”という言葉が国の名称から転じて“信頼のブランド”として使われている昨今、このマネジャー氏に限らず、それを「悪い評判も評判のうち」式のノイズ・マーケティングに利用しようとする輩が出るのも無理からぬことではある。
このような手法でファンの間にちょっとしたノイズを呼び起こし、それがグループやメンバーを徐々にスターダムへ導く原動力になるということは、JKT48はじめ48ファンの例で証明されているとも言えるが、それはともかく、現在JKT48が主要メディアの注目をどの程度集めているかのベンチマークにはなるだろう。
今回は残念なことに、JKT48を通して日本文化をインドネシアに紹介するという試みが — 逆も場合も同じだことだが、直接関係のない第三者によって悪用されたということだ。
寄生することでおこぼれにあずかり、ノイズを発生させて大きな興味を引くというやり方は、いまや当地のマーケティングでは当たり前になりつつある。あえて言うが、これは新人グループを売り込む方法としては抜け目ない。メディアはこの手の論争は大好きなのだ。そう遠くない時期に、この寄生生物は違った意味で宿主からおこぼれをもっと恵んでもらえるだろう。私の言う宿主とは、賢いかどうかはともかくも怒れるファンたちのことだ。
どうでもいいけど、私のこの記事も連中の養分になってるんだろうな!
それは置いといて、キミ達、スターダムへの道まっしぐらでご同慶にたえません、お手軽過ぎるけど!
Japanese Translation by Tokyo Pop
>>In Japan, there’s NOT A SINGLE (news about them) (laugh)>>
As a result, that’s it.
Thanks Tokyo Pop! Just as I thought, a faux statement to generate more buzz
note : translate using google translate
what is this article is about *****
what can we do …
from the start until the name of the number of members is clearly visible as imitating JKT48.
I think if their quality is much better at least than the local vocal group, that’s understandable, but if the quality is bad or just plain ordinary it is shameful
BTW, what is the meaning picture for the title of this article?
What can we do? Nothing, just chill
They feed off your negative energy, so why bother? Besides, this is just a normal everyday life in the industry where some faux statement is being thrown away freely to generate more buzz.
The meaning of the picture? Well… a mosquito feeding off a fan’s blood?
bhahhahaha
a joke that came from a big joke
that’s akm29 for you
well, look at the bright side; you have new thing to joke around now
Such parasitism is inevitable once JKT48 reach certain level of achievements . I wrote this somewhere soon after their Heavy Rotation release. This is not the first – previously an suddenly-become-a-celebrity and a wanna-be-a-politician try to get a free ride on their fame. And I bet this will not be the last.
I don’t need to know their quality. Using such cheap way for an easy gain already told me all I need to know.
“Living as a parasite, gaining momentum as a parasite, and getting enough attention as a parasite by attracting angst has somewhat becoming the basic of basic in local Indonesian marketing.”
Um, that’s taking things a bit too far, isn’t it? Perhaps this AKM29 group is doing so, but I wouldn’t say that the /whole country/ is utilizing such cheap techniques. We had brilliant innovations and breakthroughs in the world of marketing this last decade, after all; your statement may just paint the wrong idea and it could be interpreted as degrading to various local marketers.
I also find the word “angst” a bit out of place here (it reminds me of fanfiction genres, actually), since, as I understand it, the word means something along the line of “depression”, “nervousness”, “uneasiness”, etc. I highly doubt anyone is losing sleep over this Maybe “irritation” could be a better choice of word.
I’m sorry if I may sound offensive. It’s just that this site is one of the few that provides opinion pages of the 48family (AKB48wrapup being another– the rest focus more on news and discussions, I think), so I have very high hopes for the articles published here. I’m a sucker for well-written essays containing plausible arguments (spiced up with a bit of humor and wit), and I find JKT48stuff to have great potential in posting those. It’s fun reading people’s thoughts, but not so much if there are generalized statements presented as “facts”.
On a related note: pretty sure AKM’s not here to stay. The members each has his own thing going on, so it’s probably just a “why the hell not” kind of decision, instead of a full commitment. And without commitment, where would /anyone/ be in the entertainment industry?
On an unrelated note: Veranda is getting more beautiful each day, isn’t she?
Correct, the “parasite” statement might perhaps inducing generalization nuance as you said. Not all local marketers, be it individual or group, rely on such cheap techniques. Although lately, we could see the pattern keep repeating just like Kagetora story above . I will update the statement with a less generalization in it . Thanks for the correction!
As for “angst,” I chose that word basically on some of the fans response who kinda worried about that group being the main culprit for faux story involving Japan – Indonesia relationship in cultural exchange while riding on JKT48 fame, because as you just said, seems like the manager generalizing one post with no reply in 2ch as “Japanese Media” and “Japanese JKT48 Fans”
And Veranda…well let us just say she stole one of our authors attention-instantly
The sad fact is, such cheap practice is so common, a lot more common than the original ones, so that people end up swarmed by more low quality contents than the quality ones. It affects the way we react to things around us : we lament at comedy, laugh at horror, angry at tragedy. We lost our common sense because the common ones has been dictates by those who only want to exploit us. One might argue that it is economic principle that one aim at highest gain possible with lowest cost possible. Yet, such argument should be said by those who exploiting, not by those who are exploited.
I always said to my colleagues that “Indonesians are not people with low-taste, they are simply have not much choice” While few good producers are trying to give us some better choices, what we can do as consumers are making smart choices. By doing that, we increase the pressure of natural selection for any works to survive in the showbiz. Let those who deserve it get their share. I believe they who sincerely do their parts, won’t mind dealing with it.
Perhaps, just perhaps, parasitism is a necessary larval stage to start before advancing to more mature form. There are instances of entertainers who were inspired and adapt other works before finally find their genuine style. But, before that mature stages attained, let us keep the pressure high enough to keep these larvae from becoming pests who damage the whole ecosystem.
On a related note: One of the result of such common practice was that JKT48 have to endure stigma of “plagiarism” during their early stage of development. Only after Akicha and Haruka transfer, such stigma started to be lifted up. Nevertheless, such stages is necessary so that Team J can build a strong foundation for the next generations. A foundation that link them with the tradition that their older sisters has built before them. With that foundation, they can now concentrate on how to make themselves unique by becoming more Indonesia.
Woah, I think this Fangirl person is smart enough. No, she (or he?) amaze me with her opinion. But, in the last line why I’m suddenly thinking: “Are you Veranda itself?”
what if she is?
Well, I’m shocked of course.
Angga, I loves your writings about this, direct into the core of problem, No, it is such a disease I guess, plagiarism, free riding, too lazy to create something new, and the worst>> doesn’t know how to make an elegant product.
Thanks! But Fangirl is correct though, I might perhaps played my cards too early with the generalization statement.
First, I just say this is my first comment in this site so sorry if my comment and my English are bad. Yeah, i also say thanks to Mr. Angga.
This article might save (although it just a little action) Indonesia music industry because this guy make a very shameful act. I hope Indonesia musician can make new innovation, exceptional for JKT48 because they are officially cooperation with 48 management.
I must admit that AKM29 have big guts to paint target on their own back.
as we know, in indonesia, there’s so many people who become instant artists, some of them could keep their stardom until now on, but some not, they could rise up easily, then they could fall down easily too
if AKM29 has quality, it doesn’t matter if they copy-paste 48’s concept,
but yeah it could make indonesia as a piracy country, in many things,
the more famous they are, the more people know more about JKT48,
i think AKM29’s existence it’s just an intermezzo
To be honest, I wouldn’t have even known about it if Taka-san didn’t post an article about AKM29 on his twitter. When they performed in “Hitam Putih” and one of the member started to sing, I was like “Huh? Inspired by JKT48 is like THAT??” So weird, I can’t even understand this group’s producer intention. It’s like a made up speech to rise up their popularity.
Then, after Taka-san confirmed that there’s no Japan media talked about them, I became more irritated with it. So my opinion for AKM29 : Just walk away and pretend they don’t exist. -__-