Hey, welcome back again. In this post, we talk about the stuff I think only matters to me most, but I would try to reason myself out of this (lol) as to why, because I have to listen to this many songs on a weekly basis, that I have to decide whether I actually like the artists I listen to. Like, seriously think about it kind of way.

HOW IT ALL STARTS

When we talk about listening to new songs, we immediately will find out a bit about who they are. Whether it's Shishido Kavka, YuNi, or even Natural High who are already disbanded by the time I heard of them back in 2011 lol, it's still standard fare to find out whether (1) they are male or female and I can tell you singing voices can be deceiving just listen to 96neko haha, (2) who they are because I really am trying to make Klassic Note last so I don't want this to die with artists who are older than me haha I know Sambomaster this will be hard I like you guys, and most importantly (3) will I continue to like their style despite only giving the first batch of songs due to whatever reason. Sometimes you will too right? Whether it's from a drama theme song, from an Anime you enjoyed so much the theme songs because the icon of what you remember of them (I know that sounds impossible because no one cares about them especially the people around me), they all have a way to get you to like the song for some reason. However, for me at least, I tend to go on searches and journeys even to find new artists to listen to. Sometimes it's indie so thanks Audioleaf to be honest, sometimes it's just from the YouTube recommendations in recent years just because I can't get over the music video thumbnail and/or the song title.

FROM NEWBIE TO BEING IN THE KLASSIC NOTE COLLECTION
Whatever the trigger is though, it is not representative until you know, maybe go through half of their music library (if they have any, I only had two mini-albums to listen to when I knew of Ryokuoushoku Shakai) or even more as I do so very often when I started with Klassic Note just purely due to lack of experience listening to songs everywhere.... maybe that's why Collection Artists in early years have way more retention than the ones in recent years. As I continue to give more artists every year - I recently talked about the artists I knew from Klassic Note 2015 where I knew a record number of new artists (even male bands) which ended up to be regulars in my music listening experience - I thought of what it takes for me to give an artist credit for what they symbolize and give me more reasons to support them if possible.

AVOIDING WELL-KNOWNS
Because so much so, artists tend to follow the flow of popularity. If you get popular from the one song even (looking at you KANA-BOON), you tend to get years of followers without any issue, and as you continue to pad your portfolio, you get more credit over what you do. BUT, that does not mean everyone will like them. And I just tend to avoid those. Rather than support those who are popular, thanks to the music streaming platform and places like YouTube and other social media becoming easy platforms of communication, I tend to follow artists after they have left major labels. Why so? Because artists like Tsuji Shion, Scenarioart and Tokyo Karankoron aren't terrible: They have a style and/or charm that makes them so much more appealing (Respectively that is her coarsely cute singing voice and self compositions, unique style, and unique style haha) compared to whatever Rekishi is always in rock festivals I wish he'll just retire. Haha but seriously, people who I follow today are for the more interesting of reasons I wish I can list all of them out even if they are popular or celebrating their decade anniversaries, but to be honest? It's whatever I remember in my heart while listening to their songs again, counts. I also have a tendency to like indie artists, so Latitude and anewhite, I cannot thank you enough for that roughness I can never otherwise find in major label productions. How do I describe it? It's like a Photoshop filter. Most Instagrammers will just use "a good camera app" to disguise themselves of facial features people will despite to make themselves look better? I prefer you show me them spots and lack of makeup lol. Same goes with music production in general, I believe. I'm not saying production in music isn't bad though, but what makes of good music is also what can be decided by the artist themselves, and that's why independent bands tend to have more power to do this for themselves.

WHY PREDICT INTEREST?

As to why I have to start thinking of them this way this early pretty much every time I give a new song from an artist for example DYGL as I heard of them from YouTube, it's imperative to consider whether is this artist just a one-off thing or whether they have the potential to be in part of your life as you listen to more and more of their tunes. (Spoiler alert: DYGL you guys aren't my thing I wish you sang some Japanese lol ah hey SpecialThanks) That way, I can give them more due attention the more times I have actually given them a listen, so to give even more attention as I follow them on Twitter and be notified of their new releases more promptly than I would have known through normal means. That, and I also have to convince myself to prioritize on releases if they bump into other releases which I probably won't care too much about, or even care when they release just one new song. I rather care more for mainstream if THE ORAL CIGARETTES' new song is dope than care about the next Anime character album or whatever. That feedback response from myself makes me believe that if I want to give artists more attention than ever, then I have to start thinking of it this way. Whether it's listening to Cider Girl's 4th album, trying to give Polkadot Stingray's albums every year lol, or even just jumping in to amazarashi's new album 5 years after I gave up on them just like what I did with Porno Graffitti honestly... My stories of artists I know in Klassic Note more than just tell a story about liking their songs. It's more of a dedication to stick to what I like about them, no matter how much they change.

I would like to end this post with a simple question:

Any way you like them though, you can be sure that the moment you like an artist you would be influenced by their melodies and style, and you would have found greener pastures the moment you step out of that zone to find out someone else better. That, I think, is the essence of discovering music. I know not everyone puts in the effort to find something better considering the music artist universe is constantly expanding, but I do. For that, and for Klassic Note, that will not change.

- Aozaki Shouhei, on the Klassic Note