In the old days, a band might self-release a record or two. Their hope, however, was to catch the ear of some major-label A&R director and land a coveted contract with Sony, Toshiba EMI or one of Japan's other music behemoths.
Shotoku Mukai has done it in exactly the opposite way. His first group, Number Girl, released their debut on Toshiba's Parlophone label and, given that group's critical buzz, Mukai could have easily found another major label to sign his new group, Zazen Boys. Instead, he has chosen to release his records independently on his own label Matsuri.
"Being on a major [with Number Girl] I learned a lot about manufacturing a CD and booking tours, for instance," says Mukai. "I like that I can do things at my own pace now. Any success is due to my own legwork."