Worldwide CD sales were down this year, including in Japan. Part of that is because of Internet downloading, of course, but it's not simply down to that. Young people aren't interested in music anymore, and it's having an effect on concert-ticket sales.
The Rock In Japan Festival [which took place this year in August in Ibaraki Prefecture and attracted 47,000 fans per day over three days] might have sold out, but tickets for individual shows are on the decline. In short, I'm not optimistic about the future of music.
Nonetheless, some acts enjoyed a successful 2006. Take ELLEGARDEN, who have had a long career. There have been and currently are other Japanese punk-pop bands that sing in English -- even though Japanese kids don't understand English. What's new and significant about ELLEGARDEN is that their fans are deeply interested in their lyrics (80 percent of which are in English) and what they say in interviews, which wasn't the case with those other bands. They're interested in what the band is thinking.