POP MUSIC : Rocking ‘n’ Rolling in the Cash in Japan

At times during his Japanese tour, Mick Jagger must have thought that he had died and gone to Rock ‘n’ Roll Heaven.

What else do you call a place where someone like Jagger not only shakes off a mid-life career crisis but also emerges as a reborn superstar?

Welcome to the Land of the Insatiable Yen.

Thanks to an unquenchable thirst for Western pop acts and almost unprecedented economic prosperity, Japan has suddenly become part of the major leagues of rock touring.

But the status didn’t come cheaply.

Top Western pop-rock acts like Jagger can look forward to spectacular payoffs--up to three times as much as in the States or Europe.

Joseph Rascoff, business manager for the Rolling Stones, acknowledges the benefits awaiting performers here. “For years when acts planned a world tour, they spoke about Europe and North America, but that’s changed dramatically,” Rascoff said during Jagger’s three-city tour here.

“I can’t think of any discussion I’ve had about a world tour in the last few months where Japan wasn’t included. A lot of the discussions now even start with Japan.”

Item: Madonna came here last summer for a concert tour that grossed umpteen million dollars. She got rave reviews and had the media employing such phrases as “Madonna fee-ba “ (the local version of fever ) to describe the reaction of fans, a thousand of whom greeted the American singer and sex symbol at the airport. There was such a flood of mail orders for the 145,000 tickets that the promoter ended up having to refund an estimated $7 million to disappointed fans.

Item: Michael Jackson came here last fall for a concert tour that grossed even umpteen more millions. He got rave reviews and had the media employing such phrases as “Michael fee-ba .” Demand for tickets was so great that scalpers reportedly commanded $700 to $1,000 for the $40 ducats. Six hundred reporters and photographers showed up at the airport here to chronicle Jackson’s arrival. Another 300 turned out for the arrival on a separate flight of Jackson’s pet chimp, Bubbles.

Item: Jagger came here last month for a concert tour that grossed umpteen millions. He got rave reviews and had the media employing such phrases as “Jagger fee-ba .” Tickets for his two concerts at the 50,000-capacity Tokyo Dome sold so fast that Jagger, touring for the first time without the rest of the Rolling Stones, could have added two more nights at the Dome, but there were no open dates at the just-opened facility. An estimated 300 writers and photographers were on hand for his Tokyo press conference.

Is there a pattern here?

“Absolutely,” says Joseph Rascoff, who is also business manager for the Elvis Presley estate. “You used to look at Japan as a very faraway place, not only in terms of mileage, but also in terms of the acceptability of an audience.

“But those barriers have been broken. What has happened with Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson and Madonna has sent out a signal to the rest of the industry. It establishes Japan as a marketplace that is not unlike New York, Los Angeles or London.”

Rascoff thinks the emergence of the pop market here goes beyond simply the potency of the Japanese yen (whose value against the dollar has almost doubled in the last three years). There has been, he believes, a maturation of the Japanese pop audience.

He said, “In the last decade, I think we’ve seen acts come over here as appetizers and now this market is ready for the main courses.”

Seijiro Udo, the leading concert promoter here, agrees that Japanese pop has entered a new age, but he doesn’t speak so much about the appetite of the local fan. He points to the power of the yen, whose value in relation to the dollar has gone from 242 yen (per U.S. dollar) in 1985 to about 125 yen last week.

“It used to be that many artists wanted to come to Japan, but the money was not there for them,” he said backstage at the Tokyo Dome after the second of Jagger’s two concerts. “It might have even cost them money to come here. Now, we can make them a very attractive offer. The top acts can make money . . . lots of money.”

Asked if he’d recommend a Tokyo swing to his clients, Los Angeles-based attorney John Branca, whose clients include Michael Jackson and Jagger, said: “Most definitely. The Japanese have a great appreciation for (Western) artists. The response is warm and it’s a good place to perfect a show. . . . In addition, an artist can accept sponsorship or a TV special over here without risking adverse career implications. Those activities are accepted by both fans and commentators.”

Here’s a look at figures on a hypothetical superstar tour of Japan.

If a major rock act plays three nights at a 50,000-seat stadium in the United States, the box-office gross for each show, assuming an average of $20 a ticket, would be $1 million.

In most cases, the headliner receives 60% of the gross--or about $600,000. For three shows, that’s a tidy $1.8 million.

If the act accepts tour sponsorship (something that many reject as demeaning), add another $30,000 or so per show. The act’s paycheck for three shows: about $1.89 million (plus T-shirt royalties).

Now shift the three stadium shows to Japan and watch how fast the money multiplies.

First, the ticket price for most superstar shows here is between $40 and $50. Using $45 as an average, the gross per show jumps from the $1 million figure in the U.S. to $2.25 million.

Instead of 60%, the top acts here can demand 80% or more of the box-office gross. That could mean $1.8 million per show--or $5.4 million for three shows.

And we’re not through.

The tour invariably includes fees for tour sponsorship (there is apparently no stigma against such arrangements here) and a TV special, each of which can bring in between $250,000 to $750,000.

Using $500,000 for both, the superstar’s take climbs to $6.4 million--as opposed to $1.89 million in the U.S.

But those figures are just an average case.

Michael Jackson, it is believed, may have received $2 million or more in both sponsorship and TV deals, and he may have gotten more than 80% of the box-office gross.

And, remember, he did 14 stadium shows.

When asked about these extraordinary payoffs, a member of the Jagger entourage cautioned against making too literal a comparison between a Japanese tour and an American tour.

The expenses, he pointed out, are a little higher.

Japan produces its own rock, but most of it is shamelessly patterned after U.S. or British bands. That leaves the most discriminating fans here yearning for Western sounds--a fact that forces this nation, known for its exports, to import its most prized rock. That’s not a situation unique to Japan.

In an era of trade deficits in America, the entertainment industry ranked last year as the second most successful U.S. export, according to a Forbes magazine study. Only the aircraft industry, with a trade surplus of $10.8 billion, topped the entertainment industry’s $5-billion surplus.

Of the worldwide total, recordings (chiefly pop-rock) accounted for $1.4 billion, second only to the $1.8 million registered by videocassettes. Exports of motion pictures totaled $1.2 billion, while television programming brought in another $500 million. There was no estimate available of how much additional concert revenue is generated by American pop-rock artists.

Japan is a healthy--and growing--market for these goods.

Warner Communications Inc. estimated that its sales of movies in Japan have tripled since 1982, while its sales of records have quadrupled.

But the yen isn’t the only only thing visiting rock stars have to gain here.

There’s also the “ fee-ba “ factor.

If it’s no accident that the rise of the Japanese tour market has coincided with the strengthening of the yen, then it’s also no accident that superstars are launching their worldwide tours here.

One reason is that the distance from Europe and America enables the stars to use Japan as virtually a dress rehearsal before heading to America and Europe, where fans and critics are far more demanding.

Jagger had planned to start his first solo tour last year in America but dropped those plans, citing problems in getting a band together.

“The band just wasn’t right,” he said during an interview here. “I had some (problems) with Jeff Beck and I finally decided it just wasn’t going to work. (Months later), the chance came up to do these few shows and I thought it might make sense. I had never been here (with the Rolling Stones) and it wouldn’t be quite so much pressure . . . sort of an out-of-town opening.”

Because of the enthusiasm of the local rock fans and press, the shows provide good publicity for future dates in America. Rock journals and TV stations in the U.S. invariably carry reports or film clips about the tour fee-ba . This whets the appetite of rock fans, who--after hearing about the $40 and $50 prices in Japan--think $20 is a bargain.

Tony Gill, a correspondent for the London Daily Mail here, suggests the Japanese press enjoys a visiting superstar--actor or singer--as much as the fans.

“The press here is very supportive,” said Gill, who attended the first of Jagger’s two Tokyo Dome shows. “It is as if they think it is their role to make the acts look successful. That’s why you invariably see phrases like ‘Madonna fee-ba’ or ‘Jagger fee-ba.’ They love to hurl the glowing adjectives.”

The geography of the country also contributes to the pop sizzle.

Japan’s more than 120 million people live in a country about the size of California and they can travel virtually anywhere on the main island by high-speed “bullet” train in a few hours. By just doing three or four cities, a visiting superstar creates an enormous demand for tickets.

None of this, however, is to suggest that the superstar acts aren’t massive hits in Japan. The promoters aren’t paying those big bucks for nothing. There was “Madonna fee-ba.” There was “Michael fee-ba.” And there certainly was “Jagger fee-ba.”

Japanese fans at the Tokyo Dome to see Jagger bought $16 souvenir concert programs--often two and three at a time--as eagerly as if it were business property in downtown Los Angeles or New York.

“I love the Rolling Stones,” said one teen-ager, clutching two programs as he headed for his seat in the just-completed stadium. “I love Mick Jagger. I love rock ‘n’ roll.”

This enthusiasm makes rock ‘n’ roll attractive to tour sponsors and television programmers.

“Large firms who want to (upgrade) their image with younger demographics see rock music as a way to do that,” said Jon Kabira, marketing coordinator for CBS-Sony Records here. “They see sponsorship as the way to do it.”

The highly competitive Japanese television networks are so aggressive in signing sponsorship or program deals with superstars that they no longer wait until a promoter announces a tour and then try to make make a deal with the artist.

For instance, the general project staff at NTV--the Nippon Television Network--sits in its fourth floor offices at the NTV building just north of the city’s historic Imperial Palace grounds and “dreams” about shows that would draw viewers and increase station prestige.

One of the dreams was Michael Jackson.

Yoshiko Kawamura, who works in the general projects division, said they contacted Jackson three years ago when they read he was interested in performing in Japan. The result was two specials: a documentary, which drew a rating of 15% (which is about what “Miami Vice” drew here during its heyday), and a concert special, which drew a 20% rating.

In what she describes as the “pioneer spirit” of the network, the NTV staff is now looking for all sorts of other high-interest attractions.

“We are not looking for just any pop stars, but the most important ones,” she stressed. “We want to select a concert that will be very popular to show that (NTV) is the most important network.

“We see where George Harrison and Ringo Starr have announced they will get together to do some recording, so we would be interested in trying to bring them here to do a concert. We also know young people in Japan like bands like U2. I can’t say who we will work with next, but as long as people want to see them, NTV will try to present them.”

NTV, however, isn’t limiting its pursuit to pop stars.

Among the events on its May schedule: a telecast from the top of Mount Everest.

If the Japanese fans were fascinated by Jagger during his visit here, much of the Jagger entourage was intrigued by what they saw of Japan.

Bill Graham, the San Francisco-based concert producer who was serving as tour director for Jagger, has been here several times since the early ‘70s and has grown increasingly impressed with the life style.

“There is something here that is disappearing in the United Sates and gradually in Europe and it has nothing to do with dollars. . . . It’s a matter of mutual respect . . . the awareness of the other person’s needs,” Graham said, sitting in his hotel room here.

“You go to a concert here or to the railway station and it’s spotless. There is an awareness of the fact that the best way to survive is with mutual respect for one another.”

Beyond the glitter of Tokyo’s economic advances since World War II, however, Japan retains an apparently deep-rooted anxiety about its future in world affairs--an uneasiness growing out of the fact the country has so few natural resources.

In “The Fragile Superpower,” an acclaimed book about the the contradictions and complexities in contemporary Japan, author Frank Gibney suggests that this lingering vulnerability contributes to a common sense of purpose among the Japanese that prevents taking recent advances for granted.

Even with a higher per-capita income now than the U.S., Japan is still a land of people who believe in hard work. Keith Cahoon, general manager of U.S.-owned Tower Records stores here, says he often has to “order” his Japanese store managers to take a vacation. It’s also not unusual to see the employees in Japan’s high-rise office buildings work until 8 or 9 p.m.

At the same time, there are severe life style problems. Toyko is hopelessly crowded--with endless traffic jams (it’s much easier to travel by subway in this nation of Toyota and Honda) and housing conditions that are disheartening.

Land is so limited that much of Tokyo’s work force has to travel an hour or more by train each morning and evening. Even then, their apartments are tiny by U.S. standards.

Nearly 50% of young married couples live in these already crowded conditions with their parents. In an occasional search for privacy, the couples check into one of the city’s many “love” hotels, which rent rooms by the hour.

In the midst of this strange blend of affluence and sacrifice, many young people appear to be rebelling against the formal, nose-to-the-grindstone attitudes of their parents’ generation--a rebellion reminiscent of American teen-agers in the ‘50s.

As a result, there is already widespread grumbling among adults that young people are becoming too soft--that they are thinking too much of themselves rather than family or company or country.

These matters--the limited housing, rigid career paths and the emphasis on community rather than the individual--are among the factors cited when many young Japanese talk about the lure of Western culture and rock ‘n’ roll.

Asked at one of the Jagger shows what rock ‘n’ roll means to him, one man in his early 20s said simply, “Freedom.”

This youthful restlessness erupted at times during the first of Jagger’s two Dome concerts.

The authorities at the Dome don’t like fans blocking the aisles and the ushers were quick during the early moments of the concert to direct violators back to their seats.

But there were moments in the show when the fans ignored the guidelines and raced through the aisles to be near Jagger.

On the way to the Dome the day after the first of the two local concerts, Jagger joked about the rambunctiousness of the fans. He mentioned how friends had called him before the tour to “prepare” him for how calm the fans were here. They didn’t want him to be disappointed if the fans simply sat in their seats.

But his mind was on more than the fan reaction or even the big payoff in Japan. Ultimately, the most important thing about these shows had simply been the opportunity to test himself without the Stones.

Jagger, 44, has been going through a difficult time. Though his status in rock history is secure (he and the other Stones are odds-on favorites to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year), his future has been uncertain.

Because the Stones have been feuding and inactive, an impatient Jagger made two solo albums--and toyed last year with the idea of a solo tour in America.

He said the tour plans were abandoned because of the problems with a band, but there was also speculation in the industry that other reasons were involved.

One theory was that Jagger was nervous about going on a solo tour because of the disappointing sales performance of the second solo album, “Primitive Cool.”

A second was that Jagger postponed the dates because it might have irreparably damaged relations with the other Stones, especially guitarist Keith Richards.

Japan provided the perfect solution to the latter.

Jagger could tour here without raising the ire of the other Stones because it was a market unavailable to the Stones because Richards, who pleaded guilty to heroin possession in Canada in 1978, reportedly can’t get a visa to perform here.

Thus, the Stones could look at a Jagger tour here as simply a career sidestep, not a move that potentially competes with the Stones.

The show itself was a knockout.

Relying heavily on Stones songs, Jagger put on a polished and ambitious performance that showed him to be a more mature and liberated performer--not simply a caricature of the overly active, pouting Stones frontman. The six-piece band was spotlighted by guitarists Jimmy Ripp and Joe Satriani, whose all-instrumental “Surfing With the Alien” LP is on the Top 40 sales chart in the U.S.

The result is that Jagger now has two attractive options. If the Stones do get together for another album and tour, Jagger will come to them with a new freshness and confidence. If not, he knows he can bring this show to America.

Knowing all this, Jagger seemed unusually relaxed as he headed for the second Dome concert. He sat in the back of the van, heavily bundled to guard against the late afternoon cold. He said his main goal is to get together with the Stones for another album and tour. Failing that, however, he said he would consider taking this show to America.

“I feel real positive about what we’ve done on the tour,” he said. “It makes me feel I can go out on my own and do something that people will accept and that I will enjoy. . . . Playing Japan made everything seem fresh. It wasn’t like going back to all the old places. I think this whole experience helped boost my confidence.”

It was odd hearing someone of Jagger’s stature talk about the need for self-confidence.

“Well,” he said. “The last (solo album) didn’t do all that well. I think you have to get out and play if you expect people to pay attention to your records. You can’t just put them out and expect everyone to run out and buy them.

“But even if the record had sold more, you always have to wonder when you do something new like this. I thought I’d like it and I thought the audience would accept it (without the Stones), but you don’t really know until you try it. I’ve been able to do that here and I’m very pleased.”

As Jagger took the stage that night, the audience stood and cheered as wildly as the fans had for the first show. Many local observers said the fans at the Dome concerts were the most responsive here in memory.

CBS-Sony’s Jon Kabira said the day after the concert that the flurry of recent superstar concerts here has brought a new excitement to the local music scene.

“There has been a major increase in the quality and quantity of Japanese rock bands in recent years, but there is still a mystique about the Western bands. There’s something exotic, something cool, something they can look up to. You might even say there is a sense of awe about them.

“We’ve had superstars in the past--David Bowie was here two years ago, but many did not come. The feeling among fans here now is that they can expect to see anybody. They are no longer on the outside. It may well be attributable to the strong yen, but audiences here now feel they are part of the world rock community.”