Big Bang ended promotions for their 3rd mini-album “STAND UP” on “Music Core” yesterday and will move to Japan next. They are one of a few after DBSK, SS501, CZJH to be entering the Japanese market. The sales of their mini-album has accumulated 150,000 copies after a month and their songs “Haru Haru” and “Heaven” have been well-received by fans, sitting pretty on top of music charts. This will serve as a good present before their move to Japan. Big Bang expressed happily, “We are happy to know that our music has been well-received by so many fans. We are also really thankful to everyone for their support. This is especially so as our album was released at the same time with Seo Taiji. We are really honored to be able to compete with our senior.” Big Bang “STAND UP TOUR” will be held in Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo from 28th October to 1st November and they will also take the opportunity to promote their first Japanese album “No.1″ which was released earlier. Although the albums released by Big Bang has been well-received by their Korean fans and also sold immensely well on the market, YG Entertainment felt that the Korean market is too small with no room for growth. The Korean music industry is in a slump and album sales are continually shrinking. This is added to the fact that there are so many singers releasing albums each year which adds to the competition and saturation in the market. But with the Japanese market that is bigger, Big Bang hope that they can achieve some results there with their high quality music and high popularity back home. DBSK also discarded the Korean market for Japan when they were at their peak. They also lamented at the small Korean market which restricted their progress. Japan is currently the 2nd biggest market in the world. If you want to make a name for yourself in Asia outside of Korea, Japan is the correct path. Music is without boundaries, it’s a singer honor to spread your music to people in other countries even though there might be a language barrier. Big Bang will also release a new album in November and launch promotions for it until the end of the year. 2008 promises to close out with a Big Bang. source: coolsmiurf
