This Steve Aoki-endorsed Q&A service helps Japanese fans and western musicians understand each other

Attending a large-scale music festival in Japan makes it very apparent that Japanese audiophiles have an interest in artists from overseas. For a native English-speaking observer like myself, something else becomes apparent – the language barrier. At a De la Soul concert last month, the hip-hop duo experienced some awkward moments when asking the left side of the audience to make some noise (the right side also made quite a ruckus), or just the ladies to make some noise (a lot of guys immediately started screaming).

A good song can be enjoyed by anyone, regardless of what language it’s sung in, but an online AMA-style platform for Japanese music lovers seeks to deepen fan-artist engagement by breaking down the language barrier. AsQme allows community members to post and vote on questions aimed at western musicians. The most popular questions are then translated into English and sent to the artist, who replies by video with Japanese subtitles.

Of course, such a service wouldn’t be possible without a bit of star power. AsQme today announced that its first question and answer session will be hosted by Japanese-American electro house musician Steve Aoki. Love him or hate him, Aoki is a pillar of the international club scene, with DJ Mag naming him the 8th most popular DJ in the world last year. In August, Forbes additionally listed Aoki as the 5th highest paid DJ on earth, having earned US$23 million in the 12 months prior.

Aoki posted the following video message to coincide with his upcoming AMA session, which will coincide with AsQme’s launch on October 7:

AsQme is a collaboration between live entertainment and nightclub information website iFLYER and Alive – a service that brings foreign artists to Japan based on crowdsourced user requests.

Sam Mokhtary, head of operations at Alive, tells Tech in Asia that future AMA sessions will give English speakers access to Japanese musicians by running the service in reverse.

“AsQme’s ability to help solve language localization problems makes it attractive for any internationally-minded artist,” he says. “In fact, we’re already in discussions with some major Japanese artists about helping them connect with their international audiences. Furthermore, we are looking at also hosting campaigns for celebrities across the board – from actors, to sports players, and even politicians. A film studio with a new release for example, could run an AsQme with one of their stars to gain publicity before a show, or a K-pop idol could use it to grow their audience in the United States and Europe.”

Mokhtary adds that partnerships with other high-profile international musicians are pending and will be announced soon.

See: How a musician-turned-entrepreneur built a company that generates over $400 million per year