No labels:

Despite being blessed with a wealth of domestic talent producing industrial and gothic music, prior to the formation of DEATHWATCH ASIA in 2005 Japan had no record label dedicated to these genres: and people living outside Japan had little chance to learn about such artists or buy their work.
Based in Osaka, DWA exists to support and promote the developing industrial and gothic underground scene in Japan: both within Japan itself, and internationally.
Run by artists, for artists, since the success of the groundbreaking compilation album 'Dark Waters' in 2006 DWA has been engaged in the production of ever-more beautifully packaged releases by the finest acts working within the gothic and industrial genres in Japan.
And since 2008, DWA has been working with a selection of top overseas partners to further stimulate the Japanese scene by making the music of the finest foreign artists available on domestic release - music which has traditionally only been available in Japan on hard-to-obtain import.

No Visual-Kei:

Due largely to the successful export of Visual-Kei by major labels, there now exists a widespread international misconception that Visual-Kei IS J-Goth:
in fact, the 2 are almost entirely separate...and while Visual-Kei is a major export industry (arguably more popular now abroad than within Japan itself), the true J-Goth scene is almost unknown outside Japan.
Although most Visual acts trade on a dark image, there is little dark about their music. But of course, true dark music exists in Japan...and the best of this truly dark music is made available via DWA.

No CD-Rs:

In an increasingly download-driven market - where demand for physical discs is undoubtedly in decline - DWA's focus is on the production of short-run premium-quality collector's editions.
The J-Goth scene is underground and underfunded. Live events are usually self-organised and self-promoted by the acts themselves, and music most commonly self-released on CD-R media.
CD-Rs are not guaranteed to play successfully on all CD-players. Therefore DEATHWATCH ASIA does NOT sell CD-Rs.
All DEATHWATCH ASIA titles are industry-standard CD-Audio media, professionally-produced and packaged - since 2008 in digipak...

NO COMPROMISE!