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The story
DAITA, guitarist of the rock band SIAM SHADE, announced via the band’s official website that he has filed a lawsuit against four former members — Hideki Imamura, Tai Nakagawa, Kazuma Endo, and Junji Sakuma. The suit seeks an injunction barring use of the 38 songs he composed, and his statement also laid out the background, including past financial disputes and issues surrounding the trademark registration of the band’s name.
On 5ch, reactions ranged from resigned takes like “that’s just how bands are” to comparisons with the closer relationships seen in bands like L’Arc-en-Ciel and GLAY, to posts explaining just how much legal power a composer actually holds. At the same time, some posters claimed “this lawsuit was already dismissed last month,” leaving the thread confused about whether the reported suit actually matches the current situation.
SIAM SHADE’s DAITA Sues Four Members, Seeks Injunction on 38 Self-Composed Songs
DAITA, guitarist of the rock band SIAM SHADE, announced via the official website that he has filed suit against four members — Hideki Imamura, Tai Nakagawa, Kazuma Endo, and Junji Sakuma — seeking an injunction and other relief barring use of the 38 songs he composed. His statement laid out at length the background to the lawsuit, including past financial disputes and issues surrounding the trademark registration of the band’s name.
At the top of his statement, DAITA wrote: “I, DAITA, have filed suit against Hideki Imamura, Tai Nakagawa, Kazuma Endo, and Junji Sakuma, seeking an injunction and other relief on the use of the 38 songs I composed.” He went on to describe, at length, the history between the members leading up to this point.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
It's just that bands like GLAY are the weird exception.
"Guess we're breaking up" → vocalist: "I'll just keep going solo lol" → "Fine, I'll keep playing my instrument" ×3 → "Wait, that's basically GLAY lmao, let's just not break up after all!" lol
What even are these guys…
Nah, it's more like 50%.
The other 50% don't know even one.
Sounds like he snapped because none of the expenses or labor costs ever got reimbursed.
If that's true, that's a rough deal.
🤔
hyde: "I get along better with the GLAY members than with my own bandmates."
🤔
The funniest one was when the vocalist posted a blog entry about doing laundry because the weather was nice — at the exact same time the rest of the band announced they were all quitting.
That's pure malice lol
With Ayabie, they only took off in the first place because Ryohei's sensibilities meshed perfectly with Aoi's vocals — after Ryohei left, there was no real choice but to put the spotlight on Aoi in that typical stylish visual-kei way, so it is what it is. Yuto worked hard, but honestly nobody was asking that of him from Ayabie…
Ah, the legendary laundry incident.
If the vocalist is clearly a cut above everyone else, nobody else gets to complain.
SIAM SHADE's problem is their vocalist just doesn't have enough presence.
True, bands like L'Arc-en-Ciel, GLAY, Mr. Children, and Southern All Stars all have strong vocalists.
That just shows how thin the talent pool for vocalists is in that scene.
There's a manga called "GLAY Story" where TERU originally played drums, and TAKURO was auditioning vocalists but couldn't find a good one — then, as a stress reliever, they went to karaoke, where TAKURO sensed TERU's talent as a singer and switched him to vocals. That said, I always wondered — is TERU's singing really that good?
TERU's strength is hitting high notes in his natural voice.
He guested at one of YOSHIKI's dinner shows singing "Endless Rain," and he was actually more stable than ToshI.
Lately he's started switching between falsetto, mixed voice, and natural voice depending on the song.
He's gotten better now that he's changed how he sings, but honestly I think he was at his worst during his so-called peak.
SIAM SHADE: members talk to each other through lawyers.
GLAY: members just go for a drive together.
So wait, does DAITA write basically all of SIAM SHADE's songs?
There's actually a decent number of songs not written by DAITA too.
The vocalist still tours to this day under something he calls the "Eikido" tour (a play on the traditional "-dō," or "way," suffix, like in judo), performing all SIAM SHADE songs.
Lyrics are almost all written by the vocalist, who also writes a fair number of the songs himself — other members compose too — but the arrangements are all guitar-led.
If they'd promoted it better, it could've gone million-seller.
I still have the 8cm single (the old mini-CD format) — takes me back.
Just look at those "karaoke auntie" types who can't do anything except sing — that says it all.
Don't talk trash about Ado! 🤬
If you read even a little copyright law, it's obvious how much power composers and lyricists hold.
Performers only get recognized rights over a tiny slice of it.
I also love "Dreams," the one that used to play over pro baseball highlights.
Though the guy who wrote it might secretly think of it as some boring song he cranked out purely to sell.
Funny thing is, when DAITA reissued their indie-era releases, he actually credited all the lyrics, composition, and arrangement to himself…
Guess that makes Hideki the real genius.
Yeah, this lawsuit actually already wrapped up last month.
Isn't this guy just being petty too?
Legally speaking, that's just how it works.
If you split up on bad terms, it's worse to keep wrestling in the other guy's loincloth (i.e., profiting off his work) than it is to cut him off.
Background and Key Points of This Topic
At the heart of this dispute is the basic copyright principle that composers hold strong rights. As post #76 touches on, even for songs released under a performer’s or band’s name, as long as the lyrics/composition credit lists an individual, that person retains the right to block its use. Whether a band’s old songs can keep being performed after a breakup or a member’s departure comes down to whether the credit-holder allows it. What split the thread was whether it’s fair for former members to keep using a departed member’s songs — some argued it’s simply how the rights work, others felt that raising the issue now feels petty. There was also a comment claiming “this lawsuit was already dismissed last month” — if true, that would mean either this is a separate case from the one reported here, or the matter had already been settled by the time the news broke. The article treats this as unconfirmed information, but readers should note it’s easy to mistake “filed suit” for “an ongoing dispute” when that may not actually be the case.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “[Sad News] SIAM SHADE Guitarist Sues Four Band Members.”
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