Alexandra Watson is best known as Ali or AliW. Currently, she is the head of JrockRevolution.com, also known as JRR and JRR.com, a website dedicated to promoting Japanese music outside of Japan. JRR endeavors to be a community hub for fans to find information about their favorite artists as well as discover more.

In the time Ali started working for JRR in 2008, her duties were to develop press relations with event organizers, public relations contacts as well press relations for conventions. With that endeavor off to a positive start, she next tackled development of the untapped social network for the website to not only promote what was posted on the site, but to engage fans in discussion about topics relevant and of concern to them. Next came the redevelopment of the webzine department more efficiently utilizing her previous press relations experience as well as a background as a writer.

In 2010, the reigns of JRR were fully under her care until the start of 2012. While the site had to undergo some necessary downtime, Ali did not give up working in some very special projects until early 2013 when JRR came back into full activity.

While Jrockrevolution.com has been what she’s best known for, Ali has had the opportunity to work freelance with various promoters, managements and mainstream music industry contacts.

Ali has collaborated with many promoters on how to best reach fans on upcoming events or tours. She’s created graphic design work for some, created marketing plans and developed and coordinated international street teams. Samples of her work will be available in the Portfolio section.

Forging positive and productive relationships has been one of her favorite aspects about working in this industry. When the opportunity arose for Japanese bands to be included in the Rock Band video game developed by Harmonix, it was through painstaking work that one band made it into the video game. The songs Dozing Green (English) and Hageshisa to, Kono Mune no Naka de Karamitsuita Shakunetsu no Yami (Japanese) by Japanese rock stars Dir en grey were officially released in December of 2012. You can find more information on this project here.

Now new projects are in the works, the results of which will hopefully be updated on soon. Please feel free to contact Ali for more information. She is always open to new opportunities and innovative ways to help establish a strong Japanese music industry presence in mainstream markets, primarily in the U.S. Her diverse skills and innovative tactics have proven valuable in promoting Japanese music worldwide.

“I’ve had two goals in the last year that are still in development. One is a community hub for fans incorporating a more interactive role in how fans not only receive news, but learn more about bands, past and present. For this, I consider JrockRevolution.com to be in constant development with a growing team of passionate fans with similar goals and dreams for Japanese music in digital media.

“My second goal is forging new paths and establishing innovative and productive avenues of bringing Japanese music into mainstream U.S. markets; the inclusion of Dir en grey tracks in the popular music video game Rock Band was one of those steps. Seeing them included in the SAW VI motion picture soundtrack was another.

“While working on these goals, I’ve had the great honor of working with some incredible professionals in the U.S. as well as Japan. With JRR, our work with Yoshiki and X JAPAN has proved invaluable in terms of experience. Samples of the work I’ve done with them for their Lollapalooza debut in 2010 can be found here and in the Projects section.” – Ali W.

For more detailed information on skills, please visit Alexandra’s LinkedIn here.