When Wally De Backer first came to Japan with his rock band The Basics, his prospects didn't seem very promising.
"We'd come to Japan and play at these live-house venues. We got about 30 or 40 industry people to come down to a show and one guy from a label came over and whispered in my ear, 'Hmmm, you are a very good band. This does not work in Japan. You should sign to a U.K. label or American label, have success, then you sign Japan. This will not work."
So that's exactly what De Backer did. He now records as solo project Gotye (pronounced goti-yeah) and his recent infectious single, "Somebody That I Used to Know," has had more than 250 million views on YouTube, sold millions of copies, and made the Top 10 charts in 30 countries — including the highly coveted top spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.