What's Up with Japan?

[tj]

Why do so many bands have special releases in Japan that are not available in the US? Do people in the US get songs not available in Japan?

I realize that there must be a huge demand for US bands in Japan, going back to Cheap Trick, Journey, etc. from the 70s and 80s, but have a hard time understanding why bands aren't universal in their releases.

[AR]

This was actually answered by Andrew himself once:

http://www.melodicrock.com/industry/insidestory.html


To start - Japanese record labels still hold a lot of power. Not as much as a few years ago, but still, they can still shift a lot of copies of albums and are an important enough factor in most deals. In some instances, the advance from a Japanese label is vital to the overall deal in recording an album.

So, the labels have demands and they must be met. Why? The Japanese recording industry is a deregulated market. That means that anyone can sell anything from anywhere.
Record shops and wholesalers do not have to buy locally manufactured product from the local record labels.

As is well known, the Japanese CD price is very expensive - even for locals. Stores are free to source cheaper imports - from the USA and from Europe.

In the USA, if stores did this, the labels would cut them off at the knees! It was the same here in Australia for many years until recently. Back to that in a minute...

With cheaper imports available on the market, the Japanese labels add extra's to the local releases to entice consumers to buy their product. It works so well, these same labels end up exporting units to overseas collectors.

So, these labels add one, two, sometimes more bonus tracks, add special photo booklet's, stickers, guitar picks, expanded cases, special packaging and all of the above to ensure the local pressing is the one in demand.

They also have one other major trick up their sleave. They can and do enforce and advance release over other territories.

Generally, the label deals in Japan have a clause that stipulates that their release date (of any given album), must be at least four, sometimes 6 weeks in advance of any other territory.

In the recent case of a very well know singer - his solo album was not permitted to be released outside Japan for at least 8 weeks after the local release. It was a clause in the contract!

That gives the local labels time to saturate the market and in the few cases where no bonus tracks are available, at least no copies can be imported for a set time, until they are releases elsewhere.

[conversationpc]

To start - Japanese record labels still hold a lot of power. Not as much as a few years ago, but still, they can still shift a lot of copies of albums and are an important enough factor in most deals. In some instances, the advance from a Japanese label is vital to the overall deal in recording an album.

So, the labels have demands and they must be met. Why? The Japanese recording industry is a deregulated market. That means that anyone can sell anything from anywhere.
Record shops and wholesalers do not have to buy locally manufactured product from the local record labels.

As is well known, the Japanese CD price is very expensive - even for locals. Stores are free to source cheaper imports - from the USA and from Europe.

In the USA, if stores did this, the labels would cut them off at the knees! It was the same here in Australia for many years until recently. Back to that in a minute...

With cheaper imports available on the market, the Japanese labels add extra's to the local releases to entice consumers to buy their product. It works so well, these same labels end up exporting units to overseas collectors.

So, these labels add one, two, sometimes more bonus tracks, add special photo booklet's, stickers, guitar picks, expanded cases, special packaging and all of the above to ensure the local pressing is the one in demand.

They also have one other major trick up their sleave. They can and do enforce and advance release over other territories.

Generally, the label deals in Japan have a clause that stipulates that their release date (of any given album), must be at least four, sometimes 6 weeks in advance of any other territory.

In the recent case of a very well know singer - his solo album was not permitted to be released outside Japan for at least 8 weeks after the local release. It was a clause in the contract!

That gives the local labels time to saturate the market and in the few cases where no bonus tracks are available, at least no copies can be imported for a set time, until they are releases elsewhere.

Interesting stuff. Hadn't read that before.

[journeyrock]

Thanks for that info. I had no idea this was the case....

[Rip Rokken]

Sounds like their approach works for them, but if it ever gets too competitive, I have a novel idea for them -- drop the freaking price of the discs!

I remember when Best Buy first hit it big over here, one of their big draws was cheaper discs -- they could still be found for $11.99-$12.99, but within a few years, those went way up, too. Only a few years ago, it wasn't uncommon to find new discs at $17.99 or higher, and was just out of control. Now, prices have come way down, I guess thanks to all the problems the record industry is having with downloaders. The new Loverboy disc will hit Wal Mart at less than $9.00 in a few days.

[RedWingFan]

The new Loverboy disc will hit Wal Mart at less than $9.00 in a few days.

I'm buyin'! Love the new cd.

[Rip Rokken]

The new Loverboy disc will hit Wal Mart at less than $9.00 in a few days.

I'm buyin'! Love the new cd.

I haven't heard much from it, but it should be worth wading thru Wal Mart for... haha!

[WalrusOct9]

Japanese releases have done a lot to promote illegal downloading, I can tell you that.

Why would I buy an album in a store here when it's missing the bonus tracks? Yet at the same time the $40 Japanese import isn't really an option either.

Bon Jovi's Have a Nice Day had 3 extra tracks not on the U.S. version, 2 of which were as good or better than anything on the 'real' album (IMO).

It's embarassing how clueless the labels and suits are. They deserve every bit of their oncoming collapse. Unfortunately the artists will suffer but I think in the end once this gets sorted out 5 or 10 years from now, good music may again get to triumph in the public eye in a way it hasn't since the 70's, once the major labels no longer have the power to dictate what the "mainstream" is.

[tj]

Thanks for that info. I had no idea this was the case....

Me either, that's why I asked. Thanks for the info. it is actually informative as opposed to alot of the other stuff being posted (including by myself at times) bashing Arnel, Jeremey, Neal, Jon...

[tj]

Sounds like their approach works for them, but if it ever gets too competitive, I have a novel idea for them -- drop the freaking price of the discs!

I remember when Best Buy first hit it big over here, one of their big draws was cheaper discs -- they could still be found for $11.99-$12.99, but within a few years, those went way up, too. Only a few years ago, it wasn't uncommon to find new discs at $17.99 or higher, and was just out of control. Now, prices have come way down, I guess thanks to all the problems the record industry is having with downloaders. The new Loverboy disc will hit Wal Mart at less than $9.00 in a few days.

I was in WalMart today. The new Eagles release is 20 songs (or so) on 2 dicks for $11.99. Haven't heard it yet, but the price is a good one for that many songs.

[chf34jmac]

On two dicks? dude what fucking record store are you shopping at?

[tj]

On two dicks? dude what fucking record store are you shopping at?

Should have been two disks , though the Walmart Supercenter does carry almost anything imaginable.