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Anonymous
Guest
Does anyone know why on all the Iron Maiden albums an many other band's albums. Do they put bonus songs on the Japanese releases. An not on the other country's releases.
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Anonymous
Guest
I edited the topic title to make it clearer (please think about it next time).
As for your question, I think I read somewhere that records are quite expensive in Japan and that the extra tracks were simply a way to give those who bought them value for money. Could someone confirm this (or confirm that I got it completely wrong)?
As for your question, I think I read somewhere that records are quite expensive in Japan and that the extra tracks were simply a way to give those who bought them value for money. Could someone confirm this (or confirm that I got it completely wrong)?
gor
Ancient Mariner
yes. the japanese market is quite unique: very strong and steady sales (think about all those geriatric NWOBHM or AOR bands which make albums only for the japanese market). However, the japanese companies sell cds there much more expensive than the rest of the world. With the power of strong sales at their side, they force the bands (who usually don't want to) to give them any leftovers to be included as extra tracks. That way,they ensure that the japanese will buy the home made cd and not the EU or US one. Muchmore, they ensure that many people from the rest of the world will buy the japanese edition.
Scream for me Stockholm
Ancient Mariner
Does anyone know how much a CD costs in Japan? I think it's expensive here in sweden allready...
Repost of what I wrote on topics related to TOS bonus tracks:
The Japan situation derives from an old situation. It's a little more complex than what some of you are thinking.
Japanese record companies are an important factor in every record deal. Even if their power has faded, they still retain much muscles in the financial advances they make to an artist, a label or a producer. Note that these advances are at the core of any deal in the recording industry.
If you add to this that the big Japanese market is completely deregulated, you have the explanation: for they can't strike exclusive deals or preempt their own market, labels in Japan could be completely dethroned by imports.
So, in order to get sales, they offer their financial power in exchange for special releases (bonus tracks, packaging,...) that they can manufacture locally. Imports lose their pricing edge and Japanese labels get their own kind of exclusive deal.
It's interesting to know that when they had even more power, these labels got the possibility to get very advance releases of some albums, sometimes more than 2 months in advance ! It was another kind of exclusivity. With the p2p-days in force however, this happens less and less.
Hope I was clear.
Cheers
The Japan situation derives from an old situation. It's a little more complex than what some of you are thinking.
Japanese record companies are an important factor in every record deal. Even if their power has faded, they still retain much muscles in the financial advances they make to an artist, a label or a producer. Note that these advances are at the core of any deal in the recording industry.
If you add to this that the big Japanese market is completely deregulated, you have the explanation: for they can't strike exclusive deals or preempt their own market, labels in Japan could be completely dethroned by imports.
So, in order to get sales, they offer their financial power in exchange for special releases (bonus tracks, packaging,...) that they can manufacture locally. Imports lose their pricing edge and Japanese labels get their own kind of exclusive deal.
It's interesting to know that when they had even more power, these labels got the possibility to get very advance releases of some albums, sometimes more than 2 months in advance ! It was another kind of exclusivity. With the p2p-days in force however, this happens less and less.
Hope I was clear.
Cheers
Scream for me Stockholm
Ancient Mariner
[!--QuoteBegin-Onhell+May 3 2005, 06:41 PM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Onhell @ May 3 2005, 06:41 PM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]I don't know in Japan but In Mexico I've seen Japanese editions go for $350-500 Pesos (30-45 US dollars) which is insane!
That sounds pretty expensive, but that might be because it's imported. [!--emo&
--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/wink.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'wink.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
[snapback]103518[/snapback]
[/quote]That sounds pretty expensive, but that might be because it's imported. [!--emo&
--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/wink.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'wink.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
Onhell
Infinite Dreamer
No, it's the the "import" thing, imports are between 270-320 pesos (25-30 US dollars) plus it also depends where you get a hold of them, if you got to a "black market" where you can get original cds for US$10 (burnt copies go from $1-$6 dollars depending on quality) you get japanese versions for US$30-5 if you get them at an established record store they go for US$50 or more. Japanese releases are special as pointed out by The Saint
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Anonymous
Guest
Yeah, I looked on Amazon.com, looking for a copy of Silver And Gold, and it was $44.95! There were others for over $80.00! I really want the cd, but not for that much. It's insane!