Don’t Steal Music?
Comments: 5
Tsutaya is the largest chain of video stores in Japan. They operate “Culture Convenience Clubs” where you can not only rent tapes and DVDs but buy books, magazines, stationery supplies, computer games, gaming consoles, DVD players, &c, &c.
They also rent audio CDs, and – this is something I’ve been puzzling over for ages – right next to the CDs they’ve positioned rack upon rack of blank tapes, blank MDs, and a bewildering variety of blank CD-Rs. I won’t pretend that I don’t think people are copying stuff, but the sheer obviousness of this set-up would have RIAA executives screaming blue murder in the United States.
I’ve yet to figure out the mechanics whereby this happens with complete impunity here in Japan (although of course money is changing hands somehwere – can the ‘blank tape tax’ be bringing in enough?).
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Posted to General Rants • 2002.12.07 (Sat) • 22:43
Comments
Posted by Richie 2002.12.08, 06:48
In Okinawa, besides Tsutaya, there's also Bookoff where I'd often rent CDs and then dub them onto my MD recorder. It was a great experience because they'd also let me sample the CDs in the store since the wrapping was already open. It's exactly as you say, there's usually a display of blank MDs (and other blank media) next to the CD rental section which would be mind-boggling to the RIAA.
Like the MD kiosks that allow you to make your own MD-mix (instead of buying the CD-singles individually), soon there will probably be a MP3 kiosk where you'll be able connect your iPod and download tunes for the price of a vending machine can of coffee. In Japan, I guess such things aren't unthinkable. :)
Posted by Anon. 2002.12.09, 02:02
Japanese Music Industry is different than others, stores who buy CDs for rentals pay a premium to offset the price of copying. When you rent CDs in japan many places ask you if you need MDs to go with your CDs . I think the Japanese business model for music is much better. I don't want to buy every CD that i might want to listen to, some CDs just have one or two song that i want and the rest is crap, therefore it is not worse buying it.
By the way I can rent JPop CDs here in the US which is great because JPOP CDs in the US are really expensive.
Posted by Nadem 2002.12.09, 02:05
Japan's Music Industry is different than others. Stores who buy CDs for rentals pay a premium to offset the price of copying. When you rent CDs in japan many places ask you if you need MDs to go with your CDs , why else would you rent a CD anyway. I think the Japanese business model for music is much better. I don't want to buy every CD that i might want to listen to, some CDs just have one or two song that i want and the rest is crap, therefore it is not worse buying it.
By the way I can rent JPop CDs here in the US which is great because JPOP CDs in the US are really expensive.
Posted by Cal 2002.12.09, 04:48
I was in Japan for summer 2002. One thing I noticed that helps this business model in Japan is the more expensiveness of internet connections and especially broadband. The impression I got was most people can't afford broadband as easily, so they don't have as ready access to MP3s. This probably drives people towards renting and ripping and that way the record companies get at least some money out of the deal.
Posted by Kevin 2002.12.09, 18:06
Cal, what kind of prices were you seeing for broadband access? Jeremy, if you don't mind me asking, what do you pay for your broadband in Tokyo? I'm curious because here in Kyoto the prices are very good. If you already have a land line telephone hooked up (and I did) then I think the prices are very reasonable. I pay about 3500 yen for my 8Mbs connection. It's pretty fast.
There have been a lot of 12Mbs offers popping up recently. Not sure of the price difference to move up to this though. I seem to remember reading an article a few months back talking about how Japan has just recently leap-frogged most other countries in price/availability for broadband.
When I was last in Japan about 4 years ago the situation wasn't so good. At that time I had a dialup account for 300 yen a month which is very cheap. The problem was that you couldn't connect half the time and once you did you still had to pay by the minute for local calls so you were always on the meter back then. Not to mention incoming calls disconnecting you. What a difference a few years make!
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