So I thought I’d try out the Japanese iTunes music store. I was able to preview Ayumi Hamasaki’s new single, but when I tried to buy it for 200y, Apple informed me that my account was restricted to the US iTMS (no doubt due to the U.S.-based credit card), to which they would now politely redirect me. Stay inside the lines, children.
I fired up WinMX, and 20 seconds later was downloading a 320 CBR MP3 of “fairyland” at 250.0 kB/s. I didn’t even want the song, really. At first, I just wanted to try out the Japanese iTMS; by the end, I was hoping to prove a point. What, I’m not exactly sure. The only conclusion I can really draw is that Ayumi Hamasaki’s new single sounds a lot like her old ones.
In any case, any time I want to give a large megalithic corporation money, and they won’t let me no matter how I try, I strongly feel they might want to look into their business model, perhaps changing to one more able to receive my money.
CSS 2.0
August 11, 2005 at 3:07 am
Or you could simply go to a CD rental shop and encode it yourself~
But you’re right, they shouldn’t restrict the J-iTunes to Japan only. At 200Y/song, there are tons of J-pop fans in the world and they’d probably rake in more money than the US-iTunes~
August 11, 2005 at 5:13 am
It’s not that Apple wants to piss you off. It’s the Japanese recording industry restrictions, same as the US recording industry restrictions. For all the convenience of digital downloading, the record companies are still dinosaurs clinging to old distribution methods?that is to say, one distribution deal per country. Anything else is an export or needs a separate licensing deal to be sold elsewhere. When music was strictly a physical commodity this made sense, but now they’re moving into the digital realm where there ARE no borders and, surprise surprise, the record companies are dragging their feet kicking and screaming.
It’s stupid, but it’s the way it is, and until people of our generation come up and start OWNING the record companies, it’s the way it’ll be.
August 11, 2005 at 1:00 pm
Yeah it’s due to the labels. Sometimes you’ll see multiple versions of the same album in a country if it has been released by different labels (something annoying to sort through). Let’s say someone in Japan wants to buy a record by a band that hasn’t been released there but has been in the ROW – does the US, UK, etc label get the money, how would it be split up, etc. Hopefully they’ll figure out some percentages thing and just open it all up. The CC limited to each country is partially to stop people in Japan/UK etc from buying songs released in US for cheaper than in their host country
What I ended up doing is swapping gift certificates with someone in the UK so I could get some rarish UK singles and he could get US exclusive tracks. I still do download music from p2p, but like to buy at least a respectable percentage from artists I truly like and don’t have the space or inclination to collect CDs. No CD rental shops near where I am (but even in that case the money is going to the shop, not the artist – though I suppose if more people rent the shop buys more CDs).
You raise a good point, but I’m not sure “well I can’t buy it on iTunes so I’ll pirate it” works. Then again it was something you didn’t really want to buy. The 30 second preview on iTunes can be useful.
August 11, 2005 at 3:35 pm
Have you noticed that now the iTMS will eventually force you to enter your store account information to preview songs? Annoying, and it kicks you back to your ‘proper’ store.
August 12, 2005 at 9:56 am
I can’t even get certain CANADIAN music I want. capitalism sux
August 12, 2005 at 3:00 pm
hi andy,
quentin tarrentino himeself said that he understood and backed chinese peeps who couldnt get hold of western stuff/non chinese stuff and then copied or bought pirated editions of things.
i say illegally download away! they will eventually catch up and do things right but until them they are shooting themselves in the foot.
August 12, 2005 at 3:41 pm
I’m not quite sure it “forces” you to sign in for previews – I browse multiple stores and occasionally it will pop up the login button and I cancel and everything works hunky dory. It is a pain in the ass to see stuff you can’t buy, but even as flawed as it is it’s still pretty convenient.
I’m not quite sure how this is a failure of capitalism – I don’t see a better system in any communist country aside perhaps from street vendors if you just want mainstream stuff (I bought a few CDs in Guanzhou for 4RMB each). The times are changing but they’re changing slowly – somewhere down the road this shits gotta get more integrated (if it really takes off then artists could sign to a single label for global online sales to clear headaches etc).
I realize that this wasn’t meant as an endorsement of piracy as much as an illustration of what human nature will do given certain conditions, so oh well. :p
August 14, 2005 at 2:28 pm
“sounds a lot like her old ones” = “sounds a lot like it SUCKS.”
number one song in japan, though. the video . . . i don’t know about ayumi. her
August 19, 2005 at 4:45 pm
Pretty much every restriction you bump into with iTunes is something that the record companies have insisted upon to “deign” to contract with Apple. You get limits on how many devices you can play back the protected-AACs, how many times you can burn a playlist to ROM and, as you have noticed, REGION SPECIFIC d.r.i. happening whenever you try to bag something outside of its area. I’m happy that iTMS finally opened in Japan, but wish there were more things like Mperia.com and Magnatune.com available. I bought Hymie’s Basement from their label as unprotected MP3s for about the price of a used album, and none of that money went to middlement or distributors.
August 19, 2005 at 10:37 pm
Yes I would LOVE to buy a legit copy of Singer Songer’s album… to bad it’s impossible in the states, especially considering I only deal with MP3s. I would gladly pay money to have access to new albums like Barairo Pop, especially if I thought that the money would be mostly going to the group and not 99% to middle men. I am not going to pay $30 to by the cd from yesasia.com and wait seven days for delivery. If I’m going to spend that much money, I need immediate gratification, and to know that more than a nickel of my money will get back to the group. And in the meantime, I guess I’ll have to go without my Cocco fix until I can find it online.