Forum - View topicSound Decision - Interview: Shaun Iwase
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sorvani
Posts: 74 |
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It is nice to hear about things like this, but the problem lays in iTunes. Unless you have a specific artist or album or song name in mind, there is no simple way to just browse Japanese music available on iTunes.
Do a search on the j-pop genre in iTunes. it's quite limited. Now go search for say Mari Iijima. All hers are listed as Pop. Granted she might be a bad example as she broke away form the recording industry and is self labeled now. But the same thing happens when i take my L'Arc-en-ciel "SMILE" or Yoko ishida "All of Me" cd's and stick them in my computer. i tunes pops up and lists them as Pop. I sent in "feedback" to Apple and got a response just short of a form letter.
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jmays
ANN Associate Editor
 Posts: 1390 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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Okay, two different issues here. First, your e-mail. Apple actually gave you a pretty straightforward answer: the labels will not let them sell one country's music through another country's store. That's entirely the fault of the labels. Apple would love to sell music from anywhere in the world to everybody, but the labels will not let them. The Iwase interview explains why.
As for the genre lists, the fault there is split between Apple and the artists/labels. Apple relies on the genre classification that the artists give them. They don't independently assess every song in their database and cross-reference it with every genre list they have. It'd be nice if they did, but realistically, the artists need to do a better job of showing Apple where their songs should be linked. I know that's a lot of blame to throw around, but saying Apple is the big problem is simply wrong. |
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jmays
ANN Associate Editor
Posts: 1390 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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Were you searching in the US iTunes store? I can't find L'Arc or Ishida there. |
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sorvani
Posts: 74 |
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no those & GitS: SAC 2nd Gig were examples of imports bought retail in the US. the point was even stuff already being distributed in the US isn't available on iTunes. |
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surfing baby
Posts: 7 |
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Interesting interview, though it would have been nice to link the Rightsscale website so people could see all the artists currently available.
However, I think the Gomorning iTunes guide covers all of the Rightsscale releases, plus select others, for easier iTunes store browsing: http://gomorning.com/scene/itunes |
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jmays
ANN Associate Editor
Posts: 1390 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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Haha, yeah, a link would be good. Added it.
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jpopusa
 Posts: 20 |
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Just as a side note Avex has quite a few artists available for download in the US iTunes store that are not listed on the above site. In particular ZZ has some great US specific best of albums that are a great value. And to clarify, it is not entirely the labels at fault for the lack of getting songs on iTunes -there are a number of issues. For instance having Japanese A&R in Japan work with American Apple iTunes offices. Time differences, language barriers and American versus Japanese work priorities - they all lead to delays in getting music released in the US. The simple and sad truth is that there has not been enough demand and sales of Japanese music in the US as of yet to make putting Japanese music catalogs on iTunes a high priority. I would attribute much of this due to a lack of mainstream publicity on J-Pop. Now if Jonathan or I or anyone for that matter could have some luck getting regular major music media coverage that might change. Until then I would suggest keep pushing for concerts at anime conventions and indie festivals and wish for the best. -Chris PS great article. One of the best discussions I have seen about the issues online. |
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surfing baby
Posts: 7 |
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Ah cool. It's the only guide of its kind I've found so far, so that's why I posted it. If something is missing, people should tell the webmaster so it continues to be a good resource. |
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shauniwase
Posts: 1 Location: Japan |
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Actually it is possible for labels to sell their songs on iTunes Music Stores in other countries. Currently, there are two ways in which the owner can put his or her song up on iTunes:
Owner <-(contract)-> iTunes or Owner <-(contract)-> Aggregator <-(contract)-> iTunes The first one is when a label directly signs an agreement with iTunes. However, to do this the label must be capable of encoding/uploading and other functions required for the upload process. Many small Independent Labels lack the capabilities, thus choose the latter method. The latter is when you upload songs via a digital aggregator. Aggregators are basically the backline companies for digital e-tailers like iTunes, Rhapsody, eMusic, etc - they sign with multiple labels, get the rights for their songs and upload them to all the e-tailers they are signed with. Many e-tailers prefer having an aggregator stand in-between as it reduces the cost (payment, reports, trouble shooting etc). The most notable aggregators in the United States are companies like The Orchard, IODA and DRA. Usually, US e-tailers would not sign with labels that lack a presence/base in the US. This is one of the reasons why non-majors often do not sell songs online in the states (majors like EMI and SONY have a corporate office in the US so are able to upload). However, Independent labels can sign with US digital aggregators and have them upload their songs to US e-tailers. By doing so, their revenue share drops but they are able to put songs up in any country (if the agggregator has such world-wide deals). Avex and a few other small labels have already started uploading their songs on the US iTunes store. You'll have to search for it though, because it's not picked up anywhere on the top pages. hope this helps -Shaun |
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