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Answerman - Why Would A Japanese Publisher Restrict Exports?


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mangamuscle



Joined: 23 Apr 2006
Posts: 2658
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 6:21 pm Reply with quote
leafy sea dragon wrote:
The Japanese music business is incredibly low-tech and behind on their perception of the world though. ... They're very, very hesitant to digital distribution of music, for instance, insisting that everyone buy their music in albums.


The issue is not about being low tech, but about being **** retentive. The thing is they want total control, that is why most japanese companies only sell their games in steam (which has a built in copy protection) and very few sell their games in gog (where there can be no copy protection) and if they do sell their games there, they release them when they are already old news everywhere (i.e. HN Re:Birth)..
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princess passa passa





PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 12:50 am Reply with quote
EricJ2 wrote:
I'm not saying that's the case with Yuri or Osomatsu, but safe money says it's either that or music rights.
(And with Japan and these series, how many, er, guess it's probably music rights? Rolling Eyes )


My money is on this...
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TsukasaHiiragi



Joined: 24 Feb 2010
Posts: 179
PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 1:38 am Reply with quote
michaeltanzer wrote:
There has to be a way to make J-Pop know internationally like they did it with K-pop, right? But how? I mean that is, like just wrong...right?


I think Babymetal going on tour in America and actually putting J-Rock on the US radar is perhaps the start of something, There is definately some market in the west for J-Rock and J-Pop but having the Japanese music publishers acknowledge that and start to open up channels isn't going to be an easy road to travel.
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ignitingblue



Joined: 08 Jun 2016
Posts: 14
Location: Canton
PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 4:52 am Reply with quote
SHD wrote:
I think those instances weren't exactly xenophobia, more like childish overreactions to the Rapelay controversy. A lot of their products are fairly rapey/demeaning to women/otherwise "problematic" (underage, etc.). So they're trying to control foreign access to their products to prevent more controversies.


I have heard a theory that many foreign feminism groups complained about Kancolle, resulting in DMM limited foreign access to their website.
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Joe Mello



Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 2305
Location: Online Terminal
PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 8:09 am Reply with quote
How else am I going to reverse import my Selena Gomez CD's?

I guess there's always suitcases and secondhand auctions.
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Temuthril



Joined: 25 Nov 2007
Posts: 45
PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 10:31 am Reply with quote
Meanwhile mail forwarders and proxies rejoice.
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vonPeterhof



Joined: 10 Nov 2014
Posts: 729
PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 11:46 am Reply with quote
zrnzle500 wrote:
invalidname wrote:
Over on Curiouscat.me, @somekindofthing has some speculation that the this decision might be driven by Avex's significant interest in idols/boy-bands.


I've heard similar theories elsewhere, that it was to prevent people in SE Asia from importing the Japanese release of those CDs and stuff instead of buying from Avex's local branch and their other products were caught up in it because Avex didn't put in the work to have a more specific ban in terms of products and markets.
Just as an update, megax has since edited the post to reflect some new information that pokes holes in this theory.
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relyat08



Joined: 20 Mar 2013
Posts: 4125
Location: Northern Virginia
PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 12:15 pm Reply with quote
vonPeterhof wrote:
Just as an update, megax has since edited the post to reflect some new information that pokes holes in this theory.


Wooow.... that's incredibly lame. Even worse than the whole music theory, in my head. Confused



{Edit: Please refrain from excessive quoting.. I edited your post for you. ~ Psycho 101}
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 12:17 pm Reply with quote
ignitingblue wrote:
I have heard a theory that many foreign feminism groups complained about Kancolle, resulting in DMM limited foreign access to their website.


I figured if there's any reason to blocking Kantai Collection from foreigners, it's because it's essentially a retelling of World War II where you play as the Japanese navy and win. In other words, an Axis power succeeds. Such a perspective, understandably, is not likely to be popular in the countries opposing Japan in World War II, most notably the United States, and probably most other countries too.
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vonPeterhof



Joined: 10 Nov 2014
Posts: 729
PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 12:48 pm Reply with quote
relyat08 wrote:
vonPeterhof wrote:
Just as an update, megax has since edited the post to reflect some new information that pokes holes in this theory.


Wooow.... that's incredibly lame. Even worse than the whole music theory, in my head. Confused
I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to as "lame" here, but just to be clear: by "edited" I didn't mean that he sneakily erased information that was no longer relevant from the post; he left everything written previously intact and added new paragraphs marked "Edit:" where he linked the new information and admitted that the theory he posted earlier no longer seemed plausible; he even linked to this very Answerman post for other possible explanations. I wanted to write "updated" instead of "edited" first, but since I had already used the word "update" earlier in the sentence I thought I'd use a different word. Apologies for any confusion.
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Asterisk-CGY



Joined: 09 Mar 2007
Posts: 398
PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 1:59 pm Reply with quote
What is the current perception of re-importation right now? Has anyone asked this yet? Has it changed in the last decade since the advent of streaming?

This was a long sticking issue that justified piracy for what I've read, and was wondering has it changed at all.
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SHD



Joined: 05 Apr 2015
Posts: 1759
PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 3:40 pm Reply with quote
TsukasaHiiragi wrote:
I think Babymetal going on tour in America and actually putting J-Rock on the US radar is perhaps the start of something, There is definately some market in the west for J-Rock and J-Pop but having the Japanese music publishers acknowledge that and start to open up channels isn't going to be an easy road to travel.

This is absolutely not the first time that Japanese music tried to "break in" to the US and was put on the US radar for a very shot time. It never worked. The last time I think it was during the big anime boom of the '00s. Utada Hikaru released an album in the US (in English), L'Arc-en-Ciel had a gig at some big name con, there was Tofu Records, there was Puffy Amy-Yumi (who also had a short-lived cartoon series), I think even Glay and Dir en Grey had something going on, etc., plus there was Yoshiki of X lurking around in the shadows, too. Less-big-name bands like (the really awesome) Thee Michelle Gun Elephant or even Sex Machineguns also had US releases, gigs or even small tours. And even before all that you had bands like Loudness, X-Japan, Shonen Knife, etc. who gained a low-key/niche name for themselves in the US.

In this case I think the main problem is not with the Japanese music industry but simply the fact that the overwhelming majority of the US is just not open to music in different languages, never mind Japanese ("they sing in Japanese! so funny!"), and even anime/manga fans are not necessarily open to non-anisongs. In my experience the only way a Japanese music act can draw attention to itself is if it's presented/regarded as some kind of a novelty act - I don't know how "real" Babymetal are but you bet that "cute girls playing metal" is the main draw here and not the awesome music.

Anyway, by now the Big Age of JRock is over and so is the Age of JPop. Nowadays KPop is a lot more popular and has a lot more of a presence. People I know who were once huge fans of visual kei and spent tons of money on seeing big-name and even obscure bands live are now hardcore KPop fans. Vkei, what vkei? (Such is the power of more easily accessable pretty boys.)

By the way, this is all about the US. Japanese bands regularly tour Europe and appear at music festivals, big(ish)-name and small-name alike.
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 4:02 pm Reply with quote
Well, there are cases of foreign-language songs catching on in the United States, like with "La Bamba" and "Gangnam Style," though those tend to be one-offs and I think there was a novelty factor in both of those too.
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mangamuscle



Joined: 23 Apr 2006
Posts: 2658
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 6:06 pm Reply with quote
leafy sea dragon wrote:
Well, there are cases of foreign-language songs catching on in the United States, like with "La Bamba" ..


Maybe you meant "Lambada" since "La Bamba" was popularized in the USA by a singer born in the USA that worked for a USA music label.
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komeun_baram



Joined: 04 May 2016
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 6:16 pm Reply with quote
Japan and their "wonderful" business decisions..... no wonder their economy is the way it is.
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