Little Rant (Too long for Twitter)

[nightangel_jai]

I'm sure this is all something we've wondered over the years but we just kind of let it go and accept the problem, but why the hell is Japanese music SO EXPENSIVE?!?!  ¥3000-¥4000 for a full album in Japan vs. America where you'd pay about half the price for the same amount of content. Even a single in Japan costs more than an album in America. I

Comments

[nightangel_jai]

Special editions seem to be becoming more popular in the US as well, even in digital media you have them. They are more expensive but not unreasonably so and sometimes you can get a lot more content with them. I tend to like special editions a lot myself too.

[nightangel_jai]

Those prices are fairly comparable to US prices. Depending on the album a regular CD can range from $12-$20 but usually on the lower end of that scale. I think the differences are decided just by how much they think people will be willing to pay so popular artists are generally more expensive

[mun_chairudo]

I know this problem very well, only that I pay for shipping or fees on top of what I pay for the goods. I've reached a point where I really don't care about packaging, posters and whatnot. If it was possible, I would purchase everything digitally to avoid shipping costs. And it wouldn't take away anything but virtual space. Since my mac pretty much follows me anywhere I go, I'd have everything at hand, too.

The best thing was the YFC DVD and CD that I bought from Japan for 60€ altogether... only to see a CD+DVD combo being sold for 15€ later, in my home country.

Japanese music industry is a highly interesting topic. I've never come across anything that covered this topic, though.. I guess the fees, taxes and wages are simply different in Japan? Not sure..

[nightangel_jai]

I used to import everything too before I moved to Japan and if I ever decide to leave its going to cost me to take it all with me too XD Unfortunately for me, I am a collector. I love having something physical to hold or display. I especially love to display my music, movie, and book collections but they do take up a lot of space and at the moment everything is pretty much stored away in boxes somewhere. I do like digital media which allows me to have these things without actually having these things but even so its just nice for me knowing I have a physical version somewhere even if I can't see it or do anything with it. Its not practical, its not logical, but that's the way it is :P

[khysmet]

I've never really thought about it too much but lately I've been purchasing things from places like Amazon. Prices seem to be a little cheaper there.

[nightangel_jai]

Its true that Amazon offers some discounts but the prices are still comparatively high. In the US a regular CD's base price will range from $12-$20. Even at the high end, that's a lot less than the usual $30 in Japan and if you get it from Amazon the discounts will be off of those base prices.

[excused_early]

Haha, this is funny because I was shouting the same thing on Twitter yesterday

[nightangel_jai]

That's interesting about the high price = high value idea and I could see how that could be true though I think the feelings are shifting these days if you look at places like Uniqlo and their popularity. However, there is that already established tradition perhaps of the high music prices and I am pretty sure that most people don't have a clue how much cheaper music is elsewhere.

Actually, I might start asking my students about this and see what they think or what they know about music prices in different places.

[excused_early]

Oh, that'd be quite interesting, I'd love to know what they say if you actually do this! :3

[moonplanet]

What I did when I wanted to buy music in Japan, was to buy secondhand. Then the prices are about the same as in Europe (about 10-15 euros for a CD). Or go to video rental stores and check out their "sales" bin: I found some CDs for 100 yen there!