What is going on in Japan?

[Cadeho]

I was looking at Motown on discogs.com and wanted to see what had been released recently by anyone signed to the label today. I see that Motown is very well liked in Japan because it looks like everything's being re-released there! There's got to be interest elsewhere. It takes forever to get stuff from Japan and it's not cheap. Why hasn't the bulk of this stuff not been re-released at least in the US where it all began? Why hasn't a lot of it been made available through mp3 download? Is it a waiting game at this point since it seems like old music is slowly becoming available for download?

Out of curiousity the last few weeks I have put together a list of everything I found at http://www.bsnpubs.com/motown/motownstory.html that were original releases and marked what was available on CD at least at Amazon, Amazon mp3, and iTunes. I am happy to find a good portion of albums, particularly the Detroit era are available as downloads. By the late 70s and 80s, the availability becomes depressing. But I see some of those titles available in Japan. Who's making this decision and why there? What is going on in Japan?

[RobertZ]

I was looking at Motown on discogs.com and wanted to see what had been released recently by anyone signed to the label today. I see that Motown is very well liked in Japan because it looks like everything's being re-released there! There's got to be interest elsewhere. It takes forever to get stuff from Japan and it's not cheap. Why hasn't the bulk of this stuff not been re-released at least in the US where it all began? Why hasn't a lot of it been made available through mp3 download? Is it a waiting game at this point since it seems like old music is slowly becoming available for download?

Out of curiousity the last few weeks I have put together a list of everything I found at http://www.bsnpubs.com/motown/motownstory.html that were original releases and marked what was available on CD at least at Amazon, Amazon mp3, and iTunes. I am happy to find a good portion of albums, particularly the Detroit era are available as downloads. By the late 70s and 80s, the availability becomes depressing. But I see some of those titles available in Japan. Who's making this decision and why there? What is going on in Japan?

I don't know any specifics about who is making decisions, etc., but basically what is going on in Japan is that the Japanese have alway supported American vintage/heritage music, and specifically physical CDs, to a greater degree than the Americans do. Additionally it is my understanding that, possibly because Japan is a smaller nation, labels there are not reticent about producing small-batch, high-quality [[and high price!) re-releases. In the end it's simply a question of economics - if a Kim Weston re-release were projected to sell a million physical copies it would probably be produced here in the USA - but it's not, so it isn't! From that angle the big American companies are not [[really...) "bad guys" - they're just producing what they think will sell in high numbers. It's not a political conspiricy of any sort, as many American vintage music fans seem to think. It's mere economics.

[soulster]

I understand that people still buy more CDs in other countries as opposed to the U.S..

[Soul Sister]

Japan always sold all the American catalogs of soul and jazz artists.

The U.S. companies get paid more from Japan for leasing their product but the buyer pays a lot more for the imports coming out of Japan that aren't avalable in the U.S. So if it is exclusive to Japan you will be paying way up for the CD's through the internet.

S.S.
***

[soulster]

The U.S. companies get paid more from Japan for leasing their product but the buyer pays a lot more for the imports coming out of Japan


Yup. The higher costs are just passed on to the consumer.

[arr&bee]

Whew,from the title i thought that there had been a[godzilla]sighting.

[carlo]

For anyone who is looking to buy Japan imports at a slightly lower price, I highly recommend www.cdjapan.co.jp . I have been ordering from them since 2005. Deliver has always been within a couple of weeks. If you order via FedEx, you can expect it to arrive within a few days, at the most. Ordering larger quantities will help you to save on shipping.