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J-Pop on iTunes!
I know there are some manga/anime fans on my Friends list, so I thought I'd mention this in case any of you are into J-Pop as well. I was browsing through the music genres on the iTunes store, and I noticed that they now have J-Pop songs available for sale! Previously, they had the category listed, but when you tried to click on a particular selection, it would say that the songs weren't available in the US. The selection is somewhat limited, but it's so cool to be able to download songs for 99 cents, or an album for $9.99 when the import CDs I pick up at the local Japanese bookstore run about $13 for a CD single and $30 or so for a full-length CD.
I'm actually more into J-Rock than Pop, but they did have a single X-Japan song that I immediately snapped up! (They're a heavy metal band, hugely famous and popular in Japan, that was the first Japanese band that I got hooked on. They broke up awhile ago, but apparently got together for a reunion.) And I do like pop singer Namie Amuro; I actually have most of her CDs already, but I downloaded one that I didn't have for $9.99, so I'm very happy! ^_^ Some of the albums are more expensive than that; there was a Toshi (lead singer of X-Japan) solo album that was about $20, but that's still way cheaper than it would be if I picked it up at the import shop or ordered it by mail through a vendor like CD Japan.
I only bought a few things for now, but I'll take some time later to browse more thoroughly. This is so cool! I think that it's a great opportunity for Japanese artists to reach fans in other countries. You don't have to pay extra postage or custom duties for a download, and it's much more likely that a curious listener will take a chance on a 99 cent song than a $30 CD, and if they like it, then maybe they'll go ahead and buy the album. Hopefully, if this works out, they will eventually add more artists and albums.
The only downside was I didn't even realize the J-Pop stuff was available, so I'd like to see it promoted more. Maybe if they start adding some anime soundtrack stuff, the anime news sites will pick up on it.
Heh, now I want to go listen to some Legolgel--the band that contributed a song to the Petshop of Horrors anime. I forget now if it was the opening or closing theme song. ^_^ I have to double check, but I don't think they were on iTunes. I did special order the CD single years ago, so I do have it on my personal iTunes playlist.
ETA 6/9/08: Weird. Now the list of artists in the J-Pop browsing window has suddenly shrunk down to a handful, when there were many more listed when I made my purchases, like Namie Amuro and Gackt. But if you do a search function by artist, they still show up, and the genre given for their music is "J-Pop" (although Gackt is really more Rock, but I digress). Maybe the J-Pop catalog is a new feature that they're still in the process of working on. Interestingly enough, you can find X-Japan by browsing the regular "Rock" category, but not J-Pop.
I only bought a few things for now, but I'll take some time later to browse more thoroughly. This is so cool! I think that it's a great opportunity for Japanese artists to reach fans in other countries. You don't have to pay extra postage or custom duties for a download, and it's much more likely that a curious listener will take a chance on a 99 cent song than a $30 CD, and if they like it, then maybe they'll go ahead and buy the album. Hopefully, if this works out, they will eventually add more artists and albums.
The only downside was I didn't even realize the J-Pop stuff was available, so I'd like to see it promoted more. Maybe if they start adding some anime soundtrack stuff, the anime news sites will pick up on it.
Heh, now I want to go listen to some Legolgel--the band that contributed a song to the Petshop of Horrors anime. I forget now if it was the opening or closing theme song. ^_^ I have to double check, but I don't think they were on iTunes. I did special order the CD single years ago, so I do have it on my personal iTunes playlist.
ETA 6/9/08: Weird. Now the list of artists in the J-Pop browsing window has suddenly shrunk down to a handful, when there were many more listed when I made my purchases, like Namie Amuro and Gackt. But if you do a search function by artist, they still show up, and the genre given for their music is "J-Pop" (although Gackt is really more Rock, but I digress). Maybe the J-Pop catalog is a new feature that they're still in the process of working on. Interestingly enough, you can find X-Japan by browsing the regular "Rock" category, but not J-Pop.