Quote:
Originally Posted by houkoholic
I just want to add that using iTunes as a measuring stick of how much Japan don't embrace the internet and mp3 revolution is stupid and ignorant (as Answerman is always prone to show how narrow of a view of the country/industry he has, and anyone using him as a source for argument can't be very knowledgeable either). Anyone whom had spent some time studying the Japanese and how they like to work will know that they love to build their own little system that is not connected to the rest of the world. For example we know that Japanese people had been downloading songs onto their cellphones way before iTunes even existed (which gave birth to the mega company that is dwango), Youtube don't get J songs voted is because Japanese and fans of Japanese music are probably watching on Nicodouga, Yahoo JP or Gyao instead etc. You don't find anime songs on iTunes store is because they prefer working with Dwango/Animelomix (huge sponsers of any, if not ALL, anime related concerts) over working with Apple/iTunes, not because they hate digital. Also there's another handful of music distribution services in Japan, Sony, obviously, has one which spans their PlayStation and phone product lines, there's a site call Listen Japan which offers up to date DRM free music (and true to Japan style - only usable by Japanese residents) etc etc.
The real issues - to me - really just seems to boil down to money and market - Western countries has the money but also a much richer pick of local music artists such that they have no real need for exotic music from the East, whereas the East, outside of Japan, has little spending power to afford bringing these exotic music from their neighbors. So Japan's caught in this weird situation where they want to expand outwards to the West where the money is but is a place where J music aren't really appreciated, but they don't consider the East market big enough (money wise) to worth taking note and spending effort cultivating.
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That is a good reason, why be shackled to the will of some foreign corporate entity (and one with a slightly notorious reputation at that) when they got their own methods of distribution. But then again, it does hurt their international exposure quite a bit.
The fact that recently SNSD won by pure voting power at YT Awards says a lot of about Korea's popularity vs Japan.