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mangamuscle wrote:

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.

I didn't say it was written and sung by a foreigner, just that it's in a foreign language.

vonPeterhof wrote:

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.

Sorry, no, I meant that the reasoning behind Avex's move is worse now. lol I should have been more clear about that.
I have nothing but respect for Ultimatemegax and I read the updated post. I've been following their blog for a long time now.

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

leafy sea dragon wrote:

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.

Gangnam Style was definitely a meme, and La Bamba was mostly treated as one, too. They weren't appreciated for their lyrics or musical value for sure. And even disregarding that, these are two songs in... how many years? (I'm sure there were other songs, too, mostly in Spanish for obvious reasons, but those were all one-hit wonders and/or got quickly remade in English.)

My point is that Japanese pop/rock music doesn't really have much of a potentially dedicated market in the US. The US market is, by and large, not interested in people singing in Japanese, unless there's some sort of memetic or novelty factor included. I've been through the Great JRock Boom of the late '90s and early '00s when JRock had a lot more attention than ever before or since, and it just didn't stick. There was an online following, sure, but that wasn't enough when it came to trying to bring those music acts in the US. It just wasn't worth it, neither financially nor for the artists. (And when you're a decently well-known artist in South-East Asia you wouldn't want to be treated as a nobody or made fun of as a novelty in the US.)

Yeah, all in all, in the United States, a very important factor in getting a song to become popular is if it's in English. People like to sing along to them, and nine times out of ten, the lyrics are the first thing they can remember (which is something noteworthy to me because the lyrics tend to be the last thing I remember in a song). It doesn't matter if it comes from another country, or if the singer has an unusual accent, I've noticed--as long as it's in English, it has a shot. I had no idea "La Bamba" was a meme in its own time, just that it was popular and continues to get references to it here and there even now.

But yeah, what I was doing was just a nitpick over the assertion that foreign-language songs can never make it in the United States. They CAN, but rarely, and I've never heard of a case where a foreign-language artist pulls it off more than once.

It wont make a huge impact on sales(specifically YOI) at least let's hope it will not, even selling a few hundreds matters. Even if it it's their decision it still leaves a bad awful taste for the international fans who are directly supporting their line. It is also a bad publicity for Jpop.Pop Korean labels like SM,YG and Bighit or even small agencies that only sells very few copies overseas never did an outdated business move like Avex did no matter what the reason was. Japan is supposed to be the 2nd largest pioneer of music production, But thanks to Avex for making the situation more worst by not giving us an official statement about the matter... It leaves a bad impression about Japanese music industry and what we actually think of how they treat the international fans. This made me support Kpop.

Because foreign and domestic copyright can last over 100 years, these export restrictions might be less of an issue for our great-grand-kids.

Kadmos1 wrote:

Because foreign and domestic copyright can last over 100 years, these export restrictions might be less of an issue for our great-grand-kids.

Until next copyright extension...

A Japanese language song has charted in the US but it was a long time ago (1963) and with a really odd title change. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C35DrtPlUbc

What they are doing does fall under the "exclusive rights" of copyright. At least in the USA, those exclusive rights are the right to reproduce that work, to make derivatives from said work, public distribution of the work, public performance of the work, and public display of that work. However, I would imagine other countries have similar rights.

Kadmos1 wrote:

What they are doing does fall under the "exclusive rights" of copyright. At least in the USA, those exclusive rights are the right to reproduce that work, to make derivatives from said work, public distribution of the work, public performance of the work, and public display of that work. However, I would imagine other countries have similar rights.

Perhaps in Japan, but in light of UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Augusto(2011) which involved unauthorized re-selling of cds, and Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc(2013) which applied the first-sale doctrine globally to legally purchased goods, not in US.

What that means in this context, is that while it might be illegal to export them from Japan, once you have those goods in US and they were acquired legally in the first place, there's nothing prohibiting you from selling them further legality-wise...

Blanchimont wrote:

Kadmos1 wrote:

Because foreign and domestic copyright can last over 100 years, these export restrictions might be less of an issue for our great-grand-kids.

Until next copyright extension...

Or in the case of Disney, Warner Bros. and such, lobbying their governments. It probably doesn't apply to Japan, but it's why the United States' patents, trademarks, and copyrights are so ridiculously long (though not as much with patents as with the others, but it's still twice or three times as long as most European countries').

They want to sell it in the west? It's more expensive in JP than western releases. Here we get 3-4 episodes for 30-40€ - Yuri on Ice costs around 60€ for 2 episodes - twice the price. And that's without shipping and the 19% import tax I'd have to pay. Releases here keep the Japanese dub, so I won't miss out on anything. Besides that I could watch it for free on CR.

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 haven't heard of such a theory, but it doesn't surprise me. Feminazis will literally attack anything.

leafy sea dragon wrote:

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.

The United States, no. With your logic, the original CoD games must be in the same boat (no pun intended) because you can play as the Germans. Also, the only criticism I recall was a random Vice article (tells you the credibility) focusing more on the anime route instead of the game itself, where you can play as Allied ships, too.

China, yes. As with anything Japanese which even in the slightest manner evokes patriotism, is criticized by state-controlled media mouthpieces as fascist because of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Ironically, the Kuomintang government controlling the mainland at the time and later Formosa, killed as many (if not more) people during the white terror than the Japanese. Of course, you also have the hypocrisy of the communists over the massacres and genocide undertaken since 1949. Nevertheless, many Chinese citizens usually brush off communist propaganda when asked about it while in Japan or other free societies, and KanColle has a pretty solid Netizen following.

Back on topic, the bulk of Japan's media publishing company profits come from music. Anime as previously stated, is a niche, and with their biggest overseas markets being Southeast Asia and China, anime is an issue because such countries are notorious for bootlegging. It may sound like a double-edged sword, but the limited number printings going into the hands of bootleggers to copy would has a devastating effect on the industry. So if anything, it's a strategic move rather than some stereotypical salaryman protocol bullshit.

Alan45 wrote:

A Japanese language song has charted in the US but it was a long time ago (1963) and with a really odd title change. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C35DrtPlUbc

That sounds exactly like the style that was popular back then, without any stand out characteristics(which I assume is what made it possible).

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 recall from sometime back that the server was constantly overloaded. Blocking an international audience not likely to generate as much revenue as a domestic audience certainly makes sense in that scenario. I don't know if that situation is still true, though.

@Polycell

I'm no expert on music. I have no idea if it had characteristics similar to the pop music of the time. I will say that it was seen as radically different at the time. 1963 was a couple of years into what was the brief rise of popularity of folk music which may have made it more acceptable.

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Answerman - Why Would A Japanese Publisher Restrict Exports?