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Sound Decision - Warner Steps Up




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Twage



Joined: 29 Jul 2003
Posts: 363
Location: North Bergen, NJ
PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 8:08 am Reply with quote
I'm with you 100% right up until this point...

Quote:
In the meantime, it should not surprise us to see Korean artists take a good shot at America long before the Japanese ones get their acts together.


That's only if the quality of Korean and Japanese music was equal. Have you heard Korean pop music? On the whole it's worse than terrible. I can count the number of Korean pop music artists I've ever really liked on one hand. Bi and Boa and that crowd have so far failed miserably in the U.S., not because of their distributors or their agents, but because their music is unoriginal and boring.

What got me into J-pop in the first place was the distinctly unique sound. I wouldn't prefer to listen to it for more than 30 seconds, but there are even some Morning Musume songs that make you sit up and think -- "Yow -- THIS is different!"

And I'm not the only one who thinks so...

Quote:
Language seems to be an obvious barrier to having a hit record in the United States for any Asian musician wanting to crack that market. There are hundreds of Asian classical music artists who release albums through major international labels, but very few in pop. In fact, one of the main points that was brought up in the New York Times' review of Rain's concert was his use of unrefined English, which often failed to connect to a mature audience. For example, the paper scorned Rain's gesture of standing up between songs and saying things like, "I'm lonely and I need a girlfriend." Jim Farber also pointed out Rain's halting English, noting his tendency to shout, "I love you" when he was at a loss for other words.
Many other critics agree that language is a major barrier for Asian musicians, saying there ultimately will be no "connection" if the English lyrics sound too forced to American audiences. But, Mr. Ebert added, "If it is good, if it is recorded in English and if it is properly promoted and marketed, there is no reason why an Asian act cannot be a hit in the west."
A more urgent issue, and one commonly cited by Western industry experts, is that there is not much originality seen in the songs of Asian pop musicians. Many of those industry insiders are doubtful that K-pop music is an experience that's something new and different for audiences who look for non-mainstream chords in world music. They say artists in many parts of Asia seem too "manufactured."
Mark Russell, a Seoul correspondent for Billboard, says Korean musicians simply have trouble "crossing over." "When Latin music came to the United States, did those artists try to sound like Puff Daddy or Boyz 2 Men? No," he said. "They were true to their own sound, with just some improvement in production values. Even Japanese pop has its own quirky style. But what is Korean about Korean pop? Nothing ― in the melody, the singing style, instrumentation or harmonies. It is all just a rehash of American pop with a little J-pop glam thrown in."


- http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200602/16/200602162049029039900091009101.html
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jpopusa



Joined: 24 Jul 2003
Posts: 20
PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 9:04 am Reply with quote
Quote:
The bottom line is three-fold. First, Japanese labels are fooling themselves if they think they have won the piracy battle. CD sales will continue to plummet, and they will face a situation as dire as Korea's if they do not act quickly. You could call their unexpected digital music revenue in 2005 a nice surprise, or you could see it as a warning sign that the Japanese music industry is still woefully underestimating digital music's power to save them or crush them.

1) No one is being fooled, everyone knows that piracy is starting to quickly kill the industry. The only persons being fooled are casual fans who think that grabbing music for free is somehow justifiable. The trick is finding a new business model that is independant of copies of the songs being pirated to generate revenue.

Quote:
Second, those same Japanese labels now have one path to prosperity laid out clearly in front of them.

2) Please be aware that Japan pratically evented the mobile music industry as their carriers are quite saavy. Thus 34.3 billion yen reported. Even in the US, Sprint has quickly garnered 2 million downloads in the mobile arena. But this business method while currently saving the bottom line simply does not replace what was lost. Also this will quickly change as there are methods of piracy available in the mobile market which have not caught on in a widespread manner yet. However since mobile internet networks can be much more tightly managed as well as the content playing devices, there is a small but viable market for revenue stream.

Quote:
Finally, we should root for more of these "technology-content hybrids," as the Journal article calls them.

3) Bingo! It is all about bundling currently. Also licensing is king as merchandising, appearance fees and touring have been steady lines of revenue. But it is this bundling and hybrid delivery model that is still very young and which no company yet has quite managed to find a truly winning formula.

And this is where Japan might still manage to show more innovation. For instance, the CD and DVD combo packaging sales really helped with Japan's album sales this last year (which also didn't really ramp up until late in the year). Additionally, Japan has always had the cool and nifty bonus merchandise when purchasing initial releases.

The question is whether fans here are willing to buy a $30 retail package of a CD, DVD and cool piece of merch (like a wristband, hat or t-shirt)??
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jmays
ANN Associate Editor


Joined: 29 Jul 2002
Posts: 1390
Location: St. Louis, MO
PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 11:17 am Reply with quote
Twage wrote:
That's only if the quality of Korean and Japanese music was equal. Have you heard Korean pop music?

I don't expect Korean artists to take over the Billboard charts or anything--I only mean you will be able to get it on iTunes or somewhere in greater quantities than J-Pop. But I could be wrong. It depends on whether Avex closes the deal on all of those artists that are already listed (with no songs) on iTunes USA.

Either way, I think it's important to take quality out of the equation when you're talking about distribution models. WS Entertainment gives Korea a serious edge in that department; what they do with it is another issue entirely.

(But incidentally, there may be a chance for K-Pop to cash in over here even with its current quality. As long as they don't overspend on ill-conceived concert tours, they should be able to notch a few online sales without disrupting their local promo schedules.)
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jmays
ANN Associate Editor


Joined: 29 Jul 2002
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PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 11:23 am Reply with quote
jpopusa wrote:
1) No one is being fooled, everyone knows that piracy is starting to quickly kill the industry. The only persons being fooled are casual fans who think that grabbing music for free is somehow justifiable.

You know more about this than I do, but I get the impression that not all the big labels are sold on digital distro. I was particularly concerned that the RIAJ report seemed content with overall positive growth, after four or five straight years of urgent reports on "Major Issues" and outlines for digging the industry out of its hole.

Quote:
2) Please be aware that Japan pratically evented the mobile music industry as their carriers are quite saavy. Thus 34.3 billion yen reported.

I know Japan invented mobile downloads, but Korea is now the leader in that area. My point here is that Japan has not taken mobile downloads far enough yet, and that Warner's new deal is one model for taking it further.

Quote:
3) Bingo! It is all about bundling currently. Also licensing is king as merchandising, appearance fees and touring have been steady lines of revenue. But it is this bundling and hybrid delivery model that is still very young and which no company yet has quite managed to find a truly winning formula.

Of course we have to wait and see, but I think Warner's deal will be the kind of "truly winning formula" that has until now been elusive.

Quote:
The question is whether fans here are willing to buy a $30 retail package of a CD, DVD and cool piece of merch (like a wristband, hat or t-shirt)??

I guess it's time to find out. That's really a separate question from the digital music issue, though.


Last edited by jmays on Fri May 12, 2006 12:49 pm; edited 1 time in total
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jpopusa



Joined: 24 Jul 2003
Posts: 20
PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 12:48 pm Reply with quote
JMays wrote:

You know more about this than I do, but I get the impression that not all the big labels are sold on digital distro. I was particularly concerned that the RIAJ report seemed content with overall positive growth, after four or five straight years of urgent reports on "Major Issues" and outlines for digging the industry out of its hole.

Quote:
The question is whether fans here are willing to buy a $30 retail package of a CD, DVD and cool piece of merch (like a wristband, hat or t-shirt)??

I guess it's time to find out.


Digital Downloads really didn't make that much last year in Japan espcially with several companies jumping on whole heartedly with iTunes Japan. It is just really hard to compete with free. The RIAJ needed to report some positive news as it has been doom and gloom for several years. At this point a leveling off in the sharp decline was a real blessing and allows companies a short breather while they figure out what to do moving forward.

As the report showed the real money was in mobile downloads. But I think there will be a growth cap on this in the near future unless there is some type of technology shift to reinvigorate things.

In Korea it looks to be ALL about mobile music so hopefully this will push some new business models but don't expect those models to work in the US... maybe Japan but even then I am still skeptical. Japan already has such a strong mobile presence that while some growth can still happen, I do not believe it will be much more.

As for bundled media packages with merchandise, I am lobbying hard for it as I think this is a more viable model. Already we are starting to see this idea even amongst the anime community with Bandai's HONNEAMISE
http://www.bandaivisual.us/
And even now in the anime world in the US, we are starting to see a growing mass market versus otaku market business model. People either want things on the cheap or hardcore fans want deluxe packaging with all the frills. (Like the Samurai 7 deluxe boxes ) Twisted Evil
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jmays
ANN Associate Editor


Joined: 29 Jul 2002
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PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 1:04 pm Reply with quote
jpopusa wrote:
At this point a leveling off in the sharp decline was a real blessing and allows companies a short breather while they figure out what to do moving forward.

This is what I mean about labels fooling themselves. Taking a breather now is like leaving your keys in your car because nobody stole it yesterday. The piracy threat is only going to get worse, and when I read that the labels were surprised how much they made from digital sales, that tells me the urgency is still not there.

Quote:
In Korea it looks to be ALL about mobile music so hopefully this will push some new business models but don't expect those models to work in the US... maybe Japan but even then I am still skeptical. Japan already has such a strong mobile presence that while some growth can still happen, I do not believe it will be much more.

It's not the business model as much as the business mentality. Warner Korea is the first big Asian label to drastically shake up the way it sells music. It may not be the perfect model, but it's the perfect mindset and shows the kind of nerve that Japan's big labels have not yet demonstrated.

Quote:
As for bundled media packages with merchandise, I am lobbying hard for it as I think this is a more viable model.

It's not an either/or thing. Package deals are great, but failing to have (or be working towards) a strong digital distro model is inexcusable.
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Twage



Joined: 29 Jul 2003
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Location: North Bergen, NJ
PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 1:21 pm Reply with quote
JMays wrote:
Either way, I think it's important to take quality out of the equation when you're talking about distribution models. WS Entertainment gives Korea a serious edge in that department; what they do with it is another issue entirely.


Well, I could argue that the best distribution model in the world doesn't matter if no one wants to hear your music. Then again, K-pop has done very well at least with the Korean expat community in the U.S., which is significant -- maybe good enough to make releasing Korean music in the U.S. in this kind of low-cost form profitable.

But I understand your point that it's the fact that they took the step that matters, not how good the music they make is.

What I worry about is what this means for services like iTunes that aim to sell music from everyone to everyone. Does this mean that in the future the already-annoying proprietary format war in online/mobile music sales could turn into a label war? Will I have to buy different cell phone service or use different online music sites if I want to listen to music by, say, both BMG and Sony? I could imagine the labels having a lot to gain money-wise by starting their own, competing online distribution networks and cutting out the Apple middleman.
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jmays
ANN Associate Editor


Joined: 29 Jul 2002
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PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 1:31 pm Reply with quote
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What I worry about is what this means for services like iTunes that aim to sell music from everyone to everyone. Does this mean that in the future the already-annoying proprietary format war in online/mobile music sales could turn into a label war? Will I have to buy different cell phone service or use different online music sites if I want to listen to music by, say, both BMG and Sony?

That's a good point and probably the biggest downside of a deal like Warner's. I would not want to be another Korean label right now.

Quote:
I could imagine the labels having a lot to gain money-wise by starting their own, competing online distribution networks and cutting out the Apple middleman.

This sounds good in theory (which is probably why Sony Japan seems hellbent on making it a reality), but I don't think any label has the resources, technology, and coordination to make it happen.
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jmays
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PostPosted: Mon May 15, 2006 4:03 am Reply with quote
How's this for timing: Nikkei reports (sub.) Apple is working on a phone with Softbank that will eventually be able to download tracks straight from iTunes--with Apple's lower song price platform, too.

A few relevant notes, courtesy of Nikkei's analysis:

Softbank-owned Vodaphone KK only has 16.5% market share, but starting this fall, Japanese cell phone users will be able to switch providers and keep their phone numbers like you can here.

Download leader KDDI's service charges 300 yen a song and does not allow CD burning. Japan's biggest carier DoCoMo (55.7%) is launching a similar service next month. But iTunes Japan offers songs for 150-200 yen, and you can burn them all to CD.

And this is worth quoting:
Quote:
In the next few years, handsets are expected to have Internet connectivity without going through cell phone service firms' telecommunications networks, using instead wireless LAN (local-area network) and other wireless broadband networks. Softbank intends to launch value-added offerings in its cell phone service business with an eye on such connections in the future.

This would allow music download services to be offered without having to distinguish between computers and cell phones. So, record labels and cell phone service firms, which have been raking in cash by providing music downloads for cell phones, may start to see their business models fall apart soon.
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