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NEWS: 1 Year After Japan's Stricter Download Law, Music Sales Stagnate


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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6248
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 12:12 am Reply with quote
Yeah I knew this was going to happen, I remember reading about this law that could effect downloading music in Japan. I knew this law was going to hurt Japan's music market. I kept warning people about Japan's music market could be in danger despite being #2. It's not only this law, but also the population decline that could also endanger the music market in Japan. For now, Japan rely on physical sales but I don't know how long can this last because CDs in Japan are expensive and people are going digital these days (well for me, I still buy CDs to support my artists). If Japan wants to get their market back to normal, I suggest they should learn a thing or 2 from their Korean counterpart when it comes to copyright protection and anti-piracy. I'm sorry I have to bring up Korean music industry and K-pop. But What Japan is doing to enforce copyright and anti-piracy is not only draconian, but also suicidal for their music industry.

There was an article I read about Korean music industry, and they have a interesting and effective copyright law and anti-piracy law that I think Japan should try to model from Korea. I'll quote this from the article:

Grammy.com wrote:
• Korea has had massive success in combating online piracy. A combination of a "three-strikes" local policy and an aggressive legal strategy against the 40 biggest K-pop piracy sites worldwide — called Operation Top 40 — resulted in these sites being shut down and in Korea receiving significant financial damages. Before this approach, online piracy was so pervasive that the logic at the time was to price downloads so low that they could compete with the illegal sites (hence the 5 cent price). This is no longer the case. When it came to shutting down illegal sites emanating from the U.S., Korea filed suit in California, where many servers for social networking sites are located. Interestingly, the fact that the Korean artwork had been registered with the copyright office became the 'smoking gun' to nail copyright infringement in the courts.

• Korea has three copyright societies and the protection of intellectual property rights is rigorously upheld by law.


So you see if Japan can model their anti-piracy/copyright law from their Korean counterpart. Their music market wouldn't be like this. Because of Japan's draconian copyright and anti-piracy laws, it's no wonder why J-pop couldn't get the same global breakout like their K-pop counterpart.

While Japan's music market continue to stagnate, Korea music market continue to grow because of the Hallyu/Korean Wave and the K-pop explosion worldwide. More K-pop artists are doing more performances outside of Korea and outside of Asia. Also according to that same article, it's said that Korean music industry grew 20 percent, I'll quote this:

The Korea Time wrote:
As more K-pop stars surf the commercial success of the “hallyu” or Korean wave, the money they are making from sales abroad is rising significantly too.

Last year alone the export of K-pop content grew 20 percent to 260 billion won ($235 million) and industry watchers speculate that the market will maintain its current size or get slightly bigger.


Also because of Japan's stagnate music market, I think K-pop profit could be effected by this also. I read an article the weaken yen is hurting the K-pop profit. So if this stagnate in Japan continue, K-pop artists may have to look at other market to get their profit from not only Asia (and US), but maybe Europe can be the huge moneymaker for both K-pop and J-pop artists/groups.

DKPOP News wrote:
When asked what he thinks K-pop can gain with a launch into the European market, Kim Youngmin proudly said that the European market is estimated to be worth 7 trillion Won. This basically means it's larger than the US (6 trillion), Japan (4 trillion), and China (1 trillion). He also mentioned that it's not their main goal to get into the charts and sell enormous amounts of CD's, as they're planning to attract people's attention to the Asian music market through the expanding popularity of K-pop music.


I don't know how much that is in Yen, but if there is more money to be made in Europe then I suggest J-pop artists to expand not only outside of Japan, but also outside of Asia. Because I'm seeing K-pop is getting more mainstream in Europe after Gangnam Style. So I got suggestion and ideas how Japan's music can recover from this:

Allow J-pop to enter Korea and other Asian market: Many time we've seen K-pop singing in Japanese and Chinese. Why haven't we seen J-pop artists doing Korean-language and Chinese-language album, I think it's about time J-pop artists should enter Korea and they can still make some money from the Korean market. The same for China and Taiwan. Also J-pop artists can get international exposure outside of Asia if they enter the Korean music market. I'm all for AKB48 to sign up with SM Entertainment. I'm all for Kyary Pamyu Pamyu sign up with YG Entertainment, and Perfume to sign up with either Cube Entertainment or Starship Entertainment (SISTAR's label/agency).

If Japanese labels can't set up J-pop concerts outside of Japan/Asia, let their Korean labels/agencies do it for them: Apparently, Japanese labels/agencys are allergic or don't have enough experience with setting up concerts outside of Japan/Asia. J-pop concerts outside of Japan and Asia are so rare. If their Japanese labels can't handle it, leave the concert setup to their Korean labels/agencies. That's why I want J-pop artists to sign with their Korean labels/agencies, they not only will publish/release a J-pop artist's Korean-language album, but they can set up concerts outside of Japan/Korea and Asia. Korean agencies/labels have more experience of setting up concerts outside of Korea and Asia then their Japanese labels. As I said, if AKB48 sign up with SM Entertainment, AKB48 can participate in SMTown Live World Tour meaning AKB48 can perform outside of Japan and outside of Asia.

Japan need to knock down that draconian copyright/anti-piracy laws: That law is not only preventing J-pop from getting a global spotlight and breakout, it's also hurting their music industry profit. That's why people outside of Japan and Asia can't get to experience J-pop the same way people around the world are experiencing K-pop. I mean I'm going to quote this from an article I read:

Seoulbeats wrote:
And for Japan and its music industry, what do you think it can learn from K-pop and the Hallyu wave?

Amy: Japan is completely miserable at spreading their music products outside of Japan. Like Jasper and Nicholas have mentioned, Japan has no need to do this, given that its own market can sustain its music industry extremely comfortably without outside help, but at a certain point, it starts to read like arrogance. This is a global age. It’s close-minded for Japanese music companies to shut out YouTube as aggressively as they have. It’s just unthinkable and extremely irritating for fans trying to get a better sense of Japan’s pop cultural products to be unable to find leads anywhere. It doesn’t help that merchandise coming out of Japan is ridiculously overpriced either, so it’s like Japan is actively trying to discourage anyone from gaining access to their pop culture, which is short-sighted.


I agreed with Amy on why J-pop couldn't get the same breakout like K-pop did.

Make J-pop CDs cheaper: Face it, anyone that buy J-pop CDs (or any merchandise from Japan) will know they're ridiculously expensive. J-pop CDs price can range from 40 to 60 American dollars. I can find a new K-pop CDs that is much cheaper (around 15 to 20 dollars, might want to buy it digitally on Itunes or legal MP3 sites) at a store then their Japanese counterpart. The expensive Japanese CDs are the reason why they don't sell a lot in Japan. Also it doesn't help on Itunes, that J-pop catalog are like small where for K-pop the catalog is big.

Sorry for the long rant, but when I saw this article ANN put up, I knew this is going to spell trouble for the Japanese music industry.
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revolutionotaku



Joined: 19 May 2011
Posts: 881
PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 12:23 am Reply with quote
Oh Sweet Karma.
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 12:41 am Reply with quote
mdo7, can you shut the hell about Korea for once in your life on this site, or is it always "Korealand, Korealand über alles" with you? By this point, you're soapboxing on it.
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Mr. Oshawott



Joined: 12 Mar 2012
Posts: 6773
PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 1:11 am Reply with quote
I think the Japanese government has made a serious mistake passing such a restrictive law. It's understandable that the record companies want to have their content protected from actual copyright thieves, but this download law going after people that "rip" content just for personal use is going a bit too far...
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GTO Neko



Joined: 11 Oct 2007
Posts: 94
PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 1:15 am Reply with quote
walw6pK4Alo wrote:
mdo7, can you shut the hell about Korea for once in your life on this site, or is it always "Korealand, Korealand über alles" with you? By this point, you're soapboxing on it.


This time, like it or not, they do have a good point about pointing out about the need to branch out at the very least. There have been times that I've heard actual good songs that's performed 100% in English and understandable that could've made it's way to being played internationally, instead of just localized. Hell, the Super Eurobeat collections has been something a lot of people wish to get worldwide, instead of just from Japan (with 220+ volumes now), to pay $30+ a pop per volume is a bit much for anyone.


So in this case, take it easy for this moment, and take a closer look at what actually can be done to help, instead of bashing each other.
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Crispy45



Joined: 23 Sep 2012
Posts: 363
PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 1:47 am Reply with quote
Well duh, anyone who is going to buy stuff is going to buy it and people who want to pirate it will pirate it. >_> anyone could have told you that.

GTO Neko wrote:
This time, like it or not, they do have a good point about pointing out about the need to branch out at the very least.


Uhh why? They NEED to or you WANT them to? Big difference.

Quote:
to pay $30+ a pop per volume is a bit much for anyone.


>_> Except Japan obviously
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Haterater



Joined: 30 Apr 2006
Posts: 1727
PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 2:17 am Reply with quote
GTO Neko wrote:
walw6pK4Alo wrote:
mdo7, can you shut the hell about Korea for once in your life on this site, or is it always "Korealand, Korealand über alles" with you? By this point, you're soapboxing on it.


This time, like it or not, they do have a good point about pointing out about the need to branch out at the very least. There have been times that I've heard actual good songs that's performed 100% in English and understandable that could've made it's way to being played internationally, instead of just localized. Hell, the Super Eurobeat collections has been something a lot of people wish to get worldwide, instead of just from Japan (with 220+ volumes now), to pay $30+ a pop per volume is a bit much for anyone.


So in this case, take it easy for this moment, and take a closer look at what actually can be done to help, instead of bashing each other.


Also agree, mdo7 has some good points that can help expand J-Pop outside Japan. Would want the agencies to at least give it a try and start out small. You don't want to be stuck in a situation where your homeland isn't giving profits and you have no other income to help offset it. Sure, some risks, but at least tried.
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CrowLia



Joined: 24 Feb 2012
Posts: 5500
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 2:27 am Reply with quote
Quote:
mdo7 has some good points that can help expand J-Pop outside Japan


Except that no one from the Japanese companies is reading this and there's literary nothing anyone of us can do to "save" the Japanese music industry (if it even needs saving. Just because their sales have not increased doesn't mean they're going bankrupt). So all mdo7 is doing (and has been doing for a long time) is cluttering the forums with huge walls of text that say little more than "KOREA IS SO POPULAR AND JAPAN IS NOT".

Back on topic, I'm glad about this. Maybe companies will stop blaming piracy for the decline of their industry (music, anime, films, fried chips) and focus on finding the real problem. If they'd also realize that people who pirate won't magically start buying legal media just because you make piracy illegal (lol?) and instead try to reach out to those people through different ways that are not "BUY MY OVERPRICED SHIT OR GO TO JAIL" (coughpricescough) maybe, just maybe people wouldn't pirate so much.

Yeah, like I really expect that to happen.

PS. For all that it's worth, Koreas superduper antipiracy campaign is so successful I typed a random K-Pop name on google and found download sites in seconds. Wink
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Kikaioh



Joined: 01 Jun 2009
Posts: 1205
Location: Antarctica
PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 2:48 am Reply with quote
The article seems a bit misleading, because it's juxtaposing two sets of facts (the introduction of the Download law and the stagnation of the music industry) to suggest that there's a demonstrable connection between the two, without actually substantiating that parallel. It would have been just as bad if the article had been written 6 months ago, when the industry was seeing a net increase of sales: then the article would have been titled "6 Months After Japan's Stricter Download Law, Music Sales Increase", and it would have been equally as misleading. There are lots of factors to consider in regards to the growth/decline of the Japanese music market, and while the stricter download law is one such factor, making such a direct contrast in the article glosses over the broader trends of the local/global markets in favor of speculative correlation (and as the saying goes, "correlation doesn't imply causation").

To my knowledge, while physical CD sales in Japan actually saw a slight increase last year and flattened out in the past year, digital sales were on a decline in 2012 even before the new law came into effect, a trend that seems to have continued into 2013 (my understanding is that this is mostly attributed to a decline in the mobile market, where digital sales predominantly take place in Japan). Also as a matter of putting things into perspective, I think the Japanese music industry was recently recognized as the 2nd largest in the world, and was poised to overtake the United States this year. Most of the world's music industries have been seeing declines in both physical and digital sales, so Japan having seen an uptick last year and then flatlining into this year is actually fairly good in comparison. It's all a matter of perspective, and I have to wonder if the source article might have been a little biased in painting things with a negative brush specifically in contrast to the download law. I'd be interested to hear anyone with better statistics/data and perspective on the market to give their take on the trends.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14746
PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 2:53 am Reply with quote
What's even funny is that, one year on, not a single soul has even been arrested due to this law! This law is all bark and no bite! Yet 40% of Japanese share left anyway.

The real problem is Japan needs to produce again enough music that people are willing to pay $30 for! Also reducing that price tag won't hurt.

  • What this might mean is that there doesn’t seem to be a 100 percent direct link between pirates and declines in CD sales. However, according to the Recording Industry Association of Japan, it looks like digital album sales have increased by nearly 50 percent over the same period. This seems to fit with comments made by the RIAJ’s managing director Kenji Takasugi, who told NHK News, “The revised law has been effective in increasing the amount of rentals, but it seems unconnected to the number of people who are paying to actually buy music. While we are continuing public education regarding illegal downloading, we are working to improve sales by creating good music and improving the ease of use of music services.”
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dan9999



Joined: 25 Oct 2011
Posts: 648
PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 3:50 am Reply with quote
WHOOO!! For real???? This is A MEGA SUPER HYPER EXTRA SURPRISE ! Who would have thought this was gonna happen?
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sburstall



Joined: 02 Nov 2007
Posts: 178
Location: Ohio, USA
PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 7:17 am Reply with quote
K-pop?? Sorry, I don't subscribe to them.
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revolutionotaku



Joined: 19 May 2011
Posts: 881
PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 9:06 am Reply with quote
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revolutionotaku



Joined: 19 May 2011
Posts: 881
PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 9:22 am Reply with quote
Can people in Japan get fined and/or go to prison if they get caught walking around in public listening to an mp3 player since you have to transfer the audio tracks from the CD to the mp3 device?
Do the Japanese police/government expect everyone to carry a CD player as well as a huge bulk of a CD case everywhere they go?
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Shiratori1



Joined: 10 Jan 2013
Posts: 300
Location: Los Angeles
PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 9:27 am Reply with quote
mdo7 wrote:
Standard mdo7 "Korea, Korea, Korea" rant.


Rolling Eyes Rolling Eyes

Kikaioh wrote:
The article seems a bit misleading, because it's juxtaposing two sets of facts (the introduction of the Download law and the stagnation of the music industry) to suggest that there's a demonstrable connection between the two, without actually substantiating that parallel. It would have been just as bad if the article had been written 6 months ago, when the industry was seeing a net increase of sales: then the article would have been titled "6 Months After Japan's Stricter Download Law, Music Sales Increase", and it would have been equally as misleading. There are lots of factors to consider in regards to the growth/decline of the Japanese music market, and while the stricter download law is one such factor, making such a direct contrast in the article glosses over the broader trends of the local/global markets in favor of speculative correlation (and as the saying goes, "correlation doesn't imply causation").

To my knowledge, while physical CD sales in Japan actually saw a slight increase last year and flattened out in the past year, digital sales were on a decline in 2012 even before the new law came into effect, a trend that seems to have continued into 2013 (my understanding is that this is mostly attributed to a decline in the mobile market, where digital sales predominantly take place in Japan). Also as a matter of putting things into perspective, I think the Japanese music industry was recently recognized as the 2nd largest in the world, and was poised to overtake the United States this year. Most of the world's music industries have been seeing declines in both physical and digital sales, so Japan having seen an uptick last year and then flatlining into this year is actually fairly good in comparison. It's all a matter of perspective, and I have to wonder if the source article might have been a little biased in painting things with a negative brush specifically in contrast to the download law. I'd be interested to hear anyone with better statistics/data and perspective on the market to give their take on the trends.


This ^10


Last edited by Shiratori1 on Tue Oct 01, 2013 9:42 am; edited 1 time in total
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