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The Japanese edition of a record can be visually distinguished by the addition of a cardboard obi, which is generally folded over the left side of the cover. In this context, these obi are commonly called spine cards in English, particularly by collectors.
- So, What Is A Japanese Bonus Track?
- Why Japan?
- Where Do These Bonus Tracks Come from?
- Are They Worth The Price?
- Does This only Happen in Japan?
- Conclusion and More Thoughts
Suppose you wanted to own a CD edition of Paul McCartney’s last studio album, 2020's McCartney III.Which version do you go for? The standard CD, which you can pick up new for around $8, contains 11 tracks. There are, however, four additional versions of the album on colored discs — white, red, yellow and blue — each of which contains the original s...
The short answer is that these extras exist to encourage domestic shoppers to buy physical music manufactured in Japan rather than import records from the U.S. or elsewhere. The cost to manufacture CDs in Japan is significantly higher, meaning that by the time they hit the shelves, a standard album might cost around 2,500 Yen, equivalent to $23. Th...
The practice is completely legitimate. When Japanese labels acquire the rights to distribute Western albums, part of the deal will be that the artist/band in question offers extra tracks not available on the 'standard' edition. It's worth noting here that Japan is a country where physical media is still surprisingly sought after. At the time of thi...
This is a tricky question to answer. Some artists and labels seem more conscientious than others in providing quality material. Live versions are a staple, as well as outtakes, remixes and alternative edits. You might well ask the same question concerning Western “deluxe” or “anniversary” editions. The answer varies from case to case and very much ...
No. Typically, an artist's first label will be a small, regional one, located in their country of origin. Traditionally, such outfits have not had the resources to distribute worldwide. They would instead lease the recordings to other labels in other locales, who will understandably want to differentiate their release from the original. There are a...
As you can see, when it comes to Japanese bonus tracks, or bonus material of any variety, this is a broad and complicated subject. Which begs the question: Will album releases ever be standardized? You might expect the rise of online streaming to be a positive in that respect, however, to take just Spotify as an example, available content still var...
The real answer: bands can't just go to Japan and sell their albums printed in other countries. Japan has laws set up so that you can only sell albums from Japanese record labels. Because of that, most artists that tour Japan will have a partner label that prints a Japanese version so that they can sell the album while touring in Japan.
May 6, 2018 · Instead it is a Japanese released an exclusive record. In the 90’s releasing a single on vinyl was the only way to get it to mixtape and club DJ’s and was the premier way of breaking new tunes ...
Feb 25, 2015 · In Japan, an import from Europe or the States sometimes is half what a domestic CD. The bonus tracks are to encourage Japanese to buy the Japanese edition. An import buyer I used to know in my record store days hypothesized more Japanese editions are sold to US OCD collectors than in Japan on some titles.
May 5, 2022 · The short answer is that these extras exist to encourage domestic shoppers to buy physical music manufactured in Japan rather than import records from the U.S. or elsewhere. The cost to manufacture CDs in Japan is significantly higher, meaning that by the time they hit the shelves, a standard album might cost around 2,500 Yen, equivalent to $23.
Jul 12, 2022 · July 12, 2022 Updated On April 24, 2024. Vintage Japanese pressings of vinyl records have long been highly sought after by record collectors the world over. Considered to possess a much higher standard of audio quality, records pressed in Japan during the golden age of vinyl, in particular, are highly coveted.
