that's a tough one.

5cds for 1000 yen, but you can't get def tech, because they are "indie".

_____
|. . . . .|
| CAN |
|_____| ?

Although that would be surprising.

I'm votin for "Guru Guru"

Personally I like how they sell blank DVD-Rs at the register at Tsutaya. After seeing that, I just cant feel bad about rent'n'rip

Don't JASRAC or the label take a share of Tsutaya's rental profits?

more like tsutaya includes a manditory licensing fee in the price of a rental. jasrac also gets some corporate welfare of the sale of ALL blank media whether its used for music or not.

ah right.

I've often thought about bringing a switched-on laptop, set to auto-import, in a shoulder bag. Strolling around the shop ripping CDs like nuts without ever renting them.

...Would that be something to feel bad about?

Don't JASRAC or the label take a share of Tsutaya's rental profits?

They pay JASRAC royalties, but if it is anything like the performance royalty system, JASRAC pays out not by actual usage or sales for each artist but proportionally according to overall sales for the year. That's to say, if Hamasaki Ayumi is used once on TV and Konishi Yasuharu is used 200 times, but Hamasaki sells 2000x more CDs than Konishi, she will make 2000x more royalties off TV. Seeing that most of the BGM on Japanese TV is shibuya-kei, this system seriously screws indie artists.

Yeah, I've heard about that. What a bizarre system!

Das Schweigen von W.D.Marxy wird überbewertet.

Ganz klar: Brainticket!

Don't know if anyone's found this already, but:

If you click and drag under the "N" in the "Neomarxisme" logo running up the left side of the page, you'll find a mysterious easter egg that reads "marxy, young alive in love, usagipop, neomarxisme"

Oh that sneaky hidden text!

I may be coming to tokyo between the 12th and the 20th. Are there any good, cheap indie shows worth checking out in that time? Otherwise I'll probably end up spending all my money on a used Japanese PSTwo.

Das Schweigen von W.D.Marxy wird überbewertet.

This Dzima spam is getting more and more specific to my blog! Anyone know what the whole thing behind this Dzima scam is, because the comments never make any sense to me.

you'll find a mysterious easter egg

Former band names so people can find my site on Google. Real controversial.

Stranger still: why I was clicking there in the first place?

Heck yes!
I'd like to trade my $5 credit for what's in the box...!

http://www.vandruff.com/art_converse.html

It's not me alias Deutsche-Zima. I m known for occasionally having that drink, so, i thought i d speak up and clear my name of all suspicions.

Congratulations Rory P.. Very surprising though.

Do they have Popol Vuh?

Marxy, i didnt know you had published something called "Das Schweigen". Interesting, but - aparently overrated? Dont ask me - i cant figure it out either.

guys, as chris or nate said a while ago a basic degree of education is requiered here.

Umm don't they remove the CDs off the shelf when you rent them, so how do you know it's in potentially available unless you looked it up or something... and different shops have different stock. None the less the Tokyo Wax Museum in Tokyo Tower enshrines Ash Ra Tempel above all those bands. None the less, rental or not most of my Japanese friends know of Can.

I have checked multiple Tsutayas for Can to no avail. I am guessing they are not stocked due to some label problem.

But yes, Can is way more well-known in Japan than in any other non Germanic country.

Um, maybe this is a stupid question, but doesn't Damo Suzuki being Japanese probably have something to do with Can's relative fame in Japan, a la "local boy makes good?"

Are there any examples of the opposite: bands with Japanese members, active overseas, that are less well-known in Japan than elsewhere?

Blonde Redhead only got their albums released in Japan years after they first came out and maybe DNA (for obvious reasons); Ikue Mori doesn't seem to be very popular in Japan but I could be wrong.

Nor are Mono, for some strange reason. Also, Can - as is always wrongly assumed, are NOT as well known over here (which is Deutschland). More Japanese friends of mine know Can. And - more German friends know Mono. So - it's more of a socialized cross-over which might have found it's way into the DNA - anybody know how that works.
("alin": i m sorry, if my education does not meet the standard "requiered"?)

Dzima, I think you're right about Blonde Redhead, good call.

I hadn't heard of Mono before, thanks Carolalotta- excellent stuff! They seem to be based in Japan, not abroad?
I think there are a number of forward-thinking bands based in Japan that are at least as popular in the West as they are in their home country. It wasn't always like this this, but these days even the smallest shows in Koenji are practically guaranteed multiple Westerners in the audience...

About DNA, not that it says everything about popularity, but "No New York" was on CD in Japan years ahead of anywhere else (on the Zorn-curated Avant/DIW). Isn't Arto Lindsay pretty well-known for his work with Ryuichi Sakamoto?

And speaking of Sakamoto, check out this great YMO New Years special from 1983, featuring a visit to a select clothing shop and David Bowie's thoughts on world peace:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bADH9j4XgfU

Now I'm really digressing, but there's tons of YMO-related stuff on Youtube. Here Hosono interviews Denki Groove's Sunahara (in Marxy's magic year, no less):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP4ROWNQLEc

Deerhoof seem to be gaining an audience on both sides of the Pacific. I thought this quote from the band's Matsuzaki Satomi might add fuel to some of the fires that smolder on these pages:

“In Japan, everyone is like, So what do you do, do you have a baby? Are you married? How old are you?” she complains. “I feel like I’m being filtered, like it’s the police. In America, these questions don’t come up and it doesn’t matter.”

But Matsuzaki says she may be part of a dying breed. “Young Japanese don’t come to America any more. My friends haven’t changed in years. There are no newcomers. After 9/11, the travel agencies went out of business and Bush has made it so hard to get visas. Even tourists get checked, and if you dress weird they make you undress. It’s humiliating.”

http://metropolis.japantoday.com/tokyo/618/music.asp

YMO special is sweet. Thanks.

By the way, off-topic but this post reminded me of something that has always puzzled me:

Does anyone have a clue of why Pink Floyd albums in Japan have their names translated to something entirely unrelated to what the original name meant? Examples: 神密 (Saucerful of Secrets), 狂気 (Dark Side of the Moon), 鬱 (Momentary Lapse of Reason), 対 (Division Bell).

I'm only asking because this sort of thing doesn't seem to happen to any other foreign bands in Japan.

Brown: Kayo Dot, featuring the beautiful and quirky Mia, is not known in Japan at all I believe.

Does anyone have a clue of why Pink Floyd albums in Japan have their names translated to something entirely unrelated to what the original name meant?

Same with the Partridge Family. They took a lot of liberty with pop songs in the 60s, making "localized" names that fit with "Japanese tastes."

Check out my post Bad Tuning and the post thread for more on this.

What about Enon/the Lapse/van Pelt (and former blonde redhead) Yasuda Toko - she also seems to be more in line with bunny-bunny-Queen Satomi, and therefore out of line with J-conformity?