As many fans of JRock may already know, there’s a bit of a conflict going on between the LJ community jmusic_uploads and JapanFiles.com (see the article on Japanator.com). The gist of what’s going on: JapanFiles.com is cracking down on those who are file-sharing bands that JapanFiles.com distributes from their website, and many people are unhappy.
The fact of the matter is, file-sharing copyrighted material is illegal, and JapanFiles.com is only doing what should be done 100% of the time, anyways: protecting their artists by making sure that people are paying for the music. This is how the artists make their living, after all, and if everyone’s getting the music free, how are they supposed to continue making it?
Of course a lot of us first discovered JRock through file-sharing…but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be supporting our favorite artists by buying the music! Personally, I take a lot of pride in my collection of Japanese CDs and love to boast about it (I have over 80!). I also really like to have the whole package as the artists intended us to have it; they put time and effort into all of it.
The point is: I think JapanFiles.com is in the right with what they are doing. If anything, I think we are lucky that it is JapanFiles.com right now, and not Sony or another big label. JapanFiles.com is making members of jmusic_uploads aware of what they’re doing, what bands are licensed, have given us the chance to discuss the issue, and so forth. It’s not that much to ask, for people to actually pay for the music. After all, isn’t that what people did before the age of internet?
I speak for myself and Project: JRock Events (USA) as a whole when I stress that everyone should support the artists by buying music (versus file-sharing) when they can!
Feel free to comment; I’d love to get a discussion going to see what everyone has to say on the matter.
-Melony
All this anti-filesharing attitude in the fandom is hilariously ironic to me. If somebody hadn’t randomly put some Diru songs up on Napster or whatever almost a decade ago, there wouldn’t _BE_ a frigging J-Rock fandom _outside_ of Japan, and nobody here would even know who Diru was (except for the s00per speshul s00per s33krit elite fans). Very few Americans are willing to shell out $40 or more for a CD in another language that may not even have a full 16 songs (Learned the hard way when I bought “6″ at Kumoricon, god I felt stupid, $37 and only 9 songs?) and many of those JRock fans, being the age of yer average N*sync teeny bopper, can’t afford it anyway unless their parents get it for them.
Contrary to popular belief, not all of us are thieving free-loaders. Yeah, I download and torrent (and watch grainy PV’s on Youtube)… BUT when the bands make Re-releases at U.S. price through a U.S. distributor like Free-Will-America, JShock or Fontana Universal, I go out and I _BUY_them. I don’t care if its in Hot Topic next to Falloutboy, or if its in Wal-Mart next to Garth Brooks. $14 JRock CD’s is a _GOOD_ thing (unless you’re a selfish elitist who doesn’t want “n00bs” catching on to your super speshul sekrit myusikz). And as for iTunes, I don’t own an iPod (got a Sony though), and Apple’s files are proprietary (and have DRM crap) so that’s out…
Bottom line, don’t pull an Ulrich on the people who buy your U.S. re-releases, who buy your t-shirts, and who pay out the arse to travel to your concerts. The internet made this fandom what it is. Want J-fans to stop downloading? Re-release the older albums, re-release those PV and Live DVD’s that for now, we can only get as cheap Korean bootlegs on Ebay.
Comment by Kitsune_Baka — June 17, 2008 @ 7:42 pm