Re: crappy little demos

Ben List (ben@eugine.ludens.co.jp)
Fri, 1 Sep 1995 02:46:34 +0900


At 9:24 AM 95.8.31 -0500, Steve Sando wrote:
>-- [ From: Steve Sando * EMC.Ver #2.5.02 ] --

>As for $8.00 a promo, someone's being snowed. That figure is way too high
>unless this is a vanity CD.
I was serious.
I understand your implication, but:
You know who's getting snowed? This whole damn country of Japan.
This figure actually doesn't say much about how different the cost
of living is in this country no matter what the economists say about
Japan's "high per capita income." Some of y'all would be shocked
at the rabbit hutch I live in. ("but its home")

Therefore just under $1.80 for each of two cassettes, and over $5
for shipping to the states actually sounds damn reasonable to
me when things balance out.

By the way, now that we're on to "costs," some of you guys have mentioned
the cost of Japanese imports before. I understand the high
cost boils down to high studio rates, as the majority of recording
studios in Tokyo are charging flat out for their "state of the art"
equipment. I've had more than a few folks tell me about how their
trips to studios in the states was so enlightening, something about "how
can they get such a powerful sound out of that old equipment... must
be experience." Nonetheless, at most, a CD costs around Y1000 ($10)
per disk to produce here on average, a cost which includes all factors
from production to advertising to the artist's lunch on recording days.
Most studios charge around Y3000 ($30) for a new disk, a figure which
we all know is pure industry greed.

Here we go: (disclaimer: NOT A SELF PLUG)
One MORE reason I'm out to support the stuff Pure Sand are doing
is because they're releasing their shit almost AT COST: around Y1200
to Y1300. This is groundbreaking here and I hope its a positive
sign of where things will go in general. This country's music industry
is monopolized by major labels and industry greed (to even a greater
degree than the US by a stretch).

Here's a self-serving statement: "No Nuclear Testing"
laters,
-b
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