Maybe Old News. Full SR and TJ catalogue available on iTunes UK
 

Search for Ringo Sheena and Tokyo Incidents. Seems that all their albums are available on iTunes UK including singles.

Also available on torrent sites for free. \0/

I've never liked the idea of paying for digital music files, better off picking up CD's so you don't get tied to a specific brand of player and file quality.

none of the stuff is on US iTunes however (triple dot)

Wow! Looks like Sheena Ringo and Tokyo Incidents are on 7digital (Western Europe, but not USA?) and also We7 (UK and Ireland) but not (yet?) Spotify.

Amazon UK, France and Germany have quite a bit, but don't quite have everything: I can't see Muzai Moritorium or Kyoiku for example.

Just bought a Stem A-side off Amazon, Windows Media Player says it's 540Kbps MP3. I don't have iTunes on this laptop...

540Kbps MP3?

Does that even exist :/ I thought the top rate was 320.

(but what do I know)

MP2 can get as high as 384kbps.

Maybe it's WMA.

*edit*
I don't know what the bitrate cap on MP4/AAC is, but I've seen those get as high as 400ish.

Maybe it's my WMP being strange...!

edit: Glath corrected me. It's a variable bitrate (VBR) MP3 confusing the Windows player about what its bitrate is.

toshiba giving permission to make SR/TJ discography available in the region looks like they're prepping to tour Europe first.

in yer dreams! -_-

If we could get 13,000 people in the UK to buy Honnou it would go Top 10!

£1.89 for a music video on itunes is a bit harsh. :( Should be 50p tops.

Kind of what I was thinking. I'm intrigued why there's stuff available in Europe but not in the Americas.

Maybe weird decisions are made about things that they don't care about.

It's free money isn't it :P all digital so no work and a nice new revenue stream.

Yeah, considering that there've been retail Korean SR/TJ releases for roughly half a decade now (not to mention the Chinese releases), with still no touring anywhere outside of Japan - I don't see MP3 offerings in Europe as any indication of Shiina Ringo being more likely to tour there.

EMI Music Japan is 100% subsidiary of EMI group from 2007.

if sales are good, the kronekodow company will definitely get the notice. but yeah, it doesnt mean they'll ever tour out of japan.

in unrelated news, Luna Sea is coming to L.A. in December, joining L'Arc, Zazen Boys, GoGo7188, PE'Z, Soil and Pimp and who knows what other big Japanese bands have played overseas in the past...C'MON!

^ What was the audience like in those concerts?

I mean, I can only imagine a bunch of otakus everywhere just because "it's a Japanese band that made an opening/ending for X series", even if we are talking about something like PE'Z. Maybe I'm being too judgemental.

I like your cynicism. B)

Actually, it helped when:
1.) The venue was a pub, where you have to be at least 21 even if you end up never ordering any alcohol.
2.) The performance was at night.
3.) The overrated bands were second or third from the beginning, while the truly superior bands were usually second-to-last or third-to-last. Most of the weeboos walk out after the overrated bands have finished.
4.) The "Japan Nite Tour" gets nowhere near as much publicity in North America as some of the other times and places where (semi-)successful Japanese bands have shown up.

This meant that by the time the great bands were playing, it was maybe 10 or 11pm and almost all the weeaboos were gone. In my case, by the time PE'Z got on stage in Seattle, less than 10% of the audience could be described as weeaboo, after it was more like 20% or 30% weeaboo earlier on. That whole setup served as a highly effective weeaboo filter, you know, compared to some anime-themed convention in broad daylight with lots of publicity and no minimum age.

I'm sure Ukigumo and Izawa are used to playing to audiences of less than 5 people. but Ringo would probably not like it or hearing random drunk guys yelling "take your top off!"

The worst that will happen in Seattle pubs with Japanese band(s) performing, is there will always be ONE guy trying to mosh in the middle of a thick crowd near the front while NOBODY ELSE is interested. You've got people trying to hold posters and glasses of beer - only to get shoved (there's so much potential for collateral damage) and REALLY pissed off. There were people right next to me who were ready to beat the shit out of this guy, and I was seriously considering helping them. The vocalist of detroit7 in the middle of her performance had to swap out her usual lyrics for "don't fight" while this mosher was knocked on his ass in a drunken stupor and getting repeatedly punched by somebody on top of him. I think it might even be the same guy who's trying to mosh at Japan Nite in Seattle every year. People in Seattle are usually pretty chill, but there's limits to what we'll put up with.

Usually the performers themselves don't have any crap to deal with from Seattle audiences.

Makes me feel great to be going to the Luna Sea show in December. Thanks, bro. :(

At Japan Nite in Boston (where I saw P'EZ) there was moshing, but in a more controlled environment. They only moshed hardcore when STANCE PUNKS were playing, and they kept it to the very front of the stage. At the end of the song the lead singer body-surfed over the same moshing crowd. I kept near the back and had no problems at all.

At Japan Nite in Los Angeles, there was a bit of moshing, but again, only during a hard-rock setlist. For Detroit7, we just hopped up and down (lamely) and fist-pumped.

It all depends on where you stand.

hey I was that show too!

I remember before going in MTV Japan was interview people and they interviewed my friend Cait who proposed to the lead singer on national television. funny how one of the first things japanese students learn to say is always kekkonshite kudaisai lolz

B)

We had found a real purpose for some overrated bands.

Hey! of course I was not talking about you.
I'm pretty much new in this community, but that's enough for me to realize that YOU are going to that show because you actually enjoy their music, instead of just being following any possible 'anime related trend' as I said before.

I'm telling this because Japanese bands aren't that popular in occident, they are hardly promoted and if they were, it would hardly be exclusively because of their 'artistic merits', but because of any relation to the weeaboo (a word I just learned) world.

At least that's the situation in my country, Japanese bands have always performed in anime-themed conventions, and they are usually not part of my music interests.