xd Here's some major news I found on Lelola.net
NEWS & UPDATES
2006/11/12---Wal-Mart sells JPOP?
Wal-Mart, or at least its online store, is selling a few Japanese and Chinese CDs. Some are available for pre-order (many due out this coming Tuesday) while others are available now. There's no word if these CDs are just for sale on the website or will actually be available in stores.
It is not my intention to compile a complete list, but here are a few of the CDs I've come across:
* James Li: Hua Huo Chai De Nu Hai
* Jay Chou: Album Jay
* Jay Chou: Eight Dimensions
* Jay Chou: Fantasy
* Jay Chou: Huo Yuan Chia
* KAT-TUN: Best of KAT-TUN
* L'Arc-en-Ciel: Smile
* Rainie Yang: My Intuition
* Utada Hikaru: Exodus
* Utada Hikaru: Singles Collection, Vol.1
* Utada Hikaru: Ultra Blue
* Wang Leehom: Heroes Of Earth
* Wang Leehom: Only One
* Wang Leehom: Unbelieveable
* Yuko Nakazawa: Urara
I found a good chunk of these in the future releases section of the website. There are a few more on there that I did not mention above. Moreover, since those were only future releases, I don't have a list of what's already available except for the few I found through random searches. I wish there was an easier way to search for them, but considering that the KAT-TUN CD is filed under reggae (WTF? XD), something tells me that's not going to be easy.
I really have no other information on this. To my knowledge there's been no word from official sources and no press release.
There's a chance this might be a United States-only thing. The online store linked above only ships to the United States. (The Canadian Wal-Mart site tells me nothing, and you can't buy anything from it anyway.)
Considering the prices of the CDs (it cost me about $40CAN to import the KAT-TUN CD from Japan when it came out earlier this year), and the limited information available, they're being distributed through a US distributor. I have no idea who the distributor is. Maybe Tofu? Maybe Tofu is one of many distributors or involved in some other way? I don't know. Still, I'd like to know what company managed to get a distribution deal with the notoriously finicky Johnny's Jimusho (the company behind KAT-TUN and other manufactured Japanese boybands).
Again, there's no information on whether these CDs are just for sale on the website or will actually be available in stores. Either way, these CDs being offered at these prices at a store like Wal-Mart is some sort of milestone. For one thing, it'll allow this music to be easily available to more people than ever before. On the down side, a giant like Wal-Mart will hurt the business of smaller companies that have been selling Japanese CDs for some time now.
Anyway, this is going to be an interesting development to keep an eye on.
 Shaman Phantom · Wed Nov 15, 2006 @ 02:38am · 0 Comments |
