Japan's Love for CDs Still Strong After 40 Years
Yo, it's been forty years since the first compact disc dropped, but CD sales in Japan still hold strong, even with all the online streaming services out there.
Back in the day, people loved CDs for their ease of use, but nowadays, fans buy them to show support for their favorite artists or as collector's items.
The first CDs to hit Japan were Billy Joel's "52nd Street" and Eiichi Otaki's "A Long Vacation" on Oct. 1, 1982. They were only 12 centimeters in diameter, making them smaller and lighter than vinyl records, which were the go-to before CDs took over.
One of the big benefits of CDs was that they eliminated the crackling and hissing that came with analog formats like tape and vinyl.
Philips and Sony worked together to develop CD technology, but they had different ideas about the specs. Philips wanted CDs to hold 60 minutes of music and have an 11.5 cm diameter, while Sony pushed for a 12 cm diameter and 75 minutes of music to fit Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 on one disc. The standard CD format hasn't changed since then, even though there have been other types of CDs developed over the years, like 8 cm discs and Blu-spec CDs that have higher fidelity.
Hirofumi Nakayama, Vice President of Sony Music Studios Tokyo, said, "It proves that the specs that were initially decided were not wrong. The sound quality suits human ears. That’s why they’ve been loved for so long."
CDs overtook analog records in 1987 in Japan and reached a peak of ¥587.8 billion in 1998. Since then, CD sales have fallen gradually, partly because of online music distribution. In 2021, the market was worth about ¥123.2 billion, only about a fifth of the peak value.
Despite the rise of streaming services worldwide, physical formats like CDs and records are still popular in Japan. In the US, CDs and records only made up 10% of music revenue in 2021, but in Japan, they accounted for about 70%, more than twice as much as digital formats.
To cater to pop and K-pop fans, music labels often release different versions of CDs with alternate jackets, track lists, or event tickets. And CDs that have exclusive songs not available on streaming services can fetch high prices in the second-hand market.
Tower Records Japan Inc. has evolved over the years, adapting to the times. They used to sell CDs and records together, but by 1988, CDs had replaced most of the vinyl. In the 1990s, they had big stores with lots of genres, but in the 2000s, they opened smaller stores in malls focusing on Japanese artists. Nowadays, they target die-hard fans with special sections for selfies and mini concerts.
Masato Hasegawa, General Manager of the Retail Business Division of Tower Records Japan, said, "Consumers value CDs for reasons other than music, particularly in Japan. The market still exists."
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