American Singers On Import

[nrgbeat]

Why is it that a lot of dance music by American artists is only available on European or Japanese imports?



I notice this a lot with extended remixes by popular artists such as J-Lo, Janet Jackson,etc. Why should we be paying import prices when the record companies should be releasing this product here in the U.S.?



I'm curious, how many Japanese artists are only available on American imports?

[BrunoRepublic]

On 2002-01-12 15:19, nrgbeat wrote:

Why is it that a lot of dance music by American artists is only available on European or Japanese imports?

Because there is a much greater demand for this type of music there.

I notice this a lot with extended remixes by popular artists such as J-Lo, Janet Jackson,etc.

Music marketing in Europe is very different from North America. Obviously, dance music is a lot bigger there. Even outside of that, singles are still an important marketing tool there, whereas here they are not. Many shops here don't stock singles at all, period. Also, there's a huge difference in prices between albums and singles there. A single in the US or Canada only sells for a few dollars less than the whole album, whereas in Europe, the albums go for three or four times the cost of the single. So most people here see a single and think "Hey mannn, this is a rip-off... who pay 10 bucks for three versions of the same song?" Another thing is that European radio is generally more chart-oriented, and the music scene is just bigger overall. Witness the number of different music magazines in the UK (some of which are published weekly) vs the relatively small number for the US -- especially given the difference in population.



Most people in North America don't know what a single is, don't understand why you'd want more than one version of a song, and only buy music at places like Wal-Mart. With a market like this, it's no wonder that the labels don't bother much with singles, remixes, etc. Having said that, some remixes are done just for certain markets -- and there are a few European acts that have remixes that are released only in the USA.