Please Hotlink

Rich Pav

The I’s Cube track is incredible, and I totally understand wanting to share it with others. However, the only permission they’ve granted so far is for me to play it, not anyone else. Record labels are scared of losing control of their property, and I don’t want to give them any reason to believe that podcasters and podcast listeners are out to steal their music.

Please, please, please don’t extract the song from the podcast and redistribute it. Feel free to hotlink to it and tell people to start listening at the 6:23 mark. I can afford the bandwidth. Also, I want keep an accurate count of how many people have listened to it.

I’m hoping I’ll soon get the opportunity try to convince them to make the track podsafe and use CD Baby for online and offline sales. Yamaha already has a site for downloading songs, but the DRM they’re using is absolutely draconian and not compatible with iPods or Macs. What that says to me is their top executives probably think that when it comes to online distribution that’s the only way to go, and if you want to listen to their music you have to play by their rules, end of discussion. I’m going to try to show them the benefits of podcasting, but I imagine that using “mp3,” “music” and “download” all in the same sentence will make them immediately stop listening to anything else I have to say.

I need to get them to think like drug pushers–the most effective way to hook people is to make the first hit free.

Yamaha Music/I’s Cube Followup

Rich Pav 1 Comment

Thanks to those of you who contacted Tokura-san from Yamaha Music and let me know about it. It sounds like she’s very happy with the response she’s been receiving.

You can check out the other artists signed to their labels at http://www.yamahamusic.co.jp/ but in all honesty, it’s frustrating as hell to try to navigate. If you click on the titles of CDs, sometimes there will be samples to listen to, sometimes not. If you know nothing about the artists and don’t read Japanese, the only way you’ll ever find something you like is through blind dumb luck. But if you do find something you like, please let everyone know by posting a link here.

It goes without saying I’m interested in helping them make it easier for all of you to become their customers.

Help Yamaha “Get” Podcasting

Rich Pav 1 Comment

You know, if I could just stay on topic until I finish expressing a complete thought, the 10-15 minute walk from the station to the office would be plenty of time to cover everything I want so say. Once I tackle the sniffling problem, I’ll work on it.

As a follow-up to last night’s podcast, please send Tokura-san from Yamaha Music Communications (and CC me) feedback, advice, a CD order, or invitation to participate in our new form of media here, if you feel so inclined. By convincing record labels and band promoters to use podcasting for exposure, everyone benefits. Except of course, any curmudgeonly label execs who equate music downloading only with pirating, not promotion. In which case, I’ll stick to helping independent musicians tap into an international audience and market. Sooner or later, most of the music industry will come around. Fact is, as consumers move away from TV and radio and more towards online social networking, they won’t have much choice.

Podcast (audio): Play in new window | Download (10.2MB) | Embed

Subscribe: RSS

I’s CUBE: Remember, you heard them here first.

Rich Pav 12 Comments

Right now, for the first time I’m listening to the title song from the CD I bought from them earlier tonight. Holy shit. If I’s CUBE doesn’t end up making it really really big here, then either there’s something seriously wrong with collective musical taste of this country, or there are hordes of incredibly talented Japanese female vocalists that I don’t know about yet, and Ai Ujita is just a drop in the bucket.

And to think that not just me, but all of us were less than a minute away from totally missing their performance. It’s funny how fate works sometimes, isn’t it?

I's CUBE

Podcast (audio): Play in new window | Download (7.3MB) | Embed

Subscribe: RSS

Tohoku: Hitchhiking Through Japan’s Deep North

Rich Pav 4 Comments
This absolutely brilliant and true-to-life short video documentary was created by David Shuff, a videographer who spent a year in Japan. What I love most about it is there’s no embellishment whatsoever. David has given me permission to redistribute it through my feed. I’m truly grateful, because anyone who’s interested in learning about what Japan is really like should watch it.

How he not only managed to capture so many interesting moments but also got all those people to act so naturally in front of the camera is a testament to his talent. He really ought to be videocasting more of the footage he took while he was here. Please write to him at dave@professorbright.com and let him know what you think of his work.

On his web site, David writes,

The remarkably diverse individuals I met there left me with the impression that despite how radically different our cultures may appear at times, Americans and Japanese are startlingly similar. The consistent and overflowing kindness that I encountered (towards a stranger no less) touched and inspired me like nothing before.

Information about his other films is available at http://www.professorbright.com/

Podcast (video): Play in new window | Download (33.3MB) | Embed

Subscribe: RSS

Music Podcasts from Japan

Rich Pav 12 Comments

Another cringe-as-I-upload kind of episode.

Links go right to the RSS feeds to save ya’ll some trouble. If you know of any good music podcasts from Japan that actually play music, let me know and I’ll add them to the list.

  • Monochrome Cafe – Professional, very, very mellow. Do not listen to while operating heavy machinery.
  • Pod the Music – Professional, J-Pop. If you like J-Pop, this one’s probably your best bet.
  • Progressive Music Cast – Amateur, infrequent, not sure if they actually get around to playing any music, but it’s highly ranked.
  • abcdefg*record – Podcasts from an independent label. More talk than music. The music is definitely not mainstream. Might appeal more to the pink haired, body-pierced, tattooed crowd.
  • BEATCLUB – 1 minute samples. Very popular, maybe I’ll like it more if I give it a chance.
  • NETZ_MUSIC – Commercially sponsored, mostly talk, songs not played all the way through. Perhaps interesting if you’re fluent and curious to hear famous musicians just be themselves.
  • Pod Street Music – Not exclusively Japanese music, but podsafe.
  • TEPCO & Yoshimoto EntamecasTY – Commercially sponsored, either mostly or exclusively talk.
  • Oricon Single Top 40 – Commercial, professional, no music, just listing off the chart-topping song titles.
  • Radio Sakamoto – Ryuichi Sakamoto’s podcast for J-WAVE FM. He’s articulate and easy to understand in comparison to other podcasters, but unfortunately no music, which seems to be typical for podcasts produced by radio stations. They strip the music from the their radio shows and recycle them as podcasts.

In summary, I haven’t been able to find a music show I like by searching the podcast rankings, but keep in mind that J-Pop really isn’t my thing. I guess it’s like someone who lives in Nashville but would rather have his ears chewed off by rabid weasels than listen to country music. If you can read Japanese, check out po-di-um.net’s blog or Staff Picks for other recommended podcasts. They review all kinds of podcasts, not just J-Pop ones.

Update: Listener recommended J-Pop podcasts:

  • Jpop Blast – Definitely not podsafe. I don’t owe the price-gouging music industry here any favors for putting out a never ending barrage of homogenized bubble gum pop songs sung off key by here-today-pumping-gas-tomorrow cookie-cutter teenie bopper dance troops, so tune into to their show if that’s your kind of thang. (…Did that come out of me? Golly gee, who says you need a vagina to turn into a PMS monster?)
  • Muzie – Not a podcast but rather a community site for indy & independent artists in Japan. The should have a podcast, really, because on sites like this, sifting through the sludge for gold nuggets is an arduous process.

Podcast (audio): Play in new window | Download (16.2MB) | Embed

Subscribe: RSS

A Fruitless Visit to the Apple Store

Rich Pav 11 Comments

Why yes, in fact I did spend hours thinking up that title, thank you very much. This one ran just a little too long for my tastes. If others think so too, I’ll cut out some of the dead air next time.

It amazes me how not in tune I am with what works or doesn’t work in my own podcasts. It almost seems as if the more uncomfortable I am with something–the content, the delivery, or the editing–the more it resonates with listeners.

Podcast (audio): Play in new window | Download (28.1MB) | Embed

Subscribe: RSS