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J@pan Inc Magazine Presents:

M U S I C M E D I A W A T C H

Commentary on Japan's music technology news

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Issue No. 107

Wednesday January 10, 2007

Tokyo

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CONTENTS

++ FEATURE: Japanese Music File Sharing: a 2007 Update

++ EVENT: MidemNet Forum - The World's Forum For Digital Music

(Cannes, France, January 21-25 2007)

++ NOTEWORTHY NEWS:

** Listen Japan partners with lyric search service

** Mora teams with Mixi for music distribution

** RWC to sell tube amp and speaker set for iPod

** Dwango offers two new 'mega-iAppli' games

** Hitachi set to release W43HII handset

++ FEATURE: Japanese Music File Sharing: a 2007 Update

Over the past few years, I've often been asked if file sharing

- especially music file sharing - is as widespread in Japan

as in the US and Europe. My answer has generally been something

along the lines of 'it certainly exists here, but the number

of people doing it is pretty small compared to most other

countries.' In just the past year, though, we've seen a sharp

increase in action taken by Japanese record industry and

copyright organizations to step up efforts against file

sharing.

Here is a timetable of the most important developments from

last year:

** Jul. 25: RIAJ releases the results of a July survey

showing that 3.5% of Internet users in Japan (1.76 million

people) had used file-sharing software in the past year.

** Sep. 25: Responding to a motion filed by RIAJ members

and affiliates, the Tokyo District Court orders 3 major

Internet service providers to disclose the names and

addresses of 19 individuals believed to have uploaded

music files using file sharing software.

** Oct. 20: JASRAC sends a formal complaint to YouTube,

requesting the company to remove copyrighted content.

YouTube responds by immediately deleting 30,000 Japanese

video files.

** Nov. 26: A group of Japanese rights organizations, led

by JASRAC and RIAJ, start the 'Ongaku Ihan' campaign.

Running through Jan. 31, the campaign is directed largely

at mobile phone users, describing the legal and security

issues surrounding file sharing.

** Nov. 27: A 45 year-old Nagasaki man is arrested for

offering free copyrighted ringtones on his own mobile site

without permission.

** Dec. 5: JASRAC formally contacts YouTube, requesting

preventative measures against the upload of copyrighted

videos.

** Dec. 13: Isamu Kaneko (the developer of Winny, Japan's

most popular file-sharing application) is found guilty of

assisting copyright violations and sentenced to pay a fine

of JPY1.5 million (US$12,500). Kaneko's trial had lasted over

two years, and he is expected to appeal the ruling.

** Dec. 19: YouTube responds that it would like to send some

of its senior staff for a meeting with JASRAC

** Dec. 21: A group of Japanese rights organizations, led by

JASRAC and RIAJ, announce that the three major wireless

carriers - NTT DoCoMo, KDDI and SoftBank - have agreed

to take measures to prevent sharing of digital music files

for mobile phones.

I found the last announcement about mobile file sharing

particularly interesting, as well as the Nagasaki arrest

for ringtone uploading, which I believe is the first of its

kind in the world.

I suppose it's not so surprising that mobile file sharing

has become a major concern here - after all, 90% of digital

music downloads in Japan are to a mobile phone. Researching

further, though, I was a bit taken aback at just how prevalent

these free mobile sites are, especially compared to just one

year ago, which was the last time I had looked into the issue.

At that time, there were just a handful of sites with very

rough instructions for making your own chaku-uta (mastertones).

This time, though, I was quickly able to find several

'underground' sites offering free mastertones and full-song

downloads, and also encouraging other users to create and

upload their own files. Sites such as 'Muryou Shugi'

(which translates roughly to something like 'Free-ism')

provide very detailed information now on how to convert

tracks from a CD to the various formats, and anonymous

bulletin board sites such as 2-channel offer tools for

making the handset-specific adjustments needed to obtain

the best sound quality.

Although it does take a little effort to make your own

mastertone and full-song tracks for mobile phones, the tools

are for the most part readily available. Each carrier also

issues its own tools to each 'official' content provider for

enabling the finished file to be set as a ringtone on the

phone. Just looking at some of the posts on 2-channel,

however, it appears that 'unofficial' tools which do the

same thing are also available to anyone for free download.

It remains to be seen what specific measures will be taken

by the wireless carriers to prevent file sharing and illegal

distribution to mobile phones, but this will no doubt be an

issue to watch in the coming year.

++ EVENT: MidemNet Forum - The World's Forum For Digital Music

January 20-21 2007 - Cannes - France - at MIDEM, the world's

music market. Join over 1,200 international business leaders

to network and exchange digital music knowledge including:

Chris Anderson (Wired), Mitch Bainwol (RIAA), Martin Bandier

(EMI Publishing), Miles Flint (Sony Ericsson), Rob Glaser

(RealNetworks), Mika Salmi (MTV Networks), Gary Shapiro

(Consumer Electronics Association), Chris Stephenson

(Microsoft) and Will.i.am (Black Eyed Peas).

Last chance to register: Hurry, the event was sold out in 2006!

www.midem.com | midem usa@reedmidem.com

| tel. : 1 (0)212 284 5130

++ NOTEWORTHY NEWS

** Listen Japan partners with lyric search service

In brief: Listen Japan, an online music store, announced

last week it had started a cross-promotion partnership

with Second Vision, a Hiroshima-based company which runs

a lyric search service called 'Kashi Get'. Users who view

lyrics on 'Kashi Get' can press a button to hear a sample

of the song on Listen Japan, while Listen Japan users can

likewise view the lyrics for songs on the online music store.

Source: Nikkei Sangyou Shimbun (Jan 4).

** Mora teams with Mixi for music distribution

Label Gate, a joint venture of Japanese record companies

which runs the Mora online music download service, announced

last month that it will partner with popular SNS service Mixi

to offer music through the 'Mixi Music' corner of the site.

Mixi music features ranking lists of songs by genre. Some of

the song titles will contain a Mora icon that starts up

Windows Media Player and allows users to hear a sample or

purchase the song for download.

Source:

http://plusd.itmedia.co.jp/lifestyle/articles/0612/07/news113.html

** RWC to sell tube amp and speaker set for iPod

In brief: On January 25, RWC will begin selling the

RM-VA1S audio system for iPods in Japan. The new system is

a tube amplifier and speaker set with a docking port for

all iPod models that is aimed at fans of high-quality 'classic'

audio equipment. The RMVA1S will have an open price, but is

expected to sell at around JPY69,800 (US$580)

Source:

http://www.rwc.co.jp/release/va1.html

** Dwango offers two new 'mega-iAppli' games

In brief: Ringtone and mastertone content provider Dwango

released two new mobile game offerings last month for their

services on NTT DoCoMo's i-mode portal. The first is a

Japanese geography and history quiz game called

'Go Tochi Kentei', while the second is a role-playing

adventure game called 'Fuurai no Shiren MEGA'. The games

are both implemented as 'mega-iApplis', meaning they use

the latest incarnation of NTT DoCoMo's DoJa platform for

mobile Java applications and have a greater size capacity

than previous i-applis. The two new games can only be

downloaded to 903i phones, the most recent series of

i-mode handsets.

Sources:

Go Tochi Kentei: http://info.dwango.co.jp/pdf/press/2006/061218.pdf

Fuurai no Shiren MEGA: http://info.dwango.co.jp/pdf/press/2006/061207.pdf

** Hitachi set to release W43HII handset

In brief: Hitachi announced that it will begin selling its

new W43HII handset for KDDI in mid-January. The new model

features improved video quality for viewing 'one-seg' programs,

and Hitachi says that the handset allows for up to 4 hours

and 15 minutes of continuous viewing.

Source:

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20061220-00000003-bcn-sci

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STAFF

Written by: Steve Myers (steve@thetamusic.com)

Steve Myers is president and chief enthusiast of Theta Music

Technologies, which specializes in the development of

music-related software applications.

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