MMW-107 -- 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...

MMW-106 -- FEATURE: KDDI Set To Launch Digital Radio Service

For the last four years now, KDDI/au has been setting the pace in Japan for mobile music services, launching the first mastertone service on its in 2002 and the first full-song download service two years later. The company has recorded a total of over 38 billion mastertone downloads and 78 million full-song over-the-air downloads. They have also achieved impressive handset sales, with more than 22.8 million mastertone-capable and 10.4 million full-song-capable KDDI mobile phones sold in Japan...

MMW-105 -- Mobile Music Applis - Ready For a Comeback?

Back in 2001, as American music lovers were getting their first glimpse of a sleek new device called the iPod, software developers in Japan were busy writing the first Java applications (dubbed 'applis') for mobile phones.

MMW-104 -- QR Codes and Music Promotion in Japan

When reading about a new artist (offline) in a music magazine or newspaper, I often find myself wishing that I could hear a sample of that artist's music as I read the article or interview.

MMW-103 -- The Effect of Mobile Number Portability on Music Content

On October 24, Japanese mobile phone users will be able for the first time to change operators without having to change their mobile phone number.

MMW-102 -- Label Mobile Introduces 'Rankings Appli' for Realtones

Over time, it is likely that this new promotional tool will help the company further increase its already massive share of both the chaku-uta market and the nascent full-song download market on i-mode.

MMW-101 -- The Long Tail in Japanese Mobile Music

Our writer investigates whether the "long tail" business model is at work in Japan's mobile music market.

MMW-100 -- Chaku-uta Full, DoCoMo Style

While there is only enough memory available to store about 10 songs on the dedicated handset, the P902iS, it supports miniSD cards of up to 2GB in size, enough to hold about 1,000 tracks.

MMW-99 -- NTT DoCoMo Releases First 'Chaku-uta Full' Phone

Panasonic's new FOMA phone (P902iS) goes on sale today in shops across Japan. At the same time, a much anticipated content category will appear for the first time on NTT DoCoMo's portal menu: Chaku-uta Full.

MMW-98 -- Apple And Microsoft Make News With Mobile Music Deals

On May 13, the "Nihon Keizai Shimbun" reported that Apple Computer and Softbank were working together to develop the first 'iPod' mobile phone in Japan and planned to release the device by the end of this year.

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Music Media Watch (archived)