Continue on my view in response to a previous post, here's my take on the music front.

I'm never one for pop or secular music, but I consider my music taste normal enough. At the very least, I know there's a lot of people out there listening to similar genres. Unfortunately yet again, anime and game OSTs are rarities here, and anime theme/character songs CDs and seiyuu CDs are by and large impossible to find. Not to mention that doujin music, which I've taken a liking to lately, circulates only within the island of Japan.

So ACG music-wise, Internet is my main source. My taste in music has been greatly broadened these past few years thanks to the downloads. I've only bought a few seiyuu CD and an old doujin bootleg CD (I think this one's out of print already) so far, but I do have a long list of CDs on my shopping list. It'll be a while before I get a chance to go to Taiwan or Japan though...

Are those downloads lost sales for the music industry? I can assure you not. Growing up, I wasn't a music listener to begin with. In fact, the only music I could stand and amuse myself with was BGM from various NES games. In short, I didn't care for music at all.

But the anime and music downloads have changed the scene. If I've never seen/heard them, I'd never know of them, and I'd never buy them. Even if I haven't bought them all, those are all potential sales. Availability is the number one deterrer for me. This is why I don't download Christian music CDs because I can buy them in the store.

On a side note, I discovered Songza recently, and I love it! The interface is excellent and intuitive, and the search speed is "Google fast." I was able to pull out quite a few songs and artists during the test drive, but those accounted for only a fraction of what I'd like to listen to. It's definitely worth trying and using.

My bottom line for music is this: I download music, and I buy the ones I like, or wait 'til I have the chance. I won't buy it if I've never heard it or if there's only one or two good tracks on it. I didn't used to listen to music at all, and I can just easily live without it. I do have my piles of Christian music CDs to pick from, after all. I see a very slime or no chance for the type of music I'm mostly interested in (seiyuu, drama CD, doujin music) to enter the market here, so these pretty much have to be imported. The Japanese music industry and artists may not be getting the money now, as much as I'd like to pay them, but they have someone who'd potentially spend lots. If only I get the chance to go to Taiwan (I heard some stores would order from Japan for you) or Japan...