HMV Japan, an affiliate of the UK-based HMV Media Group, has launched what it calls "The Biggest Music Store on the Web."
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The "renewed" HMV Japan Web site, which went online September 30,
features a searchable database of more than 670,000 domestic and foreign
music CDs and DVDs.
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The company plans to add approximately 5,000 new titles to this online
database each month.
"This will be the world's largest music online shop, dealing with a
greater number of titles than CDNOW, which is world famous for music CD
sales on the Internet," said HMV Japan president Paul Dezelsky.
The HMV Japan online store is in Japanese, with a single
English-language page that summarizes current top-selling and upcoming
"Japanese pops" and "event information."
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"Regular order" titles, which are mainly those albums released by major
domestic and foreign labels, account for between 50 and 60 percent of
the online titles.
These correspond to the CDs sold at HMV's flagship megastore in Tokyo's
Shibuya district, and can be delivered domestically within two to four
days.
"Special order" titles include foreign label CDs that HMV Japan does not
normally import as well as those issued by minor (independent) Japanese
labels; delivery of these can take up to two weeks.
Payment can be made either by credit card or cash-on-delivery (with a
COD surcharge of 300 yen (US$2.80) for orders of up to 10,000 yen
(US$93.46)).
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To promote the site's launch, HMV Japan is waiving domestic delivery
charges through the end of October; thereafter, delivery within Japan
will start at 380 yen (US$3.55) for up to 8 CDs.
Shipment to one of HMV Japan's 24 stores or to a neighborhood
convenience store for customer pickup is being considered as a future
option.
While HMV Japan's online prices are said to be the same as or, in some
cases, slightly less than the prices charged at its stores, Japanese
shoppers nevertheless will pay a premium for the convenience of shopping
for foreign CDs online in Japanese.
US CDs purchased through the HMV Japan website typically carry a price
double that for the same CDs purchased through the HMV Canada Web site.
For example, Sting's "Brand New Day" and the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine"
songtrack CDs each list for 2,427 yen (US$22.68) on the hmv.co.jp
Web site, while these titles are just US$10.85 and US$10.19,
respectively, from Canadian-based hmv.com.
On the other hand, the HMV Japan price is over a dollar less than the
price listed for each of these albums (2,548 yen; US$23.81) on the CDNow
Japan Web site.
The HMV Japan online store provides Real Audio preview samples from
about 20 percent of its (mainly foreign) CDs, courtesy of US-based Muze.
"HMV Japan would like to form an alliance with major record companies in
Japan," said president Dezelsky, so that in the future the website can
include online samples of popular Japanese artists as well.
The site also offers free MP3-format downloads of numerous "indie"
recordings, in cooperation with leading US download service Audiogalaxy,
as well as a chat room in which up to 30 registered users (selected by
lottery) can chat online with visiting artists, and live broadcasts of
events held at the HMV Japan's Shibuya store.
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