Riffs: Japan's Music Market, "Green" Guitars, New Zealand's G-TARanaki

Time to Take Music to Japan from the Hollywood Reporter Worried about the future of album sales? Rest your concerned head. Japan''s digital music sales are offsetting the decline

Nokia music-capable phone

Time to Take Music to Japan

from the Hollywood Reporter


Worried about the future of album sales? Rest your concerned head. Japan''s digital music sales are offsetting the decline in CD sales, according to the Recording Industry Association of Japan.
This article describes how last year''s 68 billion yen ($680 million) in digital sales (mostly going to mobile devices) allowed the continued growth of the overall music market. Looks like it''s time to start rethinking your band''s marketing plan to include phone downloadable material, especially when Nokia and LG are trying to incorporate more new music (and musicians) into their products.
Laguna Guitar

Green Guitars


You may have seen the bamboo guitar in yesterday''s Riffs; thanks to Earth Day, several other companies are launching "green" guitars and other Earth-friendly endeavors. Laguna Guitars is announcing the "One Guitar, One Tree" reforestation initiative, with a goal to plant one tree for every Laguna guitar sold. Guitar Center is also in it for the "green." The company is trying to reduce its carbon footprint and conserve resources. Click here to find out how they''re saving wood and fuel.
Festival Logo

G-TARanaki

from Scoop


Think you''ll be itching for a vacation during July? Why not go to New Zealand''s first guitar festival? The first-annual G-TARanaki is taking place July 14-19, and will include workshops, forums, concerts and jam sessions. It also features  a few other notable events: Joe Satriani, Glenn Hughes (Black Sabbath and Deep Purple), Uli Jon Roth, Gilby Clarke (Guns and Roses), Tim Donahue and the Alex Skolnick Trio are all performing.
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