Apple today launched the “Summer of Music” in Japan with free music from iTunes, Japan’s favorite online music store, collectible iTunes Cards and exclusive live performances at Apple Retail Stores. All summer long, iTunes is offering free music, music videos and collectible iTunes Cards featuring free downloads from the hottest artists in Japan, including Ken Ishii, Simon Le Bon, Hifana, and the world premiere of a brand new video from Beck. Music fans at Summer Sonic will receive collectible iTunes Cards with free music downloads on August 12 in Tokyo and on August 13 in Osaka. Apple’s seven Retail Stores in Japan are holding in-store performances with favorite local and international artists, including upcoming performances by PE’Z and She Wants Revenge.
“The iTunes Music Store in Japan has been embraced by artists and music fans alike and now features a catalog of over two million songs,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes, in the press release. “We’re thrilled to launch the ‘Summer of Music’ in Japan with free music from iTunes, Japan’s number one online music store, and exclusive Apple Retail Store performances.”
The Summer Sonic iTunes Cards give three free songs of the user’s choice from the iTunes Music Store, and also feature free downloads from Spank Rock, PE’Z, Amusement Park on Fire and Maximum The Hormone.
Apple Retail Stores have become popular venues for artists such as Akiko Yano, ZAZEN BOYS, Yukihiro Takahashi, m-flo, Mihimaru GT and Karia Nomoto with Yasuharu Konishi to support their local fans and promote new music via live performances. This summer fans can expect store performances from artists including Ko Kimura, K Dub Shine, Daishi Dance, Gomes the Hitman and DMBQ. Apple Retail Stores are located in Tokyo’s Ginza and Shibuya districts, Osaka, Sendai, Fukuoka, Nagoya Sakae and the newest store in Sapporo. For more details on upcoming performances, please visit the Apple Japan Retail website http://www.apple.com/jp/retail
The iTunes Music Store in Japan features a catalog of more than two million songs, 3,500 music videos, Disney and Pixar short films, 65,000 podcasts and 16,000 audiobooks. iTunes 6 for Mac and Windows includes the iTunes Music Store and is available as a free download from http://www.apple.com/jp/itunes. Purchase and download of songs and videos from the iTunes Music Store requires a valid credit card with a billing address in the country of purchase. Music fans in Japan have the option to use iTunes Music Cards for cash purchases on the iTunes Music Store.
he start of the japan onslaught apple promised.
Wouldn’t June have been an appropriate month for this event? Kids are already going back to school in Texas!
me:
Your redneck roots are showing. Now go back to making “W” bumper stickers.
I wish that more than about a dozen of those audiobooks were in Japanese . . . most of them are just the same English books as in the US store.
this sure beats what the US gave them exactly 61 years ago.
MW:respect.
Now can the US store add some J-Pop? It’s really annoying when the iTMS browser shows all these J-Pop artists, but almost none of them actually have any tracks available. So why the heck are they in the browser?
Yeah, the U.S. should have staged a mainland invasion of Japan! That would have made sense, right? I mean, it’s not like the Japanese would have fought back bitterly, like they did at Iwo Jima, or anything like that. That darned Democrat Harry Truman, using overwhelming force. He should have made sure that his response was proportionate, right?
MW word: school, as in the thing from which you never graduated.