[NIHON BUNKA KENKYUU] BUNKEN 101: Reviews, comments, and insights on Japanese pop culture.
I have a theory on why LARUKU CDs used to be available in local record bars, until they stopped selling them about four years ago; of course only a SONY MUSIC exec can confirm or refute this, but I think it has merit enough to be discussed.
Anyway, ARK and RAY were slated for Asian release in 1998 thanks in part to their huge popularity in HK, TAIWAN, and BANGKOK. So SONY MUSIC thought they'd test the waters elsewhere by releasing it in MANILA, KL, and JAKARTA. Fortunately or unfortunately I think they only sent a small shipment of records here, which meant of course that at PhP 400 a pop it sold out almost immediately.
With this encouraging turnout, they shipped even more CDs, like the Asian rereleases for TIERRA, TRUTH, and AND SHE SAID. These CDs also sold well, which prompted them to ship three times as many copies (compared to the previous albums) of the next major release, ECTOMORPHED WORKS. This was their mistake, I think, because ECTOMORPHED is not a strong album in comparison with their previous releases. First of all, it is a remix album of previously released tracks; secondly, it was done by YUKIHIRO, who admittedly is not the most popular member of the quartet.
With three times as many albums to sell, and coupled with the fact that fans weren't exactly foaming at the mouth to own ECTOMORPHED, record stores took a long time finishing off their stock. I think some copies even ended up on the clearance rack, which is a bad way to go even for a lousy LARUKU album. When the numbers were finally crunched, the record execs saw that one failed album as a reflection of the whole experiment of releasing japanese CDs into the local market, so they scaled down on their plans accordingly. Cue the CHINESE TELENOVELA invasion, and they dropped it altogether in favor of F4 CDs and the like.
So, there's my spin on the reasons why original LARUKU CDs are harder to come by in local music outlets, than -- say, a Brazilian bossa nova collection of NIRVANA covers. We are all reduced to buying online or begging friends in Japan to ship us those damn CDs. Here's to hoping local outlets reconsider, but even I have to admit it's a long shot.