Economy | ANALYSIS
Households to take hit from tax hike
by Tomoko Otake
The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people’s financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
Music | MONEY AND MUSIC Sep 11, 2013
Tower Japan boss says biggest challenge facing record stores is attracting young customers
by Steve McClure
A few weeks ago I was preparing to do a guest slot on InterFM’s “The Selector” program, which features music mavens sharing their favorite tracks. While I had a few tunes from the not-so-recent past in mind, I needed some newer stuff to round ...
Music | MONEY AND MUSIC Jun 6, 2013
Been down so long, it looks like up
by Steve McClure
I’ve been to a lot of music-industry conferences over the years, and for the past decade I’ve listened to the same old song: How can the recording industry fight online piracy, which it blames for plunging music sales? So at this year’s Music Matters ...
World Mar 2, 2013
Remembering the day Napster set music free
by Tom Lamont
In the first weeks of 2000 the founders of Napster were in their office above a bank in San Mateo, California, considering dizzying numbers. Figures scrawled on a whiteboard told how many people around the world had installed their file-sharing application and were using ...