Still no mention of a 16 track disc?

[SpyNote]

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant

Yeah. What gives?

I read on another music forum that the practice of adding bonus material to Japanese releases started because of an interesting phenomenon where Japanese buyers concluded that American and European pressings were of higher sound quality, and so they would buy imports instead of domestic releases.

Adding bonus tracks not available on Euro/American releases encouraged Japanese buyers to buy the Japanese release.

What I find interesting about this is that in Europe and the USA, the opposite perception exists, which is that Japanese releases are of higher sound quality, and so much like them, we buy the import.

Human nature. Grass is always greener.

When CDs first came out, the volume level of European and Japanese releases was higher than the American ones (e.g. Mirage). Not sure about the overall quality though.

You're spot on about the bonus tracks. Japanese consumers were buying the American ones because they were identical in content and half the price. The bonus tracks incentivizes them to buy domestically. Most American artists' releases in Japan have at least one bonus track. The irony is that a lot of American fans will only buy the Japanese releases because of the exclusive bonus tracks, even though they are significantly more expensive.