Sales Patterns of Hit Music in Japan

Abstract

This article analyzes the sales patterns of audio recordings in the Japanese popular music market using the Bass model and its restricted model. First, the results of this investigation show that the majority of recent hit music was sold in the early stage of the sales cycle, and that the timing of purchase has shifted toward the time of release during the period from 1980 to 2005. Second, audio recordings featuring debut artists and unpopular artists sold slowly, compared with the audio recordings featuring popular artists. Third, sales of audio recordings released by independent record companies have also become concentrated in the early stage.