The Victor Entertainment / JVC panel started while the Taniguchi/Kuroda panel was going on... It took them some time past the 1:00 expected starting time to set up some stuff. Attendance was very dismal.. An AX staff member actually said "This isn't enough people..." when he saw the amount of people waiting outside. There were probably around 10~20 people in attendance, and not everyone seemed to be very involved either. The panelists consisted of around 5 or so businesspeople from Victor/JVC
A track of music from Akira (Which they commented sold 20,000 copies outside of Japan), X, .hack//sign (through a textless opening on the US DVD), and DN Angel were played.
They spoke a little bit about DN Angel and how it was unusual for two composers to work on one soundtrack. Conflict usually occurs in these situations. For DN Angel, they designated a "good guy" composer and a "bad guy" composer. They said it wasn't necessarily the best way to do it, but that's how they did it.
One of the panelists asked for people to raise their hand if they would like a soundtrack to be released in the US. Titles listed were things such as Noir, Hand Maid May, I My Me Strawberry Eggs, Now and Then Here and There, and Akira (There were more, but I don't remember them all)... Since attendance was so terribly low, not many were present to raise their hands. The most votes any received was probably 4 or so. Hand Maid May got 0.
He then gave a short introduction to the animation "Kokoro Library". He said it was not something that he worked on, but he still wanted to talk a little bit about it. The opening was shown and then he asked if people thought it would do well in the US. Maybe 3 hands were raised.
They asked who was familiar with Kajiura Yuki, and a few raised their hands. He replied that he was glad to see that. He also told the audience to please see Kajiura's live concert.
A few questions were asked, most by one person. One was whether Victor was publishing its CDs through other American companies or itself. They replied that Victor had no US offices so they were going through other companies.
Another was regarding the release of JPOP or seiyuu albums. They said they would like to start with animation soundtracks first. They asked if people were interested in drama albums or the music ones more, and the person who asked the question said 'ongaku' (music). They asked which seiyuu names the US was familiar with. There were only 2 names said, one being Sakamoto Maaya (I don't remember the other one).
Someone asked a question expressing concern over the fact that the Japanese packaging for CDs was much better than the US packaging. They said it was a good concern. Afterwards they asked if people would be willing to pay more if the packaging was better. It was a rather mixed reaction. The topic of price was expanded upon when it was stated (by an audience member) that American and Japanese CD prices are rather different. Consumers in the US expect to pay much less than the Japanese prices because of this. One of the panelists said that he agreed with this. The CDs brought out in the US are at the bare-minimum price for them. The reason given for expensive CDs was that recording studios in Japan are very expensive.
A question was asked about whether the US and Japanese releases of Fiction are different. They replied that they were sorry, but the Japanese release does have 3 additional songs. However, they said, the US release is much cheaper at 15$.
They reminded the audience again that Kajiura Yuki's CD "fiction" was being released here, and if we were not convinced, to buy the CD with confidence after attending the concert.
It was an informative and interesting panel. The fact that so few attended was very disappointing though. This was an opportunity to influence licensing processes in the US, but no one showed up to take it.
----- Additional Comments & Notes by Jason Yeh -----
I happened to be the one person asking most of the questions at this panel. I found it interesting that another forum poster was at the panel even though the attendance was abysmal. I guess everyone else was at the ADV panel. In regards to Yuki Kajiura's "Fiction" album, I asked if the old songs were rearranged or remixed. The answer was a simple "yes". When the Victor Ent.reps asked which seiyuu names the US was familiar with, I mentioned Maaya Sakamoto and Rie Tanaka. One of two other people said a couple other names, but I did not hear them well enough to recognize the names..
I felt they should have limited the playing of music to 1 to 2 minutes per track, but in general it was a good idea. I wish Pioneer Music had done the same at their panel. For some reason, I did not remember to ask the Victor Ent. reps if and when they would release Wolf's Rain OST 2 (*bangs head on desk*).
I have to agree with deoch that the turn-out for this panel was quite disconcerting. I think it goes to show that the majority fans don't recognize the company name "Victor Entertainment" and / or simply don't care about anime and jpop cd releases in North America. Perhaps if Victor Ent. ran a joint panel with Pioneer Music or one of the other big anime companies they would get more attention.
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