Ever notice that, despite all of the pirating of
music that goes on in Asia, they're always 10 or 15
years "behind" the U.S. in what's popular?

Also, Japan and some European countries seem to
be good markets for U.S. actors who decide to cut
an "album" (wow, does that sound antiquated or what?).

For example, David Hasselhoff and Alyssa Milano both
had quite of bit of musical success in those markets
in the 1990's. And, I just read today that Jennifer
Love Hewitt is quite popular "over there" and has
just released her 4th album!

But, here in the States -- Jennifer Love sings?
What, you mean like at parties 'n stuff?

Just an observation...

Chris

P.S. I liked Swing Out Sister, too. ;->

> There's a 1980s band I kind of like, their
> name is "Swing Out Sister". They
> had a big hit in the late 1980s with a very
> upbeat song - "Breakout".
> Recently, I decided to look them up online -
> are they still around?

> I got a shock. They are originally from the
> UK, but NONE OF THEIR RECENT ALBUMS ARE
> AVAILABLE IN THE UK (or in the USA or
> Australia for that matter). Guess where they
> are available?

> Japan! Swing Out Sister are VERY BIG in
> Japan!

> What they found was that, their sales in the
> UK and elsewhere dried up. But in Japan -
> their fortunes got higher.

> Nowadays, Swing Out Sister focus on the
> Japanese market - and do very well there.
> Even though they are a British pop group,
> and all their songs are in English!

> Of course, they could have stayed in the UK.
> They could have stopped the pop music game,
> and gone into a different business.
> Perfectly legitimate. But sometimes, if
> you've mastered one thing, it's good to
> stick to what you're good at (and what you
> enjoy).