Crockett wrote: 19 Jul 2017, 15:00I doubt you can certify for so many international ParaPara fans, from North and South America, that they all collect CDs, posters, interviews with artists, instead of collecting tons of videos of their dancing friends... !
I don't think a true Eurobeat fan is a "collector". A true eurobeat fan is someone that, at 2017, still listening to eurobeat on a daily basis.
Lemme tell you a story about Brazil, that already has been told by Arren.
1º Here in Brazil, our minimum wage is now, exactly:
Tabela do salário mínimo
VIGÊNCIA VALOR MENSAL NORMA LEGAL
01.01.2017 R$ 937,00 Decreto 8.948/2016
R$ 937,00.
And converting to dollar, it's equivalent to
US 297,37
2º Informational Link, just look at the graph:
http://www.em.com.br/app/noticia/econom ... aixo.shtml
It's a graph showing the highest taxing countries in the world. (Google Translate can help to read the article too)
Just let me explain, our country have one of the most high taxes in the world. And public service isn't good enough. We pay tax for almost everything and the return is zero.
For example: sinclairestyle.pushcommerce, a song been released one year ago at $2, it cost me exactly R$11 (US 3,49)
Why?
U$ 2 = R$6,40
But we pay too
IOF (Tax over foreigner exchanges)+Dollar value over time (July to August)
Yes we pay more if the dollar value rise. But if the value falls(bellow R$3,20) what will count is exactly the same as on the day of purchase (R$3,20)
3º Now let's move to physical stuff.
For example: We Love TechPara IV at Disco gs it is almost the same price as a SEB ($25 Dollars), buying with megamix store.
$25.00(about R$78.85)+ The postage $20 ( Total + $5 South America / Africa ) + IOF($2,85, based on the postage value) + Any difference with US Dollar until bill closing date September 05~15, 2017
Price: $47,85 (R$150,85)
Just remember, our minumum wage is R$937,00. For a "collector item", most Brazilians will pay 16% of their monthly income.
That doesn't happen only in Brazil. Many countries have the same difficulty.
Most of my friends listen to Eurobeat, daily. And almost all of them didn't buy a SINGLE song in their entire lives. They listen on the youtube, on streaming services like Deezer(It's free for TIM, a mobile telephone provider) or Spotify, or just ask someone. They can't spend money on this. They are struggling to live. And struggling to make Eurobeat/Para Para happen here, creating content as cheap as possible.
So, please, stop this non-sense of "collecting CDs, Posters, interviews is what made true eurobeat fans". Isn't that difficult to have just a little of empathy. This isn't about "collecting videos of our dancing friends".