Japanese singer Gackt expresses his opinions about the inclusion of “special bonuses” that cause people to buy multiple copies of the same CD.  No names are specified, but one can’t help but think that he is talking about a certain idol group…

This quote comes as part of an interview with Excite News.  About mid-way through the interview, the following exchange occurs:

Interviewer: “The customers are experiencing live music. That’s really why you made a place where people can experience music, isn’t it.” (お客さんが生で音楽に触れる、体感する場を作っているわけですもんね)

Gackt: “Right, we’re actually creating a space where customers are making the sound.  Just because someone wants an included special bonus, there’s people who buy multiple copies of the same CD and just throw it away…. as a musician, I really want to ask if that’s the way things should be. The more that type of thing is done, the more that music becomes no good. The loss is huge.  This can’t continue into the future.” (そう、実際にその場でお客さんが“音を使っている”わけだから。特典が欲しくてCDを何枚も一人で買って、CDを破棄する……それはミュージシャンとしての正しい在り方なのか？と問いたい。そんなことをすればするほど間違いなく音楽がダメになるし、損失のほうが大きい。本来はやってはならないことだよ)

The response from a recent 2ch thread is a little mixed:

• “48G aren’t musicians, so it doesn’t matter, right.”
• “They’re idols, so it’s different!”
• “Totally different genre”
• “I’m just buying handshake tickets”
• “I don’t want to be told that by an unpopular musician!”
• “I want to shake Gackt’s hand!”

Of course, these are 2ch opinions, so most pro-idol.  I wonder what non-fans and other musicians would say about this.

What do you think about buying multiple CDs for the special bonus (handshake tickets, voting tickets)?  It’s no good?  Doesn’t matter?