Introducing: Gensokyo Store

This week, we wrapped up work on our new storefront and have soft-launched a new website for it. Introducing: https://Gensokyo.store.

Gensokyo Store aims to help make finding and obtaining music easier and less expensive than having to import it from Japan or elsewhere in Asia. For most listeners in the west, browsing through Japanese store websites can be intimidating, while connecting with proxies can make the experience easier but also more expensive. And then there’s international shipping… $40 to ship a single album will make most people fall back on alternative digital streaming solutions which do support artists, but with less immediate impact.

We want to help make the process of supporting the artists who produce music easier for fans in the English-speaking world, and this is where we begin. We’re using a combination of upfront and consignment payment models to directly support the artists while making music more accessible to more fans.

The store will be starting out with a smaller selection of music, but we are already chatting with additional artists to bring more to the site over time. Additionally, you’ll find more than just Touhou music CDs provided through our store (marked under “music types” and with appropriate tags). For now, we have a small selection of albums from the following circles:

  • 38BEETS
  • Alice Music
  • LiLa’c Records
  • Minimum Electric Design
  • *PetitBrain (non-Touhou)
  • Shoujo Fractal
  • Yuuhei Satellite

For western music groups, we’re renewing our publishing capabilities to help create small-batch and on-demand runs of music CDs for groups who might not be able to fund a pressing company to produce their stock. Since 2017, we’ve produced over 500 physical albums for two western circles, with a photo of 5 stacks of 300 albums featured prominently on the front page of the new store. If you’re an artist who is looking to make physical stock available for your listeners and need a low-cost way to get it done, talk to a GR staff member! We’ll have more information available through the store website at a later date.

On top of all that, Gensokyo Store is now the new home of all of Gensokyo Radio’s merch. To commemorate the launch of the new store, we’ve created our very first coupon code “newstore10” where you can grab a GR Classic Hoodie for $10 off the regular price until November 30th.

At the station, we’ve supported the artists with our own wallets and have encouraged our listeners to do the same where they’re able, but have long recognized the challenges with leaving this as an exercise to the listener. We’re excited to embark on this new journey with you all and look forward to hearing from our listeners what music or artists they might want us to source next.

As always, thanks for listening!

[Knowledge #90]