Purchasing Guide

Purchasing game music can be quite a challenging and expensive task. Most releases are not available in record stores and must instead be purchased from specialised online stores. Furthermore, the majority of Japanese releases require importing from Japan and most classic releases are now out-of-print. We recommend the following stores for the best releases, service, and prices:

Japanese Releases:
CDJapan
Amazon Japan

Western Releases:
Amazon US

Digital Releases:
Bandcamp
Amazon MP3
 iTunes

Used Releases:
Yahoo! Japan Auctions
Soundtrack Central Marketplace
VGMdb Marketplace

Beware of bootlegs when searching for albums at auction sites. These are albums that are reproduced and sold without authorisation by the original publishers of the music. The original artists and publishers receive nothing from sales of bootlegs and instead pirates benefit. Furthermore, while bootleg albums are often difficult to tell apart from legitimate albums, they are often inferior in both presentation and sound quality. Bootleg albums are usually sold by publishers such as Son May, Ever Anime, and K-O Records for knock-off prices. We strongly recommend you avoid them, both for your own sake and the industry as a whole.