H.R. 1027 AND S. 32: THE SOLUTION TO THE The first rental outlet opened in Japan in June of 1 1980, and there are now more than 1600 rental shops operating in Japan alone.2 The record rental phenomenon soon spread to other countries.' In September 1981, the shops reached the United States, when a Canadian franchisor opened its first franchised outlet in 1 See "Japanese Disc Production Off: Rental Blamed, " Billboard, Feb. 27, 1982, at 1; Letter from J. Kamei, Executive Director, Japan Phonograph Record Association (March 8, 1982), at 1 [hereinafter cited as "1982 Kamei Letter"; attached hereto as Appendix Two]. 2 See Letter from J. Kamei, Executive Director, Japan Phonograph Record Association (Feb. 22, 1983) at 1 (hereinafter cited as "1983 Kamei Letter"]. 3 The shops initially spread to Canada. See Greene, "Albums for Rent, The Sacramento Bee, Feb. 22, 1982, at B-3; "Retailer to Franchise Rent-A-Disc Scheme, Billboard, Feb. 28, 1981, at 57; "Disc Rental Chain Expands, Video Offered," Billboard, May 30, 1981, at 63. Shops subsequently opened in the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands. See International Federation of Phonogram & Videogram Producers, Rental of Videograms and Phonograms at 8 (Jan. 1983). - 2 Providence, Rhode Island.* Rental shops quickly sprang up in other cities, and there are now about 200 rental shops throughout the United States. One franchisor of rental shops announced plans to seek public financing so that he could open even more stores." B. The Rental Shops Facilitate The rental shops' operations are simple. A customer can select from among a wide variety of record albums, particularly current hits. The customer rents the record for anywhere from 24 to 72 hours, at rates ranging from 99¢ cents to $2.50 per disc. Conveniently, most of the shops also stock blank cassette tapes, which albums." (See the sample advertisements on the following pages.) See Lichtman, "Rent-A-Record Bows Unit in U.S.," Billboard, Aug. 19, 1981, at 3. 5 "Rent-A-Record Founder Makes Offer to Labels," Billboard, Dec. 18, 1982. See Lichtman, supra note 4, at 3. |