Because for the longest time, VGM was a complete afterthought to most Americans. For Japanese releases, there is a longstanding tradition of releases (both original soundtracks and arranges...check the calender and see how many American releases you see near the beginning) and the medium is given much more respect. Over the past decade or so, this has changed somewhat and the idea of listening to music from videogames is not such a foreign concept to American gamers. So it is more common to see complete releases nowadays for non-Japanese releases (although many times, they are in digital format).
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