Sony Music Entertainment Japan headquarters in Rokubanchō,Chiyoda,Tokyo occupied in June 2001SME Nogizaka Building inAkasaka,Minato, TokyoNaoki Kitagawa, theCEO of Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. (株式会社ソニー・ミュージックエンタテインメント,Kabushiki gaisha Sonī Myūjikku Entateinmento), often abbreviated asSMEJ or simplySME, and also known asSony Music Japan for short (stylized asSonyMusic), is a Japanese music arm forSony. Founded in 1968 asCBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned bySony Group Corporation and is operating independently from the United States–basedSony Music Entertainment due to its strength in the Japanese music industry.[a][1] Its subsidiaries include theJapanese animation production enterprise,Aniplex, which was established in September 1995[2] as a joint-venture between Sony Music Entertainment Japan andSony Pictures Entertainment Japan, but which in 2001 became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan. It was prominent in the early to mid 1990s producing and licensing music for animated series such asRoujin Z from acclaimed Japanese comic artistKatsuhiro Otomo andCapcom'sStreet Fighter animated series.
Sony does not have the trademark rights to the Columbia name in Japan, so releases under Columbia Records from another country appears on Sony Records in Japan, but retains the usage of the "walking eye" logo. The Columbia name and trademark is controlled byNippon Columbia, which was, in fact, the licensee for the American Columbia Records up until 1968, even though relations were officially severed as far back asWorld War II. Nippon Columbia also does not have direct relations with the BritishColumbia Graphophone Company (anEMI subsidiary), so the licensee for the British Columbia Graphophone Company was actuallyToshiba Musical Industries.
The idea for a CBS/Sony joint venture came in 1967 fromHarvey Schein, then President of Columbia Records International, who had spent a decade traveling the world building CBS’s international company. In 1972 Schein would leave CBS to become the president of Sony Corporation of America.[4]
Sony Music Entertainment Japan was officially incorporated in March 1968[5] as a Tokyo-based 50/50joint venture betweenSony and U.S. conglomerateCBS to distribute the latter's music releases inJapan. The company was incorporated asCBS/Sony Records and with Sony co-founderAkio Morita as president.[6][7][8]
Norio Ohga, who himself was a musician, was part of the management team from the formation of the company and served as president and representative director since April 1970.[9][10] In 1972, when CBS/Sony was generating robust profits, Ohga was named chairman and at the same time gained further responsibility and influence within Sony. He would continue to work for the music company one morning a week.[11] In 1980, Toshio Ozawa succeeded Ohga as president.[12]
In 1983, the company was renamedCBS/Sony Group.[5]
In January 1988, after more than a year of negotiations, Sony acquired the CBS Records Group and the 50% of CBS/Sony Group that it did not already own.[13]
In March 1988, four wholly owned subsidiaries were folded into CBS/Sony Group: CBS/Sony Inc., Epic/Sony Records Inc., CBS/Sony Records Inc. and Sony Video Software International.[5][14]
The company was renamed Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), Inc.
Shugo Matsuo was named new president in January 1992, replacing Toshio Ozawa, who was appointed to the post of chairman.[15]
Overall sales for the fiscal year ending March 31, 1991, were 83.8 billion yen with a pretax profit of 9.2 billion yen.[15]
In June 1996, Ryokichi Kunugi became the new president. Shugo Matsuo was named chairman.[16]
Shigeo Maruyama was appointed to the new post of CEO on October 1, 1997, and replaced Kunugi as president in February 1998.[17]
In August 1998, the logo was changed from the original"Walking Eye" to the current one.
As of 2019, Mizuno Michinori is the official CEO of the company.
In May 2018, SMEJ, through its Sony Creative Products division, acquired a 39% stake in thePeanuts comic strip franchise fromDHX Media.[18]
Sony Music Entertainment announced the launch of its firstvideo game publishing label, Unties, in October 2017. Unties will publishindie games for thePlayStation 4,PlayStation VR,Nintendo Switch, andPC. The name was selected by Sony as representative of helping to "unleash" the power of independent video game development and "unshackle" such developers from the traditional video game publishing process.[19]
Unties' first release wasTiny Metal, a turn-based tactics video game developed by Area 35, for the Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PC. The game was first premiered at PAX West Indie Megabooth.[20] PublishedAzure Reflections, a side-scrolling bullet hell developed by Souvenir Circ., on May 15, 2018, for the PS4.[21] Published Touhou Gensou Wanderers Reloaded, a roguelike rpg developed by Aqua Style, for the PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC.[22] PublishedNecrosphere, a platformer developed by Cat Nigiri, for the PS4, Nintendo Switch, PC, and PSVita.[22][23] PublishedMidnight Sanctuary, a VR/3D Novel game developed by CAVYHOUSE, for the PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC.[22][24] Published Tokyo Dark, a visual novel mystery adventure hybrid developed by Cherrymochi, for the PC.[25][22] PublishedChiki-Chiki Boxy Racers, an arcade racing game developed by Pocket, for the Nintendo Switch on August 30, 2018.[26][22] Scheduled to publish onLast Standard, a 3d action game developed by I From Japan, intended for PC.[27][28] Scheduled to publishThe Good Life, a daily-life rpg developed by White Owls Inc., for the PS4 and PC.[29][22] Scheduled to publishMerkava Avalanche, a 3d cavalry warfare action game developed by WinterCrownWorks, for the PC.[30][22] Scheduled to publishOlija, an action adventure game developed by Skeleton Crew Studio, for the PC.[31][22] Scheduled to publishDeemo Reborn, a music rhythm and urban fantasy game developed by Taiwanese studio Rayak, for the PS4 with PSVR support.[28][22] Scheduled to publishGiraffe and Anika, a 3d adventure game developed by Atelier Mimina, for the PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC.[32][22] Scheduled to publish 3rd Eye, a 2d horror exploration game, based on the Touhou franchise, for the PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC.[33][22] Scheduled to publish Gensokyo Defenders, a tower-defense game developed by Neetpia, for the PS4 and Nintendo Switch.[34][22] In 2019, Unties was dropped from the Sony group and became the new companyPhoenixx.
The company's leading role on the Japanese market was increasingly challenged by labels such asAvex (where SMEJ formerly owned 5 percent of shares).[17][35] Net sales for the fiscal year ending March 31, 1997, were down 10% to 103 billion yen, while net income fell 41% to 7.7 billion yen.[35] The market share at that time was less than 18%.[35] In August 1997,Dreams Come True, until that point Sony Music Entertainment Japan's best-selling act, signed a worldwide multi-album deal with competing U.S. labelVirgin Records America.[36]
Since then it was said that SMEJ ceded to Avex's challenge,[37] but SMEJ bounced back and regained leadership from its indie rival until 2012. SMEJ netted 22.4 billion yen for 1H 2012 and 14.3% of the market, second behind Avex (24.95 B yen, 15.9%).[38]
In May 2017, SMEJ, through subsidiary Sony Music Marketing (now Sony Music Solutions), acquired the physical retail and distribution rights to releases of another rival,Warner Music Japan.[39]
Sony Music Solutions – Overseas distribution of labels which have a distribution and contract with SMEJ. Formerly known as Sony Music Distribution until 2014 and as Sony Music Marketing until 2019.
Antinos Records – launched in 1994 with Sony Music directorShigeo Maruyama as its president. The first releases on August 21 were a mini-album by indie group Confusion and singles by the groups Aniss, Neverending Story, and Ginji Itoh.[47] (1994–2004, merged intoEpic Records Japan)
Antinos Management America Inc. – Overseas marketing and promotion of SMEJ artists[48]
Monogatary.com – Named after a stylized romanization ofmonogatari (物語, 'story'), asocial networking service about creative writing and illustrations founded in October 2017.[49] Has collaborated with SMEJ artists, most notablyYoasobi, which was initially formed to create music based on selected stories on the site.[50][49]
Sony Creative Products – Character licensing, usually working with overseas characters, such as thePeanuts franchise[b] andPingu.
^While Sony Music Japan is directly owned by Sony itself, Sony Music Entertainment is owned by Sony's New York, USA-based subsidiarySony Entertainment throughSony Music Group.
^SCP held the licensing rights of Peanuts in Japan since 2010. Later in 2018, SMEJ bought 39% ofDHX Media's stake on Peanuts Worldwide LLC.
^Kimio Kase, Francisco J. Sáez-Martínez, Hernán Riquelme: Transformational CEOs: Leadership and Management Success in Japan. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2005,ISBN1-84542-046-2. Page 16.
^"ワーナー、CD/DVD等パッケージ商品の小売販売・流通業務をソニー・ミュージックマーケティングへ委託" [Warner, outsources retail sales and distribution of packaged products such as CD / DVD to Sony Music Marketing].Musicman (in Japanese). May 31, 2017. RetrievedJuly 10, 2022.
^ミュージックレイン. Musicrayn.com. Retrieved on July 16, 2013.
