Tag: japan

The headline from indie licensing agency Merlin’s latest stats announcement is that distributions to its Japanese members are up 200% year-on-year. However, as the agency made clear, that’s partly because it has grown...

In 2017, streaming generated $264.8m of revenues in Japan according to the IFPI – a mere 9.7% of total recorded-music revenue in a country where physical sales were still 72.3% of the market.

Apple published its latest quarterly financial results last night, for the second quarter of 2018 (the company’s fiscal Q3). Big numbers ahoy: revenues up 17% year-on-year to $53.3bn and a net profit of $11.5bn. Apple...

Yesterday saw the European Union and Japan sign what’s being described as the world’s largest bilateral free trade deal, which according to the Guardian “is set to eliminate nearly all tariffs on products traded between...

UK-based music/tech incubator Abbey Road Red has announced the latest startup to join its program: Japanese firm Cotodama. The company will spend the next six months working with the incubator at Abbey Road Studios in London...

LDH – it stands for Love + Dream + Happiness, since you ask – is a Japanese creative artist management group, which has been striking some interesting deals with brands. At the Cannes Lions conference today, some of...

There’s a new trade body for independent musicians and labels in Japan. It’s called the Independent Music Coalition of Japan (IMCJ for short) and is a merger of three existing organisations: the Independent Records and...

We’ve come a long way from Scary Spice, Sporty Spice, Ginger Spice, Baby Spice and Posh Spice, it’s fair to say. Japanese pop group Kasotsuka Shojo have been getting a wave of coverage in the west for being the first...

This report was presented at Tokyo Dance Music Event (TDME) in Japan at the beginning of December and has been prepared following various forays into – and interviews with major stakeholders inside – this fascinating...

Deezer is launching its hi-res ‘HiFi’ tier in Japan this month, working with local partners Onkyo, Pioneer Marketing and Yamaha. Deezer HiFi will offer FLAC-quality streaming in Japan with a catalogue of more than...

Masaji Asakawa is the founder and CEO of Japanese music management company Artimage, although he first came to prominence as a DJ and musician: a prime mover in Japan’s house music scene in the 1990s and 2000s. At Artimage,...