Sony Music Entertainment Japan
| Type | Subsidiary of Sony Corporation |
|---|---|
| Industry | Music |
| Founded | 1968 as CBS/Sony Records Inc. |
| Headquarters | Rokubancho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. Japan |
| Key people | Norio Ohga: Former Chairman |
| Revenue | ▲ ¥162 billion |
| Employees | 1,400 |
| Subsidiaries | SME Records Inc., EPIC Records Japan Inc., Ki/oon Records Inc., Sony Music Records Inc., Sony Music Associated Records Inc., BMG Japan, Inc., Sony Music Artists Inc., Sony Music Publishing (Japan) Inc., Sony Magazines Inc., Label Gate Co., Ltd., Aniplex Inc., etc. |
| Website | sonymusic.co.jp |
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 as SMEJ and also known as Sony Music Japan for short) is Sony's music arm in Japan. SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Corporation and independent from the United States-based Sony Music Entertainment due to its strength in the Japanese music industry.[1]
Its subsidiaries including the anime production enterprise, Aniplex, which was established in January 1997 as a joint-venture between Sony Music Entertainment Japan and Sony Pictures Entertainment, but which in 2001 became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan. It was prominent in the early to mid 90's producing and licensing music for Anime such as Roujin Z from acclaimed Manga artist Katsuhiro Otomo and Capcom's Street Fighter anime series.
Until March 2007, Sony Music Japan also had its own North American sublabel, Tofu Records. Releases of Sony Music Japan now appear on Columbia Records or Epic Records in North America.
Releases on Columbia Records in other countries appear on Sony Records in Japan because a competitor, Columbia Music Entertainment, owns the rights to the trademark there.
With Sony Corporation of America's buyout of Bertelsmann's stake in Sony BMG, Sony Music Entertainment Japan stepped in to acquire outstanding shares of BMG Music Japan from Sony BMG, making it a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Japan.[2]
History
Sony Music Entertainment Japan was originally founded in 1968 as a 50/50 joint venture between Sony Corporation and CBS Records to distribute the latter's music releases in Japan. The company was named CBS/Sony Records Inc.[3][4] In 1988, Sony acquired CBS Records and the 50% of the joint venture that it did not already own. The company was then renamed Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), Inc.
Labels and sublabels
- Aniplex
- Ariola Japan
- BMG Music Japan
- DefSTAR Records
- Epic Records (Japan)
- Antinos Records
- Ki/oon Records
- Haunted Records
- Ki/oon Records2
- NeOSITE
- SME Records
- Sony Music Records
- Sony Records
- gr8! records
- Studioseven Recordings
- MASTERSIX FOUNDATION
- Niagara Records
- Sony Music Associated Records
- onenation
- tributelink
- TERRY DOLLAR RECORD$
- Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Records
- Sony Music House
- Village Music
Notable artists
- abingdon boys school
- Access
- Aco
- Angela Aki
- Aqua Timez
- Asian Kung-Fu Generation
- Beat Crusaders
- Boom Boom Satellites
- The Brilliant Green
- Buckethead
- Chemistry
- Cool Joke
- Crystal Kay
- Depapepe
- Denki Groove
- Dir en grey
- Flow
- Halcali
- Hajime Chitose
- Harumi Tsuyuzaki
- High and Mighty Color
- Home Made Kazoku
- Hyde
- I Am Ghost
- I WiSH
- Ikimono Gakari
- Jinn
- Joe Inoue
- JUDY AND MARY
- June
- K
- Kalafina
- Kelun
- Ken Hirai
- L'Arc~en~Ciel
- Little by Little
- LONG SHOT PARTY
- Maboroshi
- Mai Hoshimura
- Mika Nakashima
- Miliyah
- Miyu Nagase
- Nami Tamaki
- Nana Kitade
- Nobodyknows
- Obi Tenaka
- Orange Range
- ORESKABAND
- Polysics
- Porno Graffitti
- Puffy AmiYumi
- Rie fu
- Rina Chinen
- Rize
- Rythem
- Sayaka Kanda
- Scandal
- school food punishment
- Seiko Matsuda
- Shinichi Osawa
- SID
- Soul'd Out
- Soulhead
- Sowelu
- Stephanie
- Stereopony
- SunSet Swish
- T.M.Revolution
- Tamio Okuda
- TiA
- Tomoko Kawase
- Uri Nakayama
- UVERworld
- Yellow Generation
- Yoshida Brothers
- Younha
- YUI
- Yuna Ito
- Zone
See also
References
- ↑ "Sony Japan not part of BMG merger plan-Bertelsmann". Forbes.com. November 15, 2003. http://www.forbes.com/technology/futuretech/newswire/2003/11/15/rtr1149345.html. Retrieved 2006-07-21.
- ↑ "Acquisition of Shares in BMG Japan Inc. by Sony Music Entertainment Japan Inc. (Japanese)". Sony Corporation. October 2, 2008. http://www.sony.co.jp/SonyInfo/IR/news/qfhh7c00000jbz2m-att/081002_SMEJ.pdf. Retrieved 2009-12-31.
- ↑ Sony and the Modern Age Sony Music UK. Retrieved on 6 August 2006.
- ↑ CBS/Sony Records is Established in First Round of Capital Deregulation Sony History
External links
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