For the American music recording company within the Sony corporation, see Sony Music.
Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc.
Headquarters of SMEJ in Rokubanchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo
Native name
株式会社ソニー・ミュージックエンタテインメント
Romanized name
Kabushikigaisha sonī myūjikkuentateinmento
Formerly
CBS/Sony Records Inc. (1968–1983) CBS/Sony Group, Inc. (1983–1991)
Company type
Subsidiary
Industry
Music Entertainment
Genre
Various
Founded
March 1968; 56 years ago (1968-03)
Headquarters
4–5 Rokubancho,
Chiyoda, Tokyo
,
Japan
Area served
Japan
Key people
Shunsuke Muramatsu (President and CEO)
Products
Music
Number of employees
4,700
Parent
Sony Group Corporation
Subsidiaries
See § Subsidiaries
Website
sme.co.jp
sonymusic.co.jp
Sony Music Entertainment Japan headquarters in Rokubanchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo occupied in June 2001SME Nogizaka Building in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo.Naoki Kitagawa, the CEO 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 as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as SonyMusic), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is operating independently from the United States-based Sony Music Entertainment due to its strength in the Japanese music industry.[a][1] Its subsidiaries include the Japanese animation production enterprise, Aniplex, which was established in September 1995[2] as a joint-venture between Sony Music Entertainment Japan and Sony 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 '90s producing and licensing music for animated series such as Roujin Z from acclaimed Japanese comic artist Katsuhiro Otomo and Capcom's Street Fighter animated 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 and/or Epic Records in North America.
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 by Nippon Columbia, which was, in fact, the licensee for the American Columbia Records up until 1968, even though relations were officially severed as far back as World War II. Nippon Columbia also does not have direct relations with the British Columbia Graphophone Company (an EMI subsidiary), so the licensee for the British Columbia Graphophone Company was actually Toshiba Musical Industries.
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 Japan from Sony BMG, making it a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Japan.[3]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
^"Sony Japan not part of BMG merger plan-Bertelsmann". Forbes.com. November 15, 2003. Archived from the original on November 14, 2007. Retrieved July 21, 2006.
^Corporate History | Aniplex | アニプレックス オフィシャルサイト Archived January 23, 2021, at the Wayback Machine. Aniplex. Retrieved on January 4, 2018.
^"Acquisition of Shares in BMG Japan Inc. by Sony Music Entertainment Japan Inc. (Japanese)" (PDF). Sony Corporation. October 2, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 22, 2011. Retrieved December 31, 2009.
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