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 independent from the worldwide Sony BMG joint venture 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.

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 BMG's stake in Sony BMG, Sony Music Entertainment Japan stepped in to buy outstanding shares of BMG Music Japan from Sony BMG, making it a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Japan. Sony Music Japan will continue to operate the Sony and BMG record labels as separate brands in their market.


Contents

[edit] Artists



[edit] 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.[2] 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.

[edit] Labels and sublabels

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Sony Japan not part of BMG merger plan-Bertelsmann", Forbes.com (November 15, 2003). Retrieved on 21 July 2006. 
  2. ^ Sony and the Modern Age Sony Music UK. Retrieved on 6 August 2006.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links