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Billboard’s Global Power Players list recognizes the leaders that are driving the success of the music business in countries outside the United States. Shunsuke Muramatsu, Chairman and Representative Director of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), was selected for the first time from the many leaders of the music industry around the world. Billboard JAPAN interviewed Muramatsu in recognition of his selection for the list. He spoke about how he has led the company’s employees in producing hits both inside Japan and overseas by artists such as YOASOBI, Creepy Nuts, and Kenshi Yonezu. He also discussed the challenges and potential of MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN, an event organized by CEIPA, which he directs as Chair of the Board.
In 2005, you became president of Sony Music Records (now Sony Music Labels). In 2019, you were appointed president of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), and then you became its chairman in 2026. You were selected for the list this year in recognition of your over two decades of producing hit artists. Even recently, artists on your label, like YOASOBI, Creepy Nuts, and Kenshi Yonezu, have been very successful, charting in Japan and overseas.
Thank you. Our company doesn’t just work with music, but has a variety of functions, and I think our successes are the product of our synergy. The business we do at Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) (SMEJ) is extremely wide-ranging. We’re a record company, we manage artists, we plan and create anime and games, we organize events, we operate performance venues…We’re a comprehensive entertainment company like no other, anywhere in the world. Fundamentally, we’re working every day with artists and creators, helping each other reach new heights as we focus our efforts in creating something out of nothing. But starting things from the ground up is exceptionally difficult. Only a limited number of people are involved in that work. Taking something that has already been created and infinitely expanding its potential, though? That’s extremely important, and it’s something many of our staff are involved in. Our company covers both, and, as I keep telling our employees, it’s the repeated implementation of those processes that drives our growth.
I read an interview of yours in which you said that when you were director of the publicity section, the company’s president praised you, saying that your team looked like they enjoyed their work. (https://www.rikkyo.ac.jp/closeup/alumni/2022/mknpps000001zf72.html)
That’s back when I was in charge of a really tiny label. We could have been shut down at any time, but shrinking back, worrying that “we haven’t produced any hits” or “our sales are struggling,” wouldn’t get us anywhere. Instead, we focused on having fun doing our work and showing true grit as we searched for new talent to create new hits. In recognition of those efforts, I was appointed president, but when I was appointed, I said, “if the new artist I’m managing right now doesn’t turn out to be a hit, I’ll resign as president.” That artist was ORANGE RANGE, and right from their debut, they’ve produced hit after hit. The biggest problem is when the people doing the work lose their confidence. That’s why when I became president of SMEJ, I told everyone that our keyword needed to be “challenge.”
Our company started as CBS/Sony Records in 1968. There were a lot of record companies at the time, like King Records or Nippon Columbia, but we were coming into the industry as a new upstart. So for those founding members, it felt like leaping naked into a dark ocean. Compared to the situation then, now we have so many facilities and systems in place that it’s like we’re putting on a snorkel and going for a dip in a beautiful ocean, in the middle of the day, under a clear blue sky. I want our employees to feel comfortable going out for a swim, and feel secure diving as deep as they want.
I’ve experienced a lot of failures myself, but I’ve always learned a lot from those failures. That’s why I tell our junior employees that I want them to experience a lot of failure, too.
You’re not just the chairman of SMEJ, but also the chairman of the Recording Industry Association of Japan and the chair of CEIPA. Japan has set a goal of increasing overseas content sales to 20 trillion yen by 2033. What challenges do you see the music industry facing in achieving this?
Since 2022, I’ve co-chaired the Japan Business Federation’s Committee on the Creative Economy with Tomoko Namba (Executive Chairperson of DeNA. When I was appointed to the position, government ministries had yet to really turn their attention to the content industry, but then overseas content sales grew to the point that they surpassed semiconductors and steel, so the situation changed. As Prime Minister Takaichi said, when she talks to foreign heads of state, the conversation picks up when the topic turns to Japanese anime or games like Pokémon or Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.
That said, overseas sales are around 6 or 7 trillion, which means that the target is roughly that. Organic growth alone won’t be enough to reach the target in seven years. The government has doubled its supplementary budget, but unless that budget is used correctly, it won’t produce results. Korea has KOCCA, a dedicated content organization tied to the national government, but Japan doesn’t have anything like that, so we keep asking for the government to create a dedicated content organization that spans different ministries and offices. Right now, the type of content with the highest overseas sales is games, followed by anime. Music is an essential part of both of those. Different types of content affect each other and boost each others’ growth, which is why I think we need to have a national governmental organization that provides support across industry lines, whether its games, anime, or manga.
Aniplex, which plans and produces anime, is part of the SMEJ group, so I’m sure that collaborations involving anime and games are one of your specialties.
In April, I went to see Creepy Nuts play in New York, and the level of excitement was through the roof. When they played “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” and “Otonoke,” which are both also anime theme songs, the whole audience sang along in Japanese. Of course, there are artists like Fujii Kaze who have hits overseas that aren’t anime theme songs, so it’s not exactly universal, but generally, leveraging anime is an extremely effective way to get a song heard by as many people as possible. Of the top 100 Japanese songs being listened to overseas, around 80 to 90% are anime- or game-related. And in most cases, people just listen to the music in anime or games, but they don’t go as far as becoming fans of the artists. That’s why I think live shows and events are important. If an artist puts on a good performance and gets people excited, it generates organic buzz. I want us to keep creating that kind of spark, both for SMEJ and for CEIPA.
Creepy Nuts has generated a lot of buzz, performing at the Coachella for the first time in 2026 and being picked as one of the best 10 acts by Billboard Magazine in the US. (https://www.billboard.com/lists/coachella-2026-day-one-best-sabrina-carpenter-katseye/)
That was great to hear. The other day, I saw Bad Bunny when he played in Japan for the first time, and it felt like the same kind of excitement. I doubt many people in the audience knew Spanish, but the music is catchy and it naturally gets your body moving. He’s thought about what kinds of rhythms and arrangements are approachable for people in any country. I feel like Creepy Nuts has the same kind of potential. If they refine that diverse creativity they have, I think they’ll be able to achieve even greater success worldwide.
I’d like to shift now to the domestic music industry. The Japanese music market grew by 8.9% in 2025, surpassing the 6.4% growth of the global market. The recovery of physical media sales played an especially large part. What are your views on the balance between physical and digital media?
I think we need to reinforce our touchpoints with fans, so I see the year-on-year growth of packaged products as a wonderful outcome. During the peak of the CD era, you’d have the entire top 10 for one week drop completely off the chart the next week. It was hard to figure out which songs were the most listened songs for the year. With streaming, you can see which songs keep getting listened to long term, which has made it easier to figure out the song of the year. I think you need to have creative work that produces songs that are listened to long-term, and also creative work that produces huge hits through fandom.
Globally, a lot of attention is being turned to the “superfan” market, and, in Japan, the “oshikatsu” market, which is a bit of a unique spin on superfans. Do you feel like there are any differences between superfans and oshikatsu?
Individual fans who spend a lot of money are called superfans, and the people who communicate with artists and other fans and support them, whether or not they spend money on it, make up the fandom. Either way, what’s extremely important is conveying that passion that fans feel. The more heated that is, the better. I think live shows are what turn up the heat. I want to hold events around the world that draw audiences of hundreds of thousands of people who love Japanese music and culture.
Lastly, the MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN (MAJ) is going to be held soon. What issues did you feel there were last year, and how are you feeling going into this year’s awards?
Recently, the Recording Industry Association of Japan announced the results of its 2025 survey of music media users. The number of respondents who said they weren’t interested in music had been continually rising since 2019, but last year, for the first time in a long time, it fell. I don’t know if the MAJ had anything to do with that, but what’s really important, given the deluge of entertainment options, like anime, games, sports, and social media, is how much time people give to music. I hope MAJ and CEIPA’s activities will contribute to this in the future.
The big five organizations in the music industry have always had mutual respect for each other, and a lot of people had been wanting to hold awards like these for decades. I feel like I’m the person who got the ball rolling, but I’m sure there are dozens of other people in the industry who feel the same way (laughs). That’s how much of a shared goal it’s been to have awards in Japan.
The way people listen to media is changing, and media itself is changing. I thought that this timing presented a great opportunity, which is why we launched the MAJ last year. There wasn’t a lot of prep time, and we were feeling things out as we went along, so, if you think of it like a test, I figured we’d be doing well if we got the equivalent of a 50. But ultimately, I think we scored a perfect 100. That said, I think of last year’s MAJ as “year zero.” We still haven’t had a real first MAJ, because it’s not yet recognized as an international music award. As we keep on going, after five years or ten years, the awards will eventually become recognized worldwide and have their own prestige. We’re approaching this year’s MAJ like a brand new start.
This year, you’re going to be streaming the Premiere Ceremony and the Grand Ceremony on YouTube again, so I look forward to the level of international recognition rising even further.
Another important issue is record performance and transmission rights. So far, if music by Japanese artists is played in overseas shopping centers, restaurants, or the like, royalties are paid in Japan to the lyricists and songwriters, but not to the artists or performers. This is an issue that we’ve been steadily working to address through the years, and on May 15, a bill to revise the Copyright Act was approved by the Cabinet. It’s now its on its way to the Diet to be passed. The content industry has been positioned as one of Japan’s core industries, Copyright Act-related laws and regulations are being put in place, the MAJ is going to be held for the second time, and Japan’s music is expected to accelerate its global growth. I hope to nurture and grow the MAJ so that winning an MAJ will be a point of pride for artists, and an accomplishment they can showcase as they market themselves to the world.
—This interview by Naoko Takashima first appeared on Billboard Japan
English (US)