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\n\tSince joining the company in 1997, Atsuhiro Iwakami has worked continuously in anime and game production, going on to serve as president of Aniplex before being appointed President and Representative Director of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan<\/a>). He has built works together with artists time and again across numerous titles including Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba<\/em> and Sword Art Online<\/em>. Speaking from his position as head of a group that handles the full range of domestic entertainment \u2014 music, anime, live-action, concerts, and packaged media \u2014 he shared his thoughts on what it will take for Japanese content to score hits abroad.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tExplore\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n \t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n See latest videos, charts and news<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \n\tIn April, you moved from serving as president of Aniplex to become president of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan). This looks like a personnel move made with even greater expectations for synergy between anime and music. Could you start by telling us about the history of that collaboration?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tAniplex\u2019s predecessor, SPE Visual Works, entered the anime business in 1997, which was the year I joined the company. Even back then, one of Sony Music Group (Japan)\u2019s aims was to prioritize music within anime and to link anime and music together. The company later changed its name to Aniplex in 2003 and has continued under that name to this day.<\/p>\n \n\tThe TV anime Rurouni Kenshin<\/em> \u2014 spearheaded by our first president, Ryuzo Shirakawa \u2014 and its theme song \u201cSobakasu\u201d by JUDY AND MARY, are a perfect symbol of that achievement. That was the starting point, and ever since I joined, I\u2019ve watched the history of Aniplex and Sony Music Group (Japan) unfold as it went on to produce hit after hit.<\/p>\n \n\tI\u2019ve also worked with artists on creating works and producing music across a range of titles, including Kimetsu no Yaiba<\/em>, Bakemonogatari<\/em>, and Sword Art Online<\/em>. That has built up real experience, along with a history of music and anime working in tandem, so I\u2019d like to keep going in that same direction.<\/p>\n \n\tI became president of Aniplex in 2016, and since 2019 I\u2019ve also served as an executive officer of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), exchanging information regularly with many of our other executives including Sony Music Labels president (Manabu) Tsujino, Sony Music Solutions president (Hidehiko) Otani, and others. Each has achieved rapid growth over the past few years, which I find reassuring, and it\u2019s deepened my sense of trust in the group as a whole.<\/p>\n \n\tSony Music Entertainment (Japan) isn\u2019t just a record company, and is active across management, merchandising, live events, and more. Could you share your vision for the group as a whole?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tEven within the music business there are many different companies and functions. Aniplex covers the visual and character domain, we\u2019re also active in live-action production, and Sony Creative Products handles the PEANUTS<\/em> licensing business. Sony Music Solutions handles everything from manufacturing and distribution of packaged goods to running live events, fan clubs, and Zepp venues. Since this is a group that handles domestic entertainment business across the board, I see my role as overseeing that whole picture and connecting it together.<\/p>\n \n\tThese kinds of connections extend across Sony Group as well. As part of the same Sony Music family, we work daily with Sony Music Entertainment in the US, and the Japan operation of The Orchard (US) was launched as an in-house venture of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), in partnership with The Orchard (US) itself.<\/p>\n \n\tIn bringing Kimetsu no Yaiba<\/em> to the world, we worked with Aniplex and decided that Sony Pictures Entertainment and Crunchyroll would handle worldwide distribution. So beyond simply sharing information within the group, we\u2019re now seeing concrete business collaboration at the level of individual titles. Going forward, I want to keep thinking about the optimal approach for each individual IP and piece of content.<\/p>\n \n\tAt the same time, the ways that works and songs reach users and fans are really diversifying. The ways of distribution are changing too, and I don\u2019t think we can keep operating simply as a record company in the traditional sense, so our business is only going to diversify further from here.<\/p>\n \n\tAmid all that, we have the accumulated history, experience and the trust built up since our days as CBS Sony Records. At the same time, I think our strength also lies in having the adaptability and flexibility to respond to today\u2019s diversity.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has set a goal of growing the overseas market for content to 20 trillion yen by 2033, and industry associations are discussing how much impact music can make toward that. What do you see as the challenges the industry as a whole need to solve?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBroadly speaking, I think there are two sides to our role: creating good content and working out how to bring that content to the world. Making good content is something we need to work harder at. On the other hand, spreading it around the world through live shows, social media, online marketing, and so on is something that can be achieved efficiently through public-private cooperation and collaboration within the industry.<\/p>\n \n\tHaving said that, our global<\/a> expansion is making steady progress, but I believe we can produce even bigger hits. The springboard doesn\u2019t necessarily have to be anime, and I\u2019d like the group as a whole to keep exploring ways to spread content built on Japan\u2019s history and culture out into the world, in a distinctly Japanese way.<\/p>\n \n\tOnce a song becomes a hit on streaming both internationally and domestically, what\u2019s the challenge in turning that into a solid fan base?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tThis may be an era where it\u2019s difficult to get people to become fans and grow to love an entire body of work. In the past with anime, if you thought a particular work was interesting, you\u2019d go back and watch everything else that director had made. With music, if a song became a hit and you liked it, you\u2019d start checking that artist out. Lately, though, I feel like more of these cases end as a single point of contact rather than expanding further. So I think we\u2019re now in an era where it\u2019s more important than ever to fill that gap through marketing.<\/p>\n \n\tI think what\u2019s behind this is a change in the amount of time and information available. Back in our student days, we really had time on our hands. If you liked a book, you\u2019d check out other works by that author, if you liked a song, you\u2019d listen to it endlessly, or you\u2019d watch the same movie over and over. Today, the sheer volume of entertainment being supplied is enormous, and so is the amount of information coming in through smartphones. I think it\u2019s harder now to sustain that kind of engagement across the board, not just in anime or music.<\/p>\n \n\tWhen people in Japan used to talk about \u201cgoing global,\u201d I think many pictured North America. Now we\u2019re seeing works catch on in Asia, or become hits in South America or Europe. How do you think about regional strategy?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tThere\u2019s no single region that matters most. With East Asia, I think we share quite similar sensibilities, so there\u2019s a way things can spread through shared cultural values. Conversely, with the West, where they look at us from a different culture and find us interesting, it\u2019s a bit different again. Either way, it\u2019s not a matter of prioritizing one region over another and comes down to what fits a given artist, song, or work.<\/p>\n \n\tThere\u2019s strategy involved, of course, but there are also hits that go entirely beyond strategy, like city pop enjoying popularity in the West. I hope we keep seeing a diverse range of hits emerge, including ones shaped by how users themselves choose to receive the music.<\/p>\n \n\tMUSIC AWARDS JAPAN was launched to bring Japanese music to the world, and this year marked its second edition. What are your hopes for it going forward?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tIt was another wonderful ceremony this year, and I think its significance will only grow the longer it continues. Both last year and this year, the opening movie really captured the spirit of crossing boundaries. Even from where I sit in the anime and visual-content business, there was a lot to learn.<\/p>\n \n\tI attended the 98th Academy Awards because Kokuho<\/em> was nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and the Oscars\u2019 opening film had that same kind of feel \u2014 various films crossing boundaries and connecting through parody. Seeing that kind of thing makes you feel just how strong each industry is.<\/p>\n \n\tOn the other hand, Japan\u2019s domestic sales make up a large share of the business, and the country remains the world\u2019s second-largest music market. Do you sense any difference in temperature among staff when it comes to attitudes toward global expansion?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tI don\u2019t think this is unique to us internally and may just be true of Japan in general. A population of a little over 120 million is a remarkably convenient size \u2014 you can make content for your own country, have it become a hit within your own country, and that alone can work as a business and serve as a goal for artists. That\u2019s been history up to now. So there are plenty of people who start out motivated by wanting to succeed domestically, rather than by wanting to go global.<\/p>\n \n\tBeing an island nation, protected by the firewall of the Japanese language, Japanese people make content for other Japanese people. Out of that, a distinct individuality emerges, and audiences overseas end up enjoying it too. Manga and anime have spread through that kind of context, so I wouldn\u2019t dismiss it outright.<\/p>\n \n\tAt the same time, as the population continues to decline, more people are becoming conscious of going global. We have success stories like YOASOBI and King Gnu, and just the other day I saw Masayoshi Takanaka perform live in London. I was surprised to see the audience of young men and women gathered together, singing along and dancing to instrumental tracks. Seeing that makes me think there\u2019s something there that people can aspire to. By building up more of these success stories, I think the overall mindset will start to shift. This is something that has accumulated as culture over decades, so just because someone suddenly says, \u201cYou should expand overseas,\u201d change like that doesn\u2019t happen instantly. I think it comes through building things up, step by step.<\/p>\n \n\t\u2013This interview by Naoko Takashima first appeared on Billboard Japan<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
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