The Music Market in Japan
- Japan is the 2nd largest music market in the world in terms of sales. (About US$3 billion annually)
- The population of just the Tokyo Metropolitan Area is 38 million. (Total Population of Japan: 127 million)
- Japanese spend more money on music per person than anyone else in the world.
- Digital music sales in Japan continue to increase while CD sales continue to decline year by year.
- In 2020, downloads decreased by 20% but streams increased by 27% showing the rise in popularity of digital music streaming services in Japan.
- Streams now make up more than 75% of all digital music sales in Japan.
- The popular digital music streaming services in Japan are Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, AWA, Line Music, and kkbox
- In 2020, about 30% of all catalogued audio recordings (i.e. CD) in Japan were international.
- Surfaces (USA), jawsh 685 (New Zealand) and DaBaby (USA) were the Best 3 New International Artists of the Year in the 2021 Japan Gold Disc Awards for highest sales in Japan.
- There are fans in Japan for all genres of music—from Hawaiian, Bossa Nova, Folk, New Age, and Bluegrass to Metal, Punk, Alt Rock, HipHop, R&B, EDM, Reggae, and everything in between. Since the population of Japan is huge compared to most countries, reaching even a small share of the population is a lot of people.
* Statistics provided by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) and International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI)
Access List of Japanese Record Labels, Music Festivals, Show Organizers, Distributors, Publishers
Every year, Japanese spend over a billion YEN on music from foreign countries. If you are in the business of making and selling music, then Japan is your main market and should not be ignored.
The goal of this website is to provide resources to help indie bands/artists, managers and record labels sell and promote music in Japan. Please read the various sections and articles in this website to gain insight into doing business effectively in the Japanese music market.
More info about the music market in Japan
Many indie bands and labels that understand the global music business rely on Japan as a source of fans and revenue. When you're making more fans and selling more music, being "Big in Japan" is a good thing!
Click here to create a FREE Japanese web/mobile site (EPK) and start promoting your music in Japan.
See the artists/bands from your country that are actively selling and promoting their music in Japan.
Click here to learn about performing live in Japan and how to set up your Japan Tour whenever travel restrictions are lifted!
Click here to get a Japanese website and FREE music distribution in Japan.
