Sony Music Entertainment Japan

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
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) 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]

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^ "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.

[2] "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.

[3] 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.

[4] "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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