This article is from WeChat public account “ music pioneer ” (ID: nakedmusic), author: Fan Zhihui.

On March 13th, Netease Cloud Music announced that it had reached a copyright cooperation with Ghibli Studios, and obtained its subordinates including “My Neighbor Totoro”, Spirited Away, “Hall’s Moving Castle”, “Pony Girl on the Cliff”, etc. Full license for well-known animation hits. This is another action in the field of streaming media after Ghibli opened digital rights to its series of movies to HBO Max, Apple TV +, Vudu, Google Play Store, Netflix and other streaming services last October.

Ghibli Studio was founded in 1985, and was co-founded by Hayao Miyazaki and Takahata Houn. It has moved the audience worldwide with high-quality and dramatic characteristics. Japanese musician Hisaishi has produced many films for the studio. Music is also highly rated. But it is embarrassing that long-loving fans have been facing a problem for a long time: there is no place to buy digital versions of these classics, and even less to hear the animated music in these classics. Fortunately, now it is finally resolved.

Interestingly, Ghibli Studio’s recent change in attitude to streaming media is similar to the Japanese music industry’s swing and change between physical recording and streaming services.

Open cooperation, settle on Weibo, send a number of special, The Japanese music industry is finally “Muratone.com”

In the music industry, it is almost a consensus that it is difficult to license Japanese music copyright. The reason is that the local market is big enough to support the operation of the industry, and it is wary of emerging consumption methods such as streaming media. So, with the trend of streaming media sweeping the world, how does Japan rank second in the global recording music market by selling entities?

The reasons can be roughly summarized as follows:

On the channel level, based on the stable pricing structure and distribution model among record companies, distributors, retailers, and the government, complete industry rules have greatly ensured the traditional Japanese recording industry’s control over the sales channels and the entire industry. .

At the legal level, as one of the countries with the strictest copyright management, in addition to high copyright fees, illegal uploading and downloading will face severe legal sanctions in Japan. The illegal uploading can be punished for up to 10 years. This has greatly limited the spread of digital music in the market and slowed down the development of people’s consumption habits.

At the audience level, on the one hand, it has a long-term physical consumption habits, and the unit price is high, which guarantees the market. On the other hand, it is a fan economy in the idol industry. Versions of different covers and video DVD versions have been developed multiple times. , Can bring multiple rounds of revenue to the record company.

With the overly rigorous cooperation attitude, two results have objectively formed: domestic music platforms have money and cannot buy Japanese music online licenses; fans want to listen to songs only through various illegal channels. Fortunately, in recent years, with the continuous impact of streaming media, the Japanese music industry has finally begun to change its thinking and gradually opened copyright cooperation to the outside world.

Taking watershed in 2017, NetEase Cloud Music and Japan’s largest entertainment group Abbex (avex) have officially opened the genuine Japan The precedent of music entering China on a large scale. FollowLater, based on user attributes and copyright operation advantages, NetEase Cloud Music successively reached copyright cooperation with Japanese record companies such as KING RECORDS, NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan, Japan Columbia, etc., and took the lead. In September 2018, Japanese animation music label SACRA MUSIC and Japanese Sony Music label MusicRay’n also landed on Tencent Music Entertainment.

The format of digital albums has also become popular in Japanese music. In 2019, with the popular release of Xin Haicheng’s animated film “Tian 気 の 子”, the RADWIMPS digital album “Tian 気 の 子 complete version” set off a wave of Chinese daily sound. Currently, over 190,000 copies have been sold on Netease Cloud Music, creating The highest sales record of Japanese music digital album in China.

The Japanese firm Janis, which has always been known for its strict control over the portrait rights of Aidou, also allowed SMAP member Takuya Kimura to open a Weibo in December 2018. The style is approachable and active like a high imitation number. On January 8, 2020, Kimura Takuya’s first personal digital album “Go with the Flow” was launched globally on platforms such as Netease Cloud Music and QQ Music. This is also the first time that Janice has opened digital music sales in China, which is iconic in the Japanese music industry.

Under the series of operations such as open cooperation, presence on Weibo, and postal service, the Japanese music industry finally seems to be “Muratsu.com.” But as we all know, digital music has appeared as early as the 1990s, and exceeded the market share of physical music in 2015.

So, if this node embraces streaming media, can Japan keep up with the times?

From resisting to receiving to actively embracing streaming, watching the changes in the Japanese music industry

Under the digital wave, the global music market has been impacted to varying degrees.