British musical talent looks to Japan for international success

Valerie | 13 Aug 2009, 17:46

UK music labels are hoping to build on the success of British acts such as Coldplay and Radiohead and carve out a niche in Japan, the world’s second biggest music market after the US, the Guardian reports.

More than 30 British companies are in Tokyo this week on a government-sponsored mission to break into the huge, but notoriously tough, Japanese music market. Organised by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) and now in its sixth year, the aim of the mission is to secure record and marketing deals and help British firms navigate a market that would otherwise be out of bounds for smaller UK labels.

2008 saw British acts dominate domestic and worldwide markets, achieving both huge critical success and multi-platinum sales. Coldplay’s Viva La Vida for example was the second biggest selling album in the US, while Leona Lewis’s debut album Spirit sold 4.75 million copies, according to the UKTI.

However, with music sales down by 7.3% for the first six months of this year from a year earlier and the continued pace of piracy, gaining a bigger slice of a market that is “defying the downward spiral seen in the rest of the world” has never been more crucial. Total music sales in Japan were up 0.9% at ¥425bn (£2.6bn) – attributed largely to downloads by the country’s 100 million mobile phone users.

Despite having ‘cracked’ the US, UK artists have struggled to gain a foothold in the Japanese market, where they account for only 25% of sales in Japan, well behind US artists the Guardian says.

Kimitaka Kato, international managing director at Universal Music Japan said:

“It’s vitally important that British labels come with government backing because in Japan, the international market is declining year on year.

“To sustain and expand, indie labels need to keep coming and to understand what this country is really about.“

Julian Wall, the BPI’s director of independent member services remains confident in the commitment of British music companies in breaking their artists overseas:

“British music punches massively above its weight, despite the so-called collapse in the music industry. I have high hopes for UK labels that haven’t put a foot in the water in Japan but are here now to make contacts”.