Warner Music has launched a new record label in Japan, Wanna Goma Records, in partnership with Goma Studio Inc.
The label will focus on anime music, which has a cultural influence that extends beyond J-Pop to include games and comic books.
Goma Studio Inc is a music production company also responsible for managing Loverin Tamburin, the Japanese anime band (pictured) who formed in 1997.
Over the last 18 years the popular two piece have built an international fan base and played anime festivals around the world.
Simon Robson, President, Warner Music Asia Pacific commented, “Wanna Goma is an exciting new label that will help us to expand our presence in the important Japanese anime music market.
“Goma Studios are respected leaders in their field, and with this partnership we are diversifying the breadth of the culturally significant acts that we work with and expanding our expertise in an exciting and growing genre.”
According to IFPI stats, Japan remains the world’s second biggest recorded music market behind the US.
In 2014, revenues from recorded music in the territory fell 5.5%, producing an annual income of US $2.63bn – just under double the size of the next-biggest territory, Germany.
Goma was also behind a recent Haneda International Anime Music Festival, held in association with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI).
Acts playing the event were originally discovered at the international anime festivals auditions held in the U.S. (Detroit and Atlanta), Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Morocco, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
These acts have now been signed as recording artists by Wanna Goma Records.
Warner Music Japan’s roster includes artists such as Yamashita Tatsuro, Takeuchi Mariya, RIP SLYME , Kobukuro , Superfly and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu.Music Business Worldwide
