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The story
Beginnings as CBS joint venture
The idea for a CBS/Sony joint venture came in 1967 from Harvey Schein, then President of Columbia Records International, who had spent a decade traveling the world building CBS's international company. In 1972, Schein would leave CBS to become the president of Sony Corporation of America.
Sony Music Entertainment Japan was officially incorporated in March 1968 as a Tokyo-based 50/50 joint venture between Sony and U.S. conglomerate CBS to distribute the latter's music releases in Japan. The company was incorporated as CBS/Sony Records and with Sony co-founder Akio Morita as president.
Norio Ohga, who himself was a musician, was part of the management team from the formation of the company and served as president and representative director since April 1970. In 1972, when CBS/Sony was generating robust profits, Ohga was named chairman and, at the same time, gained further responsibility and influence within Sony. He would continue to work for the music company one morning a week. In 1980, Toshio Ozawa succeeded Ohga as president.
In 1983, the company was renamed CBS/Sony Group.
Sony acquires The CBS Records Group in 1988
In January 1988, after more than a year of negotiations, Sony acquired the CBS Records Group and the 50% of CBS/Sony Group that it did not already own.
In March 1988, four wholly owned subsidiaries were folded into CBS/Sony Group: CBS/Sony Inc., Epic/Sony Records Inc., CBS/Sony Records Inc. and Sony Video Software International. The company was renamed Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), Inc.
On November 22, 1991, Sony Music began trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, initially offered at its 6,800 yen per share subscription price, but fell to 5,700 yen due to no buyers.
Shugo Matsuo was named new president in January 1992, replacing Toshio Ozawa, who was appointed to the post of chairman. Overall sales for the fiscal year ending March 31, 1991, were 83.8 billion yen with a pretax profit of 9.2 billion yen. In June 1996, Ryokichi Kunugi became the new president. Shugo Matsuo was named chairman. Shigeo Maruyama was appointed to the new post of CEO on October 1, 1997, and replaced Kunugi as president in February 1998.
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In August 1998, the logo was changed from the original "Walking Eye" to the current one.
As of 2019, Mizuno Michinori is the official CEO of the company. In May 2018, SMEJ, through its Sony Creative Products division, acquired a 39% stake in the Peanuts comic strip franchise from DHX Media.
Video games
The company entered the video game industry in 1986 when CBS/Sony Records started making games for the Famicom with Seikima II Akuma no Gyakushū!, and it was followed it in 1987 with the Epic/Sony Records label delivering Famicom games. This is not Sony's first entry into the video game industry, the company previously published games for MSX under the Hit Bit line.
The company expanded in Western publishing in late 1988 when the group founded CSG Imagesoft to localize its titles for the North American market. The company was renamed to Sony Imagesoft in 1991, nearly two years after Sony acquired Columbia Pictures, with the Imagesoft division moving to the new Sony Electronic Publishing subsidiary.
During this time, producers seeking out creative talent and nurturing them to help develop new games, a strategy that was later used by Sony Computer Entertainment during its early years. The company churned out hits like Hook and Skyblazer for the SNES. The company also brought Western-developed titles like Solstice to the Japanese market, and the success led a sequel Equinox, which was commissioned by SMEJ for a Western market release by Sony Imagesoft. In 1993, the company released The Seven Colors: Legend of PSY・S City, which marked the debut of video game designer Masaya Matsuura, who go on to develop PaRappa the Rapper.
The company formed Sony Computer Entertainment in 1993, forcing SME Japan to stop publishing Nintendo games under the Epic/Sony Records name, and started publish video games with the SME Japan name. SME Japan however makes games autonomously from SCEI, like Psygnosis later did for SCEE and 989 Studios for SCEA. In 1998, the company signed a deal with Activision to publish games for Western territories, previously its games were localized by Sony Imagesoft, then SCEA/SCEE. In 2000, most of the functions were in the progress of transferring of SCEI, finally phasing it out in 2004 following the release of wordimagesoundplay for PlayStation 2. Also in 2000, the Tenchu IP was sold to Activision.
Unties
Sony Music Entertainment announced the launch of its first video game publishing label, Unties, in October 2017. Unties will publish indie games for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation VR, Nintendo Switch, and PC. The name was selected by Sony as representative of helping to "unleash" the power of independent video game development and "unshackle" such developers from the traditional video game publishing process.
Unties' first release was Tiny Metal, a turn-based tactics video game developed by Area 35, for the Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PC. The game was first premiered at PAX West Indie Megabooth. Published Azure Reflections, a side-scrolling bullet hell developed by Souvenir Circ., on May 15, 2018, for the PS4. Published Touhou Gensou Wanderers Reloaded, a roguelike rpg developed by Aqua Style, for the PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Published Necrosphere, a platformer developed by Cat Nigiri, for the PS4, Nintendo Switch, PC, and PSVita. Published Midnight Sanctuary, a VR/3D Novel game developed by CAVYHOUSE, for the PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC. Published Tokyo Dark, a visual novel mystery adventure hybrid developed by Cherrymochi, for the PC. Published Chiki-Chiki Boxy Racers, an arcade racing game developed by Pocket, for the Nintendo Switch on August 30, 2018. Scheduled to publish on Last Standard, a 3d action game developed by I From Japan, intended for PC. Scheduled to publish The Good Life, a daily-life rpg developed by White Owls Inc., for the PS4 and PC. Scheduled to publish Merkava Avalanche, a 3d cavalry warfare action game developed by WinterCrownWorks, for the PC. Scheduled to publish Olija, an action adventure game developed by Skeleton Crew Studio, for the PC. Scheduled to publish Deemo Reborn, a music rhythm and urban fantasy game developed by Taiwanese studio Rayak, for the PS4 with PSVR support. Scheduled to publish Giraffe and Anika, a 3d adventure game developed by Atelier Mimina, for the PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC. Scheduled to publish 3rd Eye, a 2d horror exploration game, based on the Touhou franchise, for the PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Scheduled to publish Gensokyo Defenders, a tower-defense game developed by Neetpia, for the PS4 and Nintendo Switch. In 2019, Unties was dropped from the Sony group and became the new company Phoenixx.
Increased competition
The company's leading role on the Japanese market was increasingly challenged by labels such as Avex (where SMEJ formerly owned 5 percent of shares). Net sales for the fiscal year ending March 31, 1997, were down 10% to 103 billion yen, while net income fell 41% to 7.7 billion yen. The market share at that time was less than 18%. In August 1997, Dreams Come True, until that point Sony Music Entertainment Japan's best-selling act, signed a worldwide multi-album deal with competing U.S. label Virgin Records America.
Since then, it was said that SMEJ ceded to Avex's challenge, but SMEJ bounced back and regained leadership from its indie rival until 2012. SMEJ netted 22.4 billion yen for 1H 2012 and 14.3% of the market, second behind Avex (24.95 B yen, 15.9%).
In May 2017, SMEJ, through subsidiary Sony Music Marketing (now Sony Music Solutions), acquired the physical retail and distribution rights to releases of another rival, Warner Music Japan.
On June 11, 2025, SMEJ, via Sony Music Labels, acquired the rights to the Spookiz series, including its characters from Keyring.
On April 1, 2026, SMEJ and Universal Music Japan launched a joint venture company Nine by Nine, aiming to operating music festivals in Asia.
From Wikipedia’s article on Sony Music Entertainment Japan, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4