Expanding the Reach of Game Music: NexTone’s New Initiative ‘Game Music Academy’ & Its Potential

Video crippled euphony is nary longer conscionable for games. Game Music Academy, launched by NexTone’s organisation team, marks a caller inaugural to present crippled euphony arsenic a marque to audiences successful Japan and abroad.

Setting itself isolated from existing distributors, NexTone is carving retired caller markets done metadata absorption and copyright strategies tailored to each level and idiosyncratic needs. To larn more, Billboard Japan spoke with Tomofumi Tani, Head of the Overseas Strategy Group successful the company’s Distributor & Marketing Division; Kai Hasebe and Yuuho Akimoto from the aforesaid division’s PR & Marketing Group; and with Submerse, a U.K.-born creator profoundly versed successful crippled euphony who has joined the task arsenic a partner. Together, they discussed the inheritance down Game Music Academy, its enlargement into overseas markets, and the caller possibilities this inaugural is acceptable to explore.

Could you commencement by explaining NexTone’s organisation services?

Tani: We present euphony owned by rights holders — specified arsenic grounds labels and crippled companies — to integer euphony platforms. On apical of that, our institution besides handles promotion, PR, and selling for those works.

We archetypal launched the work successful 2003 done our predecessor company, and person been expanding the concern for implicit 20 years now. Thanks to that growth, we presently enactment with much than 800 contracted accounts and negociate a catalog of 1.3 cardinal songs. As NexTone, we’ll beryllium celebrating our 10th day adjacent year.

When did your institution statesman focusing much intimately connected crippled music?

Tani: Through our copyright absorption business, we’ve ever had precise adjacent ties with crippled companies, and we’ve been progressive with crippled euphony for a agelong time. In the people of our regular work, things similar information analysis, we’ve been progressively struck by conscionable however influential it is.

Around mid-2024, the euphony from Persona 3 Reload, developed by Atlus, began gaining traction extracurricular of Japan. It adjacent appeared connected Billboard Japan’s Global Japan Songs Excl. Japan chart, which ranks Japanese songs that are making waves internationally, and was besides nominated astatine MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN 2025 successful May. I deliberation that was a peculiarly memorable infinitesimal not lone for our company, but for the full industry.  

So fixed the increasing attraction toward crippled music, NexTone is actively targeting not lone the home marketplace but besides overseas opportunities.

Tani: Through our probe and investigation of streaming performance, we realized that crippled euphony is being listened to worldwide — not lone successful North America and Europe, but besides successful South America and crossed Asia. And with that overseas assemblage continuing to expand, it’s hard to spot it arsenic thing different than a large opportunity.

Could you springiness america a consciousness of the standard of the overseas market?

Tani: According to information released past twelvemonth by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan’s contented marketplace is worthy astir 13.1 trillion yen (approx. $88.1 billion). By comparison, the planetary contented marketplace is estimated astatine astir 135.6 trillion yen ($912 billion) — astir 10 times the size of Japan’s market.

In addition, Japan’s contented exports relationship for astir 4.7 trillion yen ($31.6 billion), oregon astir 40% of full sales. Within that overseas share, astir 60% comes from games, surpassing adjacent anime. (Source: Entertainment and Creative Industry Policy Research Committee materials.)

With Japan’s colonisation declining, focusing solely connected the home marketplace won’t beryllium sustainable. The question present is however to marque up for areas that were antecedently supported domestically by expanding overseas. I deliberation this is simply a cardinal constituent that the full Japanese contented manufacture is paying ...