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\n\tBillboard\u2019s Global Power Players<\/a> list recognizes the leaders that are driving the success of the music business in countries outside the United States. Shunsuke Muramatsu, Chairman and Representative Director of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan<\/a>), was selected for the first time from the many leaders of the music industry around the world. Billboard JAPAN<\/a> interviewed Muramatsu in recognition of his selection for the list. He spoke about how he has led the company\u2019s employees in producing hits both inside Japan and overseas by artists such as YOASOBI, Creepy Nuts, and Kenshi Yonezu. He also discussed the challenges and potential of MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN, an event organized by CEIPA, which he directs as Chair of the Board.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tIn 2005, you became president of Sony Music Records (now Sony Music Labels). In 2019, you were appointed president of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), and then you became its chairman in 2026. You were selected for the list this year in recognition of your over two decades of producing hit artists.<\/strong> Even recently, artists on your label, like YOASOBI, Creepy Nuts, and Kenshi Yonezu, have been very successful, charting in Japan and overseas.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThank you. Our company doesn\u2019t just work with music, but has a variety of functions, and I think our successes are the product of our synergy. The business we do at Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) (SMEJ) is extremely wide-ranging. We\u2019re a record company, we manage artists, we plan and create anime and games, we organize events, we operate performance venues\u2026We\u2019re a comprehensive entertainment company like no other, anywhere in the world. Fundamentally, we\u2019re working every day with artists and creators, helping each other reach new heights as we focus our efforts in creating something out of nothing. But starting things from the ground up is exceptionally difficult. Only a limited number of people are involved in that work. Taking something that has already been created and infinitely expanding its potential, though? That\u2019s extremely important, and it\u2019s something many of our staff are involved in. Our company covers both, and, as I keep telling our employees, it\u2019s the repeated implementation of those processes that drives our growth.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tI read an interview of yours in which you said that when you were director of the publicity section, the company\u2019s president praised you, saying that your team looked like they enjoyed their work.<\/strong> (https:\/\/www.rikkyo.ac.jp\/closeup\/alumni\/2022\/mknpps000001zf72.html)<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThat\u2019s back when I was in charge of a really tiny label. We could have been shut down at any time, but shrinking back, worrying that \u201cwe haven\u2019t produced any hits\u201d or \u201cour sales are struggling,\u201d wouldn\u2019t get us anywhere. Instead, we focused on having fun doing our work and showing true grit as we searched for new talent to create new hits. In recognition of those efforts, I was appointed president, but when I was appointed, I said, \u201cif the new artist I\u2019m managing right now doesn\u2019t turn out to be a hit, I\u2019ll resign as president.\u201d That artist was ORANGE RANGE, and right from their debut, they\u2019ve produced hit after hit. The biggest problem is when the people doing the work lose their confidence. That\u2019s why when I became president of SMEJ, I told everyone that our keyword needed to be \u201cchallenge.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tOur company started as CBS\/Sony Records in 1968. There were a lot of record companies at the time, like King Records or Nippon Columbia, but we were coming into the industry as a new upstart. So for those founding members, it felt like leaping naked into a dark ocean. Compared to the situation then, now we have so many facilities and systems in place that it\u2019s like we\u2019re putting on a snorkel and going for a dip in a beautiful ocean, in the middle of the day, under a clear blue sky. I want our employees to feel comfortable going out for a swim, and feel secure diving as deep as they want.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tI\u2019ve experienced a lot of failures myself, but I\u2019ve always learned a lot from those failures. That\u2019s why I tell our junior employees that I want them to experience a lot of failure, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tYou\u2019re not just the chairman of SMEJ, but also the chairman of the Recording Industry Association of Japan and the chair of CEIPA.<\/strong> Japan has set a goal of increasing overseas content sales to 20 trillion yen by 2033. What challenges do you see the music industry facing in achieving this?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tSince 2022, I\u2019ve co-chaired the Japan Business Federation\u2019s Committee on the Creative Economy with Tomoko Namba (Executive Chairperson of DeNA. When I was appointed to the position, government ministries had yet to really turn their attention to the content industry, but then overseas content sales grew to the point that they surpassed semiconductors and steel, so the situation changed. As Prime Minister Takaichi said, when she talks to foreign heads of state, the conversation picks up when the topic turns to Japanese anime or games like Pok\u00e9mon or Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThat said, overseas sales are around 6 or 7 trillion, which means that the target is roughly that. Organic growth alone won\u2019t be enough to reach the target in seven years. The government has doubled its supplementary budget, but unless that budget is used correctly, it won\u2019t produce results. Korea has KOCCA, a dedicated content organization tied to the national government, but Japan doesn\u2019t have anything like that, so we keep asking for the government to create a dedicated content organization that spans different ministries and offices. Right now, the type of content with the highest overseas sales is games, followed by anime. Music is an essential part of both of those. Different types of content affect each other and boost each others\u2019 growth, which is why I think we need to have a national governmental organization that provides support across industry lines, whether its games, anime, or manga.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAniplex, which plans and produces anime, is part of the SMEJ group, so I\u2019m sure that collaborations involving anime and games are one of your specialties.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tIn April, I went to see Creepy Nuts play in New York, and the level of excitement was through the roof. When they played \u201cBling-Bang-Bang-Born\u201d and \u201cOtonoke,\u201d which are both also anime theme songs, the whole audience sang along in Japanese. Of course, there are artists like Fujii Kaze who have hits overseas that aren\u2019t anime theme songs, so it\u2019s not exactly universal, but generally, leveraging anime is an extremely effective way to get a song heard by as many people as possible. Of the top 100 Japanese songs being listened to overseas, around 80 to 90% are anime- or game-related. And in most cases, people just listen to the music in anime or games, but they don\u2019t go as far as becoming fans of the artists. That\u2019s why I think live shows and events are important. If an artist puts on a good performance and gets people excited, it generates organic buzz. I want us to keep creating that kind of spark, both for SMEJ and for CEIPA.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tCreepy Nuts has generated a lot of buzz, performing at the Coachella for the first time in 2026 and being picked as one of the best 10 acts by Billboard Magazine in the US.<\/strong> (<\/strong>https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/lists\/coachella-2026-day-one-best-sabrina-carpenter-katseye\/)\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThat was great to hear. The other day, I saw Bad Bunny when he played in Japan for the first time, and it felt like the same kind of excitement. I doubt many people in the audience knew Spanish, but the music is catchy and it naturally gets your body moving. He\u2019s thought about what kinds of rhythms and arrangements are approachable for people in any country. I feel like Creepy Nuts has the same kind of potential. If they refine that diverse creativity they have, I think they\u2019ll be able to achieve even greater success worldwide.\u00a0<\/p>\n