Recording Industry Association of Japan
 | |
| Formation | 1942 |
|---|---|
| Type | Technical standards, licensing and royalties |
| Headquarters | Kita-Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo |
| Location | |
Membership | 19 main members, 15 associated members and 24 supporting members (all as of August 2009) |
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer | Masaaki Saito (Victor) |
Key people |
Vice-Chairmen: Hirohumi Shigemura (King), Shinji Hayashi (Avex) Directors: Shinichi Yoshida (Nippon Columbia), Seiichi Ishibashi (Teichiku), Naoshi Fujikara (UMG Japan), Kazunobu Kitajima (Nippon Crown), Masahiro Shinoki (Tokuma Japan), Takashi Yoshimura (Pony Canyon), Kazuyuki Kobayashi (WMG Japan), Shuji Hanafusa (VAP), Yutaka Goto (For Life), Shunsuke Muramatsu (Sony Music) Senior Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer: Kotaro Taguchi Managing Director: Kenji Takasugi Executive Director and Director-General: Yoichiro Hata Auditors: Mitsuo Takako (DreaMusic), Nobuyuki Ogino (Yamaha Music), Atty. Hideto Ishida (reference:[1]) |
| Website | Recording Industry Association of Japan - in English |
The Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) (日本レコード協会 Nippon Rekōdo Kyōkai) is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969.
The RIAJ's activities include promotion of music sales, enforcement of copyright law, and research related to the Japanese music industry. It publishes the annual RIAJ Year Book, a statistical summary of each year's music sales, as well as distributing a variety of other data.
Headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, the RIAJ has twenty member companies and a smaller number of associate and supporting members; some member companies are the Japanese branches of multinational corporations headquartered elsewhere.
The association is responsible for certifying gold and platinum albums and singles in Japan.
RIAJ Certification
In 1989, the Recording Industry Association of Japan introduced the music recording certification systems. It is awarded based on shipment figures of compact disc or cassette tape which was reported by record labels. In principle, the criteria are limitedly applied to the materials released after January 21, 1989.
Certification awards
Currently, all music sales including singles, albums, digital download singles are on the same criteria. Unlike many countries, the highest certification is not called "Diamond" or "Platinum", but "Million".
| Thresholds per award | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | Platinum | 2× Platinum | 3× Platinum | Million | Multi-Million |
| 100,000 | 250,000 | 500,000 | 750,000 | 1,000,000 | 2,000,000+ |
Old criteria (until June 2003)
Before the unification of criteria and introduction of music videos category in July 2003, a separate scale had been used for certification awards.[2]
| Format | Type | Thresholds per award[2] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | Platinum | Million | ||
| Albums | Domestic | 200,000 | 400,000 | 1,000,000 |
| International | 100,000 | 200,000 | ||
| Singles | Domestic | 200,000 | 400,000 | |
| International | 50,000 | 100,000 | ||
Digital certifications
Certifications for songs and albums released digitally began on September 20, 2006, using download data collected since the early 2000s.[3] From 2006 until 2013, there were three categories for certifications: Chaku-uta (着うた（R）, "Ringtone"), Chaku-uta Full (着うたフル（R）, "Full-length Ringtone") (i.e. a download to a cellphone) and PC Haishin (PC配信, "PC Download") for songs purchased on services such as iTunes. On February 28, 2014, the Chaku-uta Full and PC categories were merged to create the Single Track (シングルトラック) category.[4]
While digital album certifications are theoretically possible, only one album has received this certification since the beginning of digital certifications, the 2011 Songs for Japan charity album.[5]
Members
Main members
- Avex Group¹
- Avex Entertainment (supporting member)
- Being Inc.
- Dreamusic Incorporated
- For Life Music
- Geneon Universal Entertainment¹
- King Records¹
- Bellwood Records (supporting member)
- King Records International (supporting member)
- Nippon Columbia
- Nippon Crown¹
- Pony Canyon¹
- Exit Tunes (associate member)
- Sony Music Entertainment Japan¹
- Ariola Japan (supporting member)
- DefStar Records (supporting member)
- Epic Records Japan (supporting member)
- Ki/oon Records (supporting member)
- SME Records (supporting member)
- Sony Music Artists (supporting member)
- Sony Music Associated Records(supporting member)
- Sony Music Direct(supporting member)
- Sony Music Distribution(supporting member)
- Sony Music Japan International (supporting member)
- Sony Music Records (supporting member)
- Tokuma Japan Communications¹
- Universal Music Group¹
- VAP Inc.¹
- Victor Entertainment¹
- Warner Music Group¹
- Yamaha Music Communications
- Yoshimoto R&C
Associate members
- Amuse Soft Entertainment
- HATS Unlimited
- Johnny and Associates
- Konami Digital Entertainment
- Bandai Visual
- LD&K Records
- Naxos Records
- Pryaid Records¹
- Space Shower Networks
- Spiritual Beast
- Venus Records
- Village Again Association
Supporting members
- Aniplex (subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan)
- Crown-Tokuma Music (joint venture of Nippon Crown and Tokuma Japan Communications)
- Free Board
- Holiday Japan
- Jei One
- NPPDevelop
- T-Toc Records
- TV Asahi Music
- Ward Records
¹Member, International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
See also
- List of best-selling albums in Japan
- List of best-selling singles in Japan
- List of 50 Best Selling Artists of All-Time in Japan
- Recording Industry Association of America
- Australian Recording Industry Association
- List of music recording sales certifications
- RIAJ Digital Track Chart
- Global music industry market share data
External links
- Recording Industry Association of Japan - in English
References
- ↑ "Board of Directors" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved December 25, 2010.
- 1 2 "The Record - August 2003 - Page 15" (PDF) (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
- ↑ レコード協会調べ 8月度有料音楽配信認定 [Record Association Investigation: August Digital Music Download Certifications]. RIAJ (in Japanese). September 20, 2006. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
- ↑ 音楽配信認定の基準 [Digital Music Certification Criteria] (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. February 28, 2014. Archived from the original on March 6, 2014. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
- ↑ レコード協会調べ 5月度有料音楽配信認定 [Record Association Investigation: May Digital Music Download Certifications]. RIAJ (in Japanese). June 20, 2011. Retrieved February 4, 2014.