[article] Japan's leading record labels look ahead

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(excerpt)

Japan's leading record labels look ahead.

Billboard Asia bureau chief STEVE McCLURE offers a concise guide to the top 10 record companies in Japan according to market share, as calculated by SoundScan Japan for Jan. 1-June 30, 2002.



(3) AVEX INC.

Chairman/CEO: Tom Yoda

Web site: www.avex.co.jp

Major acts: Ayumi Hamasaki, BoA, Do As Infinity

Market share: 11.77% (No. 2, 14%)

The year ending March 31-was a tough one for Avex. At the group's core company, Avex Inc., sales were down 9.8%, to 55.2 billion yen ($416.5 million), while after-tax profit fell 78.9%, to 917 million yen ($6.9 million). On a consolidated basis, the Tokyo-based group's sales fell 1.1%, to 82.4 billion yen ($621.7 million); after-tax group profit was down 36.3%, to 4.4 billion yen ($33.5 million). Besides slumping CD sales--which Avex blames partly on the rapid spread of CD-R copying in Japan--the group's profits were hurt by stock-market losses and its purchase of the central Tokyo building in which its main office is located. In March, Avex became the first Japanese label to introduce copy-protected CDs. As a relative newcomer in the Japanese industry (the company was founded in 1988), Avex has less catalog to exploit than other labels, so it's under more pressure to find and develop new acts. Avex says it plans to become less dependent on the sales of superstar female vocalist Ayumi Hamasaki, who accounted for 15% of the group's consolidated earnings. Avex is pinning its hopes on female vocalists Misia (formerly with BMG Funhouse) BoA, Hitomi Shimatani and Kumi Koda, as well as animation-related product and the recently established Jo label, which specializes in music aimed at the over-30 market.

From Billboard, 7 September 2002