Broadening the Reach of Video Game Music: NexTone’s New Effort ‘Video Game Music Academy’ & Its Prospective

Computer game music is no longer simply for video games. Video Game Music Academy, introduced by NexTone’s circulation group, marks a brand-new effort to provide video game music as a brand name to audiences in Japan and abroad.

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Setting itself apart from existing suppliers, NexTone is taking brand-new markets through metadata management and copyright techniques customized to each platform and user requirements. To read more, Signboard Japan talked with Tomofumi Tani, Head of the Abroad Technique Group in the business’s Supplier & & Marketing Department; Kai Hasebe and Yuuho Akimoto from the very same department’s PR & & Marketing Group; and with Submerse, a U.K.-born artist deeply versed in video game music who has actually signed up with the job as a partner. Together, they talked about the background behind Video game Music Academy, its growth into abroad markets, and the fresh possibilities this effort is set to check out.

Could you begin by discussing NexTone’s circulation services?

Tani: We provide music owned by rights holders– such as record labels and video game business– to digital music platforms. On top of that, our business likewise deals with promo, PR, and marketing for those works.

We initially introduced the service in 2003 through our predecessor business, and have actually been broadening business for over twenty years now. Thanks to that development, we presently deal with more than 800 contracted accounts and handle a brochure of 1.3 million tunes. As NexTone, we’ll be commemorating our 10th anniversary next year.

When did your business start focusing more carefully on video game music?

Tani: Through our copyright management service, we have actually constantly had extremely close ties with video game business, and we have actually been included with video game music for a very long time. In the course of our day-to-day work, things like information analysis, we have actually been progressively struck by simply how prominent it is.

Around mid-2024, the music from Personality 3 Reload, established by Atlus, started acquiring traction beyond Japan. It even appeared on Signboard Japan’s International Japan Songs Excl. Japan chart, which ranks Japanese tunes that are making waves globally, and was likewise chosen at MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN 2025 in May. I believe that was an especially remarkable minute not just for our business, however for the whole market.

So offered the growing attention towards video game music, NexTone is actively targeting not just the domestic market however likewise abroad chances.

Tani: Through our research study and analysis of streaming efficiency, we recognized that video game music is being listened to around the world– not just in The United States And Canada and Europe, however likewise in South America and throughout Asia. And with that abroad audience continuing to broaden, it’s difficult to see it as anything aside from a significant chance.

Could you provide us a sense of the scale of the abroad market?

Tani: According to information launched in 2015 by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Market, Japan’s content market deserves approximately 13.1 trillion yen (approx. $88.1 billion). By contrast, the international material market is approximated at around 135.6 trillion yen ($ 912 billion)– about 10 times the size of Japan’s market.

In addition, Japan’s material exports represent roughly 4.7 trillion yen ($ 31.6 billion), or approximately 40% of overall sales. Within that abroad share, about 60% originates from video games, exceeding even anime. (Source: Home Entertainment and Creative Market Policy Research study Committee products.)

With Japan’s population decreasing, focusing exclusively on the domestic market will not be sustainable. The concern now is how to offset locations that were formerly supported locally by broadening overseas. I believe this is a bottom line that the whole Japanese material market is paying attention to.

Could you inform us about your technique to signing up music information on each platform?

Hasebe: With video game and anime music, it prevails to sign up tracks under the “video game title,” “content title,” and even “character name” or “author name.” The issue with that is it develops an expansion of artist pages. For users, that makes it more difficult to discover whatever they desire in one location when they believe, “I wish to listen to the music from this video game or anime.”

To resolve this, we initially develop a single primary artist name, and after that arrange all the tracks under that name. This provides users a clear, central page, enhancing the listening experience and focusing plays in one location. As an outcome, it likewise affects rankings and regular monthly listener counts, assisting to highlight the scale of the material. Another benefit is that the combined information can be utilized for analysis.

Akimoto: The details consisted of on a track page is frequently called metadata, and the specs differ significantly in between streaming services. In many cases, you can designate an artist per track; in others, you can’t. It is necessary to thoroughly evaluate these distinctions and supply the ideal option for each service.

In our case, we personalize the details offered by rights holders to fit the requirements of each platform. By keeping the viewpoint of streaming service users in mind while remaining versatile, we see this as one of our strengths.

Could you inform us the primary factor behind the launch of Video game Music Academy?

Tani: Recalling at the history of music, I feel that Japanese music and artists have actually had a substantial impact on artists all over the world. However they’re frequently seen just as private acts, without being seen jointly. Take K-pop for instance– by developing a significant brand name, it’s developed a motion that private artists alone might never ever have actually accomplished.

By framing material within a bigger structure, we felt there was possible to accomplish something even higher. That was a huge part of our group conversations, and it caused the concept that if video game music is something Japan can genuinely display to the world, why not develop the very same sort of structure there? That’s what led us to introduce Video game Music Academy.

We ‘d likewise like to find out about how Japanese video game music is viewed from abroad. Submerse, as somebody from the U.K., what are your ideas?

Submerse: Personally, I discover Japanese music from the 1990s actually remarkable. Not simply video game music– even back in the ’70s and ’80s, it was greatly affected by Western music, and I believe Japanese artists were gaining from that while developing their own output. However it wasn’t simply a straight copy of those impacts; there was constantly a clearly Japanese essence included. That offered it a somewhat various feel from the music that was popular overseas at the time– which’s the genuine appeal for me.

And simply as the boost in video game memory capability broadened the series of musical expression, I seem like something comparable is taking place in today’s video game advancement. You can particularly see it in the indie video game scene. Advancement expenses and timelines are now simpler to handle than in the past, which has actually enabled a flood of special video games, and I think the indie video game market will continue to progress. Together with that, I anticipate the music in indie video games will keep developing also.

— This interview by Yuki Tatsuta initially appeared on Signboard Japan