Billboard Japan & Luminate’s ‘NOW PLAYING JAPAN Vol. 6’ Focuses on Overseas Perspectives on the Japanese Market, How to Leverage Metadata
Categoria: Musica
Held Oct. 2 in Tokyo, the conference featured speakers including Luminate CEO Rob Jonas and Naohiro Kaji of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Por Billboard | 30/10/2026
Billboard Japan and Luminate held their business conference NOW PLAYING JAPAN Vol. 6 on Oct. 2 at Billboard Live Tokyo. Luminate CEO Rob Jonas made his first appearance at the event, presenting an analysis of the Japanese music market from an overseas perspective. The company also presented concrete ways to use its consumption analytics service CONNECT. An upcoming update will integrate metadata into the platform, allowing users to track consumption trends and metadata at the same time, and the presentation showed how this can improve data accuracy while supporting trend analysis. Guest speaker Naohiro Kaji , director of the Culture and Creative Industries Division at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, also took the stage. Drawing on the Entertainment and Creative Industries Strategy 2026 released in August, he joined moderator Seiji Isozaki of Billboard Japan to discuss support measures and challenges in maximizing overseas revenue for Japanese content. Here’s a recap of the event. Related KATSEYE, MAZZEL Producer Taka Perry Talks Career From Sydney to Tokyo & Appeal of Japanese Music: Unbound Japan Interview Kenny MacPherson, Veteran Music Publisher and Big Deal Music Co-Founder, Dies at 71 Diddy Moved From New Jersey Prison to Similar Facility in Pennsylvania Presentation 1: Rob Jonas (Luminate) The first speaker was Rob Jonas, CEO of Luminate. He began by naming data accuracy and independence as the company’s core strengths and introduced three initiatives currently in trial: linking musical works to recordings, an AI analyst that users can query in Japanese, and AI music detection. On AI music, he said, “Our role is not to judge AI music. Our role is to measure it accurately, so that labels, publishers, platforms and charts can make their own decisions based on facts.” Turning to the Japanese market, Jonas explained that total on-demand streams in Japan exceeded 106 billion in the first half of 2026, up 9.5% year over year and outpacing both the global market (+8.4%) and the U.K. (+4.1%). He noted that 75% of streaming in Japan comes from premium subscribers, and that Japan accounts for nearly one-third of all premium streaming in Asia Pacific. He also revealed that, among music listeners not yet paying for streaming, live music attendees are 90% more likely to subscribe within the next six months, followed by gamers (67%) and K-pop fans (38%). Looking beyond Japan, the share of domestic streaming going to Japanese artists has risen to 75.2%, up from 72.8% in the first half of 2024. Jonas described this as a sign of strong fan loyalty, while pointing out that the biggest opportunity for growth lies outside Japan. Japan moved up to 12th in the world in the Export Power ranking, and outside Asia, J-pop streams are growing in the U.S. (+105.5 million), Mexico (+53.3 million) and Brazil (+14.9 million). While streaming services are the top discovery source for international J-pop fans, more than half of J-pop fans in Mex