Avex Inc. (

kabushiki gaisha A or ''kabushiki kaisha'', commonly abbreviated K.K. or KK, is a type of defined under the Companies Act of Japan. The term is often translated as "stock company", "joint-stock company" or "stock corporation". The term ''kabushiki gaisha'' in ...

, commonly known as Avex and stylized as avex) is a Japanese entertainment conglomerate led by founder

Max Matsuura , better known by his stage name , is a Japanese record producer and entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of Avex Group, one of the largest music labels. He is known mainly for discovering and developing new artists into stars (most notab ...

and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1988, the company manages

J-pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in trad ...

talents like

Ayumi Hamasaki is a Japanese singer-songwriter and producer. Nicknamed the "Empress of Pop" on account of her influence throughout Asia, she is widely recognized for her versatile music production, songwriting, and live performances. Hamasaki is the List of ...

, TVXQ! and internet sensation PikoTaro. It has also shifted into other business domains like anime, video games and live music events, partnering with

Ultra Music Festival Ultra Music Festival (UMF) is an annual outdoor electronic music Music festival, festival that takes place in March in Miami, Florida. The festival was founded in 1999 by Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes. It was first held on Miami Beach, but bes ...

and hosting the annual A-nation. The company is a member of the

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is a Japanese bank holding and financial services company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. MUFG was created in 2005 by merger between and UFJ Holdings (株式会社UFJホールディングス; ''kabushikigaisha yūefujei hōrudingusu'' ...

(MUFG) ''

keiretsu A is a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings that dominated the Japanese economy in the second half of the 20th century. In the legal sense, it is a type of business group that is in a loosely organized al ...

''.

Name

AVEX is an

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

of the English words Audio Visual EXpert. Since its foundation, its corporate name was Avex D.D., Incorporated, and ten years later it was changed to Avex, Incorporated. The current name, Avex Group Holdings, Incorporated, was adopted in 2004 as part of reconstruction process after Tom Yoda's resignation. Avex Group Holdings, Incorporated was used for the main subsidiaries, while the old name (Avex, Incorporated) was for entertainment components of the Group. In 2005, Avex, Incorporated became Avex Entertainment, Incorporated, and stayed on as part of the Group.

History

1988–1999: The early years

Avex was registered June 1, 1973, as , although it did not become established until 1988. They began as a CD wholesaler based in

Machida, Tokyo is a Cities of Japan, city located in West Tokyo, the western portion of the Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 428,851, and a population density of 6,000 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Due to ...

. :ja:エイベックス・グループ Avex Group's article on the Japanese Wikipedia. In September 1990, they opened a recording studio and created

Avex Trax is a record label owned by Japanese entertainment conglomerate Avex Inc. The label was launched in September 1990, and was the first label by the Group. History Two years after Max Matsuura began a career distributing studio albums from othe ...

as a music label. In the same year, they created "Musique Folio Inc.", a music publishing company, which became "Prime Direction Inc." In 1993, they transferred to

Aoyama, Tokyo is a neighborhood in Tokyo, located in the northwest portion of Minato, Tokyo, Minato Ward. The area is known for its international fashion houses, cafes and restaurants. refers to the area on the north side of Aoyama-dori (Aoyama Street) betw ...

and created a U.S. branch, called "AV Experience America Inc." The year also marked the first of Avex's yearly events. It was held in

Tokyo Dome is an indoor stadium in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium (whose former site is now occupied by the Tokyo Dome Hotel and a plaza for this stadium). In Japan, it is often us ...

under the name "avex rave '93" and attracted 50,000 attendees. This led to the creation of the Cutting Edge label. In 1994, they formed two UK subsidiaries, "Rhythm Republic Limited" and "Avex U.K. Limited". Later that year, they opened a disco, claimed on their website to be "the world's largest scale disco", named

Velfarre was a disco located in the Roppongi district of Tokyo, Japan. Velfarre was the self-professed "largest disco in Asia" with a capacity of 1,500 people, with three floors above ground and three floors below; owned by Tetsuya Komuro and Avex Trax. V ...

. In 1997, they opened a series of concert halls called "

Zepp The Zepp music halls are a group of Japanese music venues covering every area of the country. They play host to many international tours and are a popular stop among Japanese musicians. Each venue takes the Zepp name, along with the city in whic ...

" with

Sony Music Entertainment Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation and is ...

. In early 1999, they signed an agreement with

Walt Disney Records Walt Disney Records is an American record label owned by the Disney Music Group. The label releases soundtrack albums from the Walt Disney Company's Walt Disney Studios (division), motion picture studios, television shows, Disney Experiences, them ...

and

Hollywood Records Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by the Disney Music Group which focuses on pop, rock, alternative, hip hop and country genres, also specializing in recordings for a more mature audience not suitable for the flagship Wal ...

(record labels both owned by

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

) to handle the companies' Japanese CD releases, after WDC had taken a small stake in Avex the previous year. Later that year "Avex Mode", an animation company, was established. In December, the company was listed on the 1st section of the

Tokyo Stock Exchange The , abbreviated as Tosho () or TSE/TYO, is a stock exchange located in Tokyo, Japan. The exchange is owned by Japan Exchange Group (JPX), a holding company that it also lists (), and operated by Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc., a wholly owned sub ...

under the

ticker symbol A ticker symbol or stock symbol is an abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded Share (finance), shares of a particular stock or Security (finance), security on a particular stock exchange. Ticker symbols are arrangements of symbols ...

7860.

2000–2009: Times of unity and divisiveness

In 2001, Avex opened the "avex artists academy" music school. In 2002, they released the " CCCD", a type of copy-protected CD, and opened their building in Aoyama, paid for by Sumitomo Life and worth 205 billion yen. In 2003, they opened a classical music business (named Avex Classics). In January 2004, they began selling Japanese music CDs in South Korea. In December of that same year, President

"spotted" former idol

Ami Suzuki is a Japanese recording artist, DJ, and actress from Zama, Kanagawa, Japan. Following her late 90s fame as a popular teen idol, Suzuki went on to become known for her self-penned lyrics and music production. In 2000, Suzuki entered a legal bat ...

performing live at the annual festival of their school,

Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice, in 1889. The university's name is derived from the Ja ...

. He subsequently signed her to the Avex label. In 2005, Avex acquired distribution rights for Aozora Records' catalogue including all future Hitomi Yaida releases. In early 2008, Avex partnered with Victor JVC to officially create the label D-topia Entertainment as a business partnership between the labels and its founder, Terukado Onishi, with the

sales promotion Sales promotion is one of the elements of the promotional mix. The primary elements in the promotional mix are advertising, personal selling, direct marketing and publicity/public relations. Sales promotion uses both media and non-media marketing ...

handled by Victor while the area promotion handled by Avex. As part of the Avex Group's 20th anniversary celebration, a big project occurred with avex trax's "produced by avex trax" artists; the band

Girl Next Door The girl next door is a young female stock character who is often used in Romance novel, romantic stories. She is named so because she often lives next door to the protagonist or is a childhood friend. They start out with a friendship that late ...

, formed and debuted in September 2008. Avex Group launched its own

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also called TV over broadband, is the service delivery of television over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Usually sold and run by a Telephone company, telecom provider, it consists of broadcast live telev ...

service, BeeTV, May 2009 in partnership with NTT DoCoMo.

2004: Internal feud: Max Matsuura v. Tom Yoda

In August 2004, a feud between Max Matsuura and co-founder Tom Yoda affected the group. It started because of Yoda's ambition to expand Avex into other entertainment-related ventures, especially producing

movie A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

s. In addition, he accused Ryuhei Chiba, the company's executive director and president of Avex Inc. (now Avex Planning and Development), of pursuing personal profit from a few big artists. July 30: In a board meeting, Yoda introduced a resolution calling on Chiba to resign because of an alleged

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...

. A source says the disagreement arose because Chiba had signed an artist managed by a member of his family. The board backed Yoda's resolution in a 6-1 vote. However, Matsuura — described by insiders as a close ally of Chiba — introduced a second resolution demanding that Yoda step down due to "a difference of opinion in management principles". Matsuura's motion was defeated 5-2. He and Chiba resigned the next day. August 2: Matsuura and Chiba announced their resignations in a meeting with employees of Avex. Chiba denied any fault, while Matsuura complained that Avex had lost its love of music and said he wanted to start over. They had the support of many staff who also said they would quit. More significantly, the label's top star,

, said she would leave. As a result, Avex's stocks in the TSE fell by 16 percent that day. August 3: Due to pressure by employees and artists and to save the company from bankruptcy, Yoda resigned and was replaced by Toshio Kobayashi.

2010–present

AGHD is listed at the

Frankfurt Stock Exchange The Frankfurt Stock Exchange (, former German name: , ''FWB'') is the world's 3rd oldest and 12th largest stock exchange by market capitalization. It has operations from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm ( German time). Organisation Located in Frankfurt, ...

and Börse München of Germany under the ticker symbol AX8. More K-pop artists from other agencies continued to sign with Avex such as

SM Entertainment SM Entertainment Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency established in 1995 by Lee Soo-man. It is one of South Korea's largest entertainment companies and has been responsible for fostering and popularizing the car ...

TVXQ TVXQ (stylized as TVXQ!; , ), known as Tohoshinki in Japan, is a South Korean pop duo formed by SM Entertainment, composed of U-Know Yunho and Max Changmin. Originally a five-member boy band which also consisted of members Kim Jae-joong, Hero ...

(2006),

YG Entertainment YG Entertainment () is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment agency established in 1996 by Yang Hyun-suk. The company operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management and conce ...

2NE1 2NE1 (, ) is a South Korean girl group formed by YG Entertainment in 2009. The group consists of Park Bom, Bom, CL (rapper), CL, Sandara Park, Dara, and Minzy. Known for their Experimental music, musical experimentation, fashion, and stage pre ...

(2010), S-plus Entertainment's

SS501 SS501 (currently promoting as Five O One) is a South Korean boy band consisting of five members: Kim Hyun-joong, Heo Young-saeng, Kim Kyu-jong, Park Jung-min (singer), Park Jung-min and Kim Hyung-jun. They debuted in 2005 with the Extended play, ...

member Kim Hyung Jun (2011), Pledis Entertainment's After School (2011), NH Media's U-KISS (2011) and Yejeon Media's Shu-I (2011). On July 21, 2011, it was announced that Avex had paired with Korean management label YG Entertainment to form YGEX. In 2012, the group began offering limited releases for sale, DRM-free for the first time within Japan on

Amazon MP3 Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is a music streaming platform and digital music store operated by Amazon. As of January 2020, the service had 55 million subscribers. It was the first music store to sell music without digital rights manage ...

. Max Matsuura and Toshio Kobayashi, the company's top two individual shareholders, launched their own investment companies to anchor their shares in 2012. As a show of modernization, Avex Group moved to Izumi Garden Tower in

Roppongi Roppongi (, , 'six trees') is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, famous for the affluent Roppongi Hills development area and popular night club scene. A few foreign embassies are located near Roppongi, and the night life is popu ...

in October 2014. The company was designated to the 36th floor – the former address of DWANGO. On February 15, 2017, Avex Group discontinued all foreign exports of Blu-rays, DVDs, and CDs published under their Avex Pictures label. A spokesperson said the action was taken due to unspecified rights issues.

North American expansion, Avex Music Group

In 2022, Avex made a renewed attempt to expand into North America. Avex USA Inc. opened in a rented five-bedroom

West Hollywood West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. History Most historical writings about West Hollywood be ...

home, headed by Naoki Osada, an Avex veteran with experience in the American music business. Avex leadership gave Osada five years to find success in the U.S. The home has been renovated to include four recording studios. The label has partnered with

Sony Music Publishing Sony Music Publishing LLC (formerly Sony/ATV Music Publishing) is an American music publisher. Responsible for publishing the largest quantity of music, with over five million songs owned or administered as of end March 2021, it is part of Sony ...

to administer its catalogue outside Japan. In March 2025, Avex acquired S10 Publishing's catalog of songs. The company also made an additional investment in S10 Management. At the same time as the acquisition, Avex USA was consolidated under a new entity, Avex Music Group (AMG), and Brandon Silverstein was named as its chief executive officer. He became a partner in the company, having been given an equity stake in AMG, and joined its board of directors.

Subsidiaries

In April 2010, the Avex Group corporation was re-structured to establish Avex Music Publishing Inc. as a consolidated subsidiary, in a corporate spin-off of music publishing division of Avex Group Holdings Inc. Thus the Avex Group became a pure holding company, with a corporate structure as follows:

Domestic

Avex Entertainment Inc.

=Avex Music Creative Inc.

Music labels

* Avex Casa (house music and electronica) * Avex Classics (

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

) * Avex Globe (

globe A globe is a spherical Earth, spherical Model#Physical model, model of Earth, of some other astronomical object, celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but, unlike maps, they do not distort the surface ...

's label; defunct since 2019) * Avex Ideak (joint venture with KADOMATSU.T; defunct since 1998) * Avex International (international releases) * Avex IO * Avex Trance (trance music) * Avex Rush * ZOOM FLICKER *

(first record label of the group (1990)) * Avex Tune (dance music) * Xgalx * B-ME (joint venture with BMSG) * Binyl Records (rock music) ** Dive in! Disc ** Gokukara Records (joint venture with

Marty Friedman (born December 8, 1962) is an American guitarist, best known for his tenure as the lead guitarist of thrash metal band Megadeth from 1990 to 2000. He is also known for playing alongside Jason Becker in Cacophony from 1986 until 1989, as well ...

) ** PopTop * Blowgrow * Commmons (joint venture with

Ryuichi Sakamoto was a Music of Japan, Japanese musician, composer, keyboardist, record producer, singer and actor. He pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the Synthesizer, synth-based band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his ...

) * Cross-A * Cutting Edge (second record label of the Group (1993.12)) * Dimension Point (

Namie Amuro Namie Amuro ( ; ; born September 20, 1977) is a retired Japanese singer. She rose to prominence as a Japanese idol, teen idol, and transitioned into a leading Pop music, pop artist due to her versatility across music styles and visual presentatio ...

's label) * Disc du Soleil * Dois Irmaos ( Lisa Ono) * Espionage Records (joint venture with Verbal) * Five-D Plus * Foxtrot (joint venture with Rams Incorporated) * FRAME (joint venture with Level-5; founded by the latter with

Up-Front Works is a Japanese holding company for various entertainment companies. Its subsidiaries include the talent agency Up-Front Promotion and Up-Front Works, a music production and sales company that manages such record labels as Zetima, Piccolo Town, ...

) * Hach Entertainment (joint venture with NTT SmartConnect) * Hi-BPM Studio * HPQ (

Visual kei , abbreviated , is a category of Japanese musicians that have a strong focus on extravagant stage costumes that originated in Japan during the early 1980s. Koji Dejima of '' Bounce'' wrote that visual kei is not a specific sound, but rather it " ...

) * Idol Street (for idol performers, launched October 2, 2010, by Tatsuo Higuchi) *

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

* J-Friends Project * J-More * Justa Music * Locomusic ( Love-chan's label) * Love Life Records ( Hitomi's label) * Mad Pray Records (

Anna Tsuchiya is a Japanese singer, actress and semi-retired model. Since 2005, she is primarily known as a singer.Oricon p ...

's label) * Maximum 10 * MENT RECORDING (joint venture with Johnny & Associates) * Motorod Records * nakedrecords * Oorong Records (joint venture with Oorong-sha Group) * Rhythm Republic *

Rhythm Zone (RZN) is a record label in the Avex Group that releases urban contemporary Japanese music. History The label was founded in 1999 by Max Matsuura with a focus on urban music, signing M-Flo as its first artist, then followed by Exile. In 2000 ...

(third record label of the Group (1999)) ** Fluctus ** Riddim Zone ** Starz by Rhythm Zone * Rising Records * Sonic Groove * Superb Trax * Tachytelic Records (joint venture with

Taku Takahashi is a Japanese DJ and record producer who debuted in 1997 as a producer of the hip hop group M-Flo. The group rose to prominence in the early 2000s, with hit singles such as "How You Like Me Now?" and "Come Again." Takahashi was also a member of ...

) * Tank Top Records * Tearbridge Production * The Six Dragons * True Song Music ( Dai Nagao's label) * Velfarre Records * YGEX (joint label with

)

=Other operating companies

= * Avex Live Creative Inc. * Avex Music Creative Inc. ** Avex Creative Factory Inc. * Avex Alliance & Partners Inc. * Avex Music Publishing Inc. * Avex Classics International Inc. * Avex Fan Marketing Inc. * Avex Technologies Inc. ** fuzz, Inc. * Avex Management Inc. * Avex Healthcare Empower LLC. * Avex Clan Inc. * Avex Styles Inc. * Avex Management Agency Inc. * Avex Creator Agency Inc. ** Virtual Avex Inc. ** LIVESTAR Inc.

Avex Pictures Inc.

* Avex Animation Labels Inc. * Flagship Line Inc. * Avex Film Labels Inc. * aNCHOR Inc. * The Anime Times Company Inc.

Avex AY Factory LLC

* Avex Asunaro Company Inc.

Overseas

* Avex Asia Pte. Ltd. ** Avex China Inc. ** Avex Hong Kong Ltd. ** Avex Taiwan Inc. ** Avex Saudi Arabia LLC * Avex Music Group

Affiliate companies

* Memory-Tech Holdings Inc. * AWA CO.Ltd * HI&max Inc.

Labels distributed

* A stAtion ( Ayaka's own record label), since 2012. * AKS Co., Ltd. (

AKB48 AKB48 (pronounced ''A.K.B. Forty-Eight'') is a Japanese idol musical girl group named after the Akihabara area in Tokyo, where the group's theater is located. AKB48 has sold more records than any other female musical act in Japanese history. AK ...

's agency), since 2006. (Avex currently handles AKS'

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

releases.) * Aozora Records, since 2005. ** GMT Records, since 2005. * Armada Music * , since 2003. *

CAM Entertainment is a Japanese record label founded by CyberAgent, the company behind Ameba (website), ameba. The initials CAM mean Cyber Agent Music. Artists * Maki Ohguro * Miyu Nagase * Maika Sawaki * Sacon * Strawberry Record * Wonder-holic * Eri Yoshida ...

, since 2008. * D-topia Entertainment, since 2008. (co-distributed with

Victor Entertainment is a subsidiary of JVCKenwood that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It is known as JVC Entertainment in countries where Sony Music Entertainment operates the RC ...

and Universal Music Japan) * Danger Crue Records, from 2006 to 2012. (now handled by

Sony Music Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...

) *

Disney Music Group Disney Music Group (DMG) is the music recording and publishing arm of Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. It is located at the studio's headquarters in Burbank, California. The div ...

, from 1999 to present (co-handled with

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

from 2018 for albums when live converts are handled by Avex). * Fluxus Entertainment *

Free-Will is an independent Japanese independent record label, record label founded in 1986 by Color (band), Color vocalist Hiroshi "Dynamite Tommy" Tomioka, with branches predominantly in Japan and the United States, as well as previously in Europe. Th ...

** ISM Label ( kannivalism's label), since 2006. * HATS Unlimited (

Taro Hakase is a Japanese musician who specialises as a violinist and composer. Biography Career Hakase was involved in a Japanese band called Kryzler & Kompany which formed while he was in college. He played the violin, while Tsuneyoshi Saito played ke ...

's label) ** AG Label * Higashiyakena Soundbuilder ( HY's label), since 2000. * I Scream Records, since 2010. (Japan only) * Johnny & Associates (Taiwan and Hong Kong only) ** J Storm **

Johnny's Entertainment was a Japanese talent agency formed by Johnny Kitagawa in 1962, which managed groups of male idols known as The company had a significant impact on pop culture with male idols and boy bands in Japan since the 1980s. Until 2019, the company w ...

Kontor Records Kontor Records is a record label based in Hamburg, Germany. The label's artist roster includes ATB, Tiësto, Armin van Buuren and Scooter. Jens Thele is the head manager of Kontor and is also the manager of Scooter. Edel SE & Co. KGaA is th ...

* P-Vine Records (co-distributed with

and BMG Japan/

) ** Almond Eyes ** Kai-san Factory *

, since 2000. * S2S Pte. Ltd. (Japan only) *

Toy's Factory is a Japanese record label founded in the late 1980s as a subsidiary of the entertainment company VAP, based in Japan. On May 30, 1990, it was established as an independent company. It is an associate member of the Recording Industry Assoc ...

(Taiwan only, since 2012) * Vamprose, since 2008. ( Vamps and Monoral's label) * Vandit * Yamaha Music Communications Inc., since 2006. ** contemode

Promotional projects

Aoyama Christmas Circus may refer to: Places * Aoyama, Tokyo, Japan ** Aoyama Gakuin University, a university located in Aoyama, Tokyo ** Aoyama-itchōme Station, a railway station in Minato, Tokyo, Japan * Aoyama, Mie, formerly a town in Naga District, but now part of ...

(annual Christmas tree lighting event)

IFPI membership

The Group is a member of the

IFPI The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a non-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland and founded in Italy in 1 ...

for Hong Kong and Japan.

A-Nation

Each year since 2002, Avex has hosted a summer concert tour around Japan, "A-Nation", featuring the company's most successful acts. It is held every

weekend The weekdays and weekend are the complementary parts of the week, devoted to labour and rest, respectively. The legal weekdays (British English), or workweek (American English), is the part of the seven-day week devoted to working. In most o ...

in August in different Japanese cities. Top Avex acts like

Kumi Koda , known professionally as , is a Japanese singer from Kyoto, known for her urban and R&B songs. After debuting with the single " Take Back" in December 2000, Koda gained fame in March 2003 when the songs from her seventh single, " Real Emoti ...

, AAA, Ai Otsuka, BIGBANG, BOA,

Do As Infinity Do As Infinity is a Japanese pop and rock band that formed in 1999 with three members: vocalist Tomiko Van, guitarist Ryo Owatari, and guitarist and composer Dai Nagao. The band's name is sometimes abbreviated as DAI, alluding to the fact tha ...

, Hitomi, TRF, Every Little Thing and

perform to major crowds each year. In 2008,

made her first appearance at A-Nation and performed on all dates that year. For the first time in 2012, Kumi Koda did not perform due to her pregnancy. Festival sponsors include

Joe Weider Josef Weider (; November 29, 1919 – March 23, 2013) was a Canadian bodybuilder and entrepreneur who co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB) alongside his brother Ben Weider. He was also the creator of Mr. Olympia, Ms. Ol ...

and his Weider fitness products, Seven & I Holdings Co., NTT DoCoMo, Mizuno Corp., Nissay (through its You May Dream! Project), and others.

International partners

* USA – Morgan Rich Corporation/

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

–

S.M. Entertainment SM Entertainment Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment agency established in 1995 by Lee Soo-man. It is one of South Korea's largest entertainment companies and has been responsible for fostering ...

KT Music Genie Music (), a subsidiary of KT Corporation, is a South Korean company that specializes in the production and distribution of music content. Its music streaming service is the second most used in South Korea with 2.5 million subscribers as ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

–

Universal Records Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

– BEC-TERO Music * China P.R. – China Record (Shanghai) Corporation

References

External links

* {{Authority control Japanese companies established in 1988 Japanese talent agencies Conglomerate companies based in Tokyo Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Companies listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange Japanese independent record labels Record labels established in 1988 Entertainment companies of Japan Entertainment companies established in 1988 Mass media companies established in 1988 Holding companies established in 1988 Holding companies based in Tokyo Mass media companies based in Tokyo IFPI members Multinational companies headquartered in Japan Anime companies 1999 initial public offerings Minato, Tokyo