is a

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

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 album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

s from other countries, he and his two Avex co-founders, Tom Yoda and Ken Suzuki, decided to found their own label. Aiming to compete with more established labels such as Nippon Columbia, Nippon Crown, BMG Victor, Victor Musical Industries, Toshiba-EMI, CBS/Sony, Teichiku Records, King Records, Nippon Phonogram and PolyGram K.K., they created the Avex Trax label. The first artist to sign to the label was the band TRF, which became a success. This led to Avex Trax becoming a "house of refuge" for artists who had left their former labels (e.g. Ayumi Hamasaki from Nippon Columbia, Namie Amuro from Toshiba-EMI,

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 ...

from Sony Music Japan). It also appealed to artists not content with their current labels (e.g. Gackt from Nippon Crown). Formerly distributed by until 1992 and then by the Nippon Crown label from 1992 on, in 1997 Avex became a self-distributed label together with Cutting Edge, which was formerly distributed by Toshiba-EMI.

Sub-labels

Current

* B-ME –

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

with * Bluestar Records (Since 2019) – formerly a sub-label of Cutting Edge * Love Life Records – Hitomi's private label * motorod (Since 2002) – formerly a sub-label of Cutting Edge * - joint venture with Level-5 * 影別苦須虎津苦須 – Kishidan's vanity label

Defunct

* J-Friends Project (1997–2003) – joint venture with Johnny & Associates

Notable artists

;Groups * @onefive * Boku ga Mitakatta Aozora * Bridear * Chō Tokimeki Sendenbu * DA-ICE * Do As Infinity * Every Little Thing * Exo * GENIC * Kamen Rider Girls * Ketsumeishi * kolme * lol * Mameshiba no Taigun * NCT * Red Velvet *

SKE48 SKE48 (S.K.E. Forty-eight) is a Japanese idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. SKE48 is named after the Sakae, Nagoya, Sakae district in Nagoya of Aichi Prefecture, where the group is based. The group performs at SKE48 Theater on 2F of Sunshi ...