Japan's music industry is making new money on YouTube, finally licensing for user-generated content after years of resistance.
When video-blogger Martina Sazunic moved from Seoul to Tokyo in 2016, she was shocked to learn that — unlike in South Korea — using music by some of Japan’s biggest pop stars on her YouTube channel was not permitted. Doing so, she quickly learned, would result in the offending video being taken down at the request of the rights holder.
In 2022, Alphabet-owned YouTube says it paid out a record $6 billion to the music industry, although executives in Asia tellthat only around 5% of that total — around $300 million – went to rights holders in Japan. That’s despite YouTube being the most popular video platform in the country with over 70 million monthly active users .
Orfium, which generates income for clients by tracking and monetizing the use of music in broadcast and UGC platforms, has been active in Japan since 2022 when it acquired social media firm Breaker and is now one of the biggest operators in the local market. Others include Los Angeles-based PEX, Swiss-based Utopia Music, Spain’s BMAT and California-based Vobile.
“I see Japan as being a huge opportunity for us and the wider industry,” says Wells, who served as Universal Music Group’s president of global digital business before joining Orfium in 2017. The company now has over 700 employees across nine territories in Europe, Asia and the U.S.
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