KDDI Corporation
March 18, 2008
KDDI and Amuse Inc., the integrated entertainment business-development company, have announced plans to form A-Sketch Inc., a joint-venture music label company that will record, manage and distribute music. The new venture will establish on April 1.
The music industry-environment has been changing dramatically in recent years, with the number of online digital music distribution service users increasing yearly. In 2007, the online digital music distribution market rose to nearly 20% of the whole music industry, and it is expected to continue to grow, mature, and increase its market share. With the expansion of services like Chaku-Uta® and Chaku-Uta Full®, music downloading to mobile phones has also grown to hold 90% of the online digital music distribution market, and this demand is increasing rapidly.
A-Sketch will work to create and supply exciting new music, combining the advanced music service for mobile phones and PCs that KDDI has developed in LISMO, with the artist-management strengths and know-how of Amuse for finding and developing new artists and producing music.
Overview of the new company| Company name | A-Sketch K.K. |
|---|---|
| President/CEO | Nobuyuki Souma (Amuse Senior Corporate Officer) |
| Capital | 450 million yen |
| Ownership | Amuse (66%), KDDI (34%) |
| Fiscal term | March |
| Location | Shibuya Infoss Tower, 20-1 Sakuraoka machi, Shibuya, Tokyo |
| Principle business | Music recording, management and distribution |
| Employees | 10 (planned) |
| Established | April 1, 2008 |
| Web site |
Origin of the A-Sketch nameThe name A-Sketch combines the first letter of the words "au", "Amuse", "Artist" and "Audience" with "Sketch", evoking the image of these four entities coming together to build a new way to enjoy music like drawing on a completely blank new canvas.
