Sony Music has announced plans to press its own vinyl releases for the first time since 1989.
The move has been made by Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ) in Tokyo, which operates independently of its New York-based sister company.
SMEJ plans to start manufacturing vinyl at its in-house production facility by March next year.
The product will be pressed at a factory just south-west of Tokyo, run by a subsidiary of SMEJ.
According to IFPI stats, physical music sales represented 73% of total record industry revenues in Japan last year – making it the world’s biggest physical music territory.
Japan was the world’s second-biggest recorded music territory overall, generating $2.8bn for labels and artists – up 1.1% on 2015.
Some 82.5m CDs were sold in the market in 2016, with other physical formats shifting 64.4m units.
Globally, revenue from vinyl increased in 2016 by 23.5% to over half a billion dollars (US $563.6m) as unit sales increased from 31.7m to 37.5m.
Sony Music’s highest-grossing worldwide recorded music project in the 12 months to end of March this year was Beyonce’s acclaimed Lemonade album (pictured).
The biggest-selling release by Sony Music Entertainment Japan was Anohi Anotoki by Kazumasa Oda.Music Business Worldwide
