TOKYO — Japanese pop music is conquering audiences overseas, but a major problem is emerging behind the scenes: some of the money generated when J-pop is played abroad is not reaching the artists and rights holders who created it.
The issue has become increasingly urgent as Japanese music spreads globally through streaming platforms, anime, games, social media and international concerts.
Japan is now moving to strengthen its copyright system and improve the collection of royalties, as artists such as YOASOBI, Fujii Kaze, Creepy Nuts and Mrs. GREEN APPLE reach audiences far beyond the domestic market.
J-Pop Is Going Global — But the Royalty System Has Gaps
Japan’s music industry has historically operated differently from many other major music markets when it comes to so-called neighboring rights, which can cover performers and record companies.
For years, Japanese venues using recorded music generally generated copyright payments for composers and songwriters, while performers and record companies did not receive equivalent public-performance payments under the same system.
Japan’s government moved to change that framework in 2026, with parliament approving a copyright-law revision that creates new royalty rights for singers, musicians and record companies when recorded music is used as background music in commercial establishments.
The reform is particularly significant as Japanese music increasingly travels outside the country.
Billions of Yen Could Be at Stake
Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs estimated that Japanese performers could have generated roughly ¥2.4 billion in 2024 if relevant neighboring rights had been recognized and collected overseas under the applicable systems, according to reporting on the government’s reform discussions.
The figure illustrates the economic opportunity created by J-pop’s international expansion.
Japan has also set an ambitious broader target of increasing overseas music-related sales to ¥1 trillion by 2033, according to reporting on the government’s strategy.
That makes royalty collection more than a legal technicality. It is becoming part of Japan’s strategy for turning the country’s growing cultural exports into sustainable income for the music industry.
Metadata Errors Can Make Royalties Disappear
One of the less visible problems is surprisingly simple: music-rights data has to match correctly across countries and platforms.
A Japanese government report examining overseas music use found that incorrect metadata — including differences in Japanese characters or romanization — can prevent royalties from being properly identified and collected.
For example, variations in the spelling of an artist or creator’s name can make it difficult for rights-management systems to match overseas usage with the correct work.
This becomes increasingly important as Japanese songs spread across dozens of territories and platforms.
A song may be streamed, used in a video, played in a commercial venue or incorporated into another piece of content — creating multiple potential rights and payment trails.
JASRAC Is Already Expanding Overseas Collection
Japan’s largest music-rights organization, JASRAC, has been working to strengthen the administration of Japanese music used overseas.
Its 2024 fiscal-year report said it expanded overseas YouTube administration through a mandate covering 34 territories, including the United States, and added performing rights to the scope of that administration.
JASRAC has also joined an international data-sharing initiative known as GDSDX, designed to make information about musical works easier to exchange between collecting societies and global digital services.
The organization said seven additional rights organizations joined the platform, bringing the total to 12 participating organizations including JASRAC as of March 2025.
The goal is straightforward: make it easier to identify who owns what and ensure the correct rights holders receive money when music is used.
Japan’s Music Industry Is Already Generating Record Royalties
The royalty issue comes as Japan’s domestic music economy is expanding.
JASRAC data for fiscal 2025 showed total music royalties rising 5.4% year on year to a record ¥152.3 billion.
Interactive streaming, including subscription services and YouTube, generated ¥61.8 billion, up 9.6% from the previous year. Revenue from concerts and other performances also increased, reaching ¥29.1 billion.
The numbers underline how dramatically the business has changed from the era when physical CDs dominated Japanese music consumption.
Mrs. GREEN APPLE Shows the Scale of J-Pop’s Streaming Power
The growth can be seen in the performance of Japanese artists themselves.
Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “Lilac” generated the highest copyright royalties in Japan during fiscal 2025, earning the JASRAC Gold Award.
The song surpassed 900 million streams, while other major Japanese hits from YOASOBI and Creepy Nuts also ranked among the country’s highest-royalty-generating works.
The success of these artists is increasingly international, meaning the systems used to track and distribute income must operate across borders rather than primarily within Japan.
Why Overseas Royalties Are So Complicated
International music royalties can involve multiple parties, including:
- Songwriters and composers
- Music publishers
- Performers
- Record labels
- Collective-management organizations
- Streaming platforms
- Broadcasters
- Overseas licensing agencies
Different countries also have different rules governing public performance, recordings and neighboring rights.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry notes that performance-rights systems remain uneven internationally and says there is still substantial untapped potential in payments to artists and producers when recorded music is publicly used.
For Japanese artists, that means a song becoming popular overseas does not automatically guarantee that every potential royalty stream will be captured efficiently.
Japan Wants J-Pop’s Global Success to Translate Into Artist Income
The government’s copyright reforms are therefore arriving at a critical moment.
Japanese music has already demonstrated that it can travel globally without abandoning its original language or identity.
Anime, gaming, social media and streaming have helped introduce Japanese songs to listeners who may never have previously sought out J-pop.
But international popularity creates a new responsibility for the industry: building the infrastructure needed to track that popularity financially.
The 2026 copyright reform is one part of that effort.
The other pieces include better metadata, stronger international cooperation between collecting societies, improved licensing systems and more efficient distribution of foreign income.
The Bigger J-Pop Business Is Only Beginning
Japan’s challenge is no longer simply getting Japanese music heard overseas.
It is making sure that global attention becomes sustainable revenue for the people who create the music.
As Japanese artists increasingly tour internationally and songs spread through streaming services, anime and social platforms, overseas royalty collection could become an increasingly important part of the J-pop economy.
The global J-pop boom has created an opportunity measured not only in streams and sold-out concerts, but potentially in billions of yen in additional rights income.
The question now is whether Japan’s royalty infrastructure can move fast enough to capture it.
WWC ONE MEDIA G,A
