Recording Industry Association of Japan

Recording Industry Association of Japan
Nippon Rekōdo Kyōkai
Formation 1942
Type Technical standards, licensing and royalties
Headquarters Kita-Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo
Location
Membership
19 main members, 15 associated members and 24 supporting members (all as of August 2009)
Masaaki Saito (Victor)
Key people
 Vice-Chairmen: Hirohumi Shigemura (King), Shinji Hayashi (Avex)
Directors: Shinichi Yoshida (Nippon Columbia), Seiichi Ishibashi (Teichiku), Naoshi Fujikara (UMG Japan), Kazunobu Kitajima (Nippon Crown), Masahiro Shinoki (Tokuma Japan), Takashi Yoshimura (Pony Canyon), Kazuyuki Kobayashi (WMG Japan), Shuji Hanafusa (VAP), Yutaka Goto (For Life), Shunsuke Muramatsu (Sony Music)
Senior Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer: Kotaro Taguchi
Managing Director: Kenji Takasugi
Executive Director and Director-General: Yoichiro Hata
Auditors: Mitsuo Takako (DreaMusic), Nobuyuki Ogino (Yamaha Music), Atty. Hideto Ishida (reference:[1])
Website Recording Industry Association of Japan - in English
Naoki Kitagawa, the Chairman of RIAJ, on April 7, 2013

The Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) (日本レコード協会 Nippon Rekōdo Kyōkai) is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969.

The RIAJ's activities include promotion of music sales, enforcement of copyright law, and research related to the Japanese music industry. It publishes the annual RIAJ Year Book, a statistical summary of each year's music sales, as well as distributing a variety of other data.

Headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, the RIAJ has twenty member companies and a smaller number of associate and supporting members; some member companies are the Japanese branches of multinational corporations headquartered elsewhere.

The association is responsible for certifying gold and platinum albums and singles in Japan.

RIAJ Certification

In 1989, the Recording Industry Association of Japan introduced the music recording certification systems. It is awarded based on shipment figures of compact disc or cassette tape which was reported by record labels. In principle, the criteria are limitedly applied to the materials released after January 21, 1989.

Certification awards

Currently, all music sales including singles, albums, digital download singles are on the same criteria. Unlike many countries, the highest certification is not called "Diamond" or "Platinum", but "Million".

Thresholds per award
Gold Platinum 2× Platinum 3× Platinum Million Multi-Million
100,000 250,000 500,000 750,000 1,000,000 2,000,000+

Old criteria (until June 2003)

Before the unification of criteria and introduction of music videos category in July 2003, a separate scale had been used for certification awards.[2]

Format Type Thresholds per award[2]
Gold Platinum Million
Albums Domestic 200,000 400,000 1,000,000
International 100,000 200,000
Singles Domestic 200,000 400,000
International 50,000 100,000

Digital certifications

Certifications for songs and albums released digitally began on September 20, 2006, using download data collected since the early 2000s.[3] From 2006 until 2013, there were three categories for certifications: Chaku-uta (着うた（R）, "Ringtone"), Chaku-uta Full (着うたフル（R）, "Full-length Ringtone") (i.e. a download to a cellphone) and PC Haishin (PC配信, "PC Download") for songs purchased on services such as iTunes. On February 28, 2014, the Chaku-uta Full and PC categories were merged to create the Single Track (シングルトラック) category.[4]

While digital album certifications are theoretically possible, only one album has received this certification since the beginning of digital certifications, the 2011 Songs for Japan charity album.[5]

Members

Main members

Associate members

Supporting members

¹Member, International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Board of Directors" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved December 25, 2010.
  2. 1 2 "The Record - August 2003 - Page 15" (PDF) (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
  3. ↑ レコード協会調べ　8月度有料音楽配信認定 [Record Association Investigation: August Digital Music Download Certifications]. RIAJ (in Japanese). September 20, 2006. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  4. ↑ 音楽配信認定の基準 [Digital Music Certification Criteria] (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. February 28, 2014. Archived from the original on March 6, 2014. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
  5. ↑ レコード協会調べ　5月度有料音楽配信認定 [Record Association Investigation: May Digital Music Download Certifications]. RIAJ (in Japanese). June 20, 2011. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
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