3. At the Age of Sony’s Employment

 
----------- You became an employee of CBS Sony (Sony Music Entertainment presently) which is a joint enterprise of Japanese  top sound maker SONY and CBS records. Why did you choose that company?
 
Well, I wanted to work in the field of something relating to my favorite music. I didn’t want to work at a bank or a business company. So when I graduated I researched some jobs which seemed to fit me, such as, broadcasting company and publications, but at last it looked like the recording company was the closest to the place where music is born. Then I applied to some recording companies. Actually, I had two job interviews, CBS Sony and Hakuhodo which is the largest advertising agency in Japan. I was so eager to work at CBS Sony that I declined Hakuhodo’s offer even before I was accepted by CBS Sony.
 
----------- That’s daring
 
What would I be doing now if I had chosen Hakuhodo?
 
----------- It was a turning point in your life. Then, what kind of job did you want to do in CBS Sony?
 
I decided to be a producer of classical music. I decided I would to quit the company if I didn’t get to be a classical producer in three years. At first, I worked as a salesman in the Osaka branch, but ten months later I became a production staff member for classical music as I hoped.
 
-----------You were at the starting point of your career then. What did you actually do in that position?
 
In my twenty-seven years at Sony Music Group, I spent seven and a half years producing classical music. I organized the to production of classical records (A&R: planning Japanese release from the sources of American CBS, and arranging liner notes and jacket designs of Japanese versions), promotion (working with media and critics for introducing the released records), and advertisement (making a plan for advertising in magazines, making a copy of the advertisement, and controlling the cost). So, I experienced every basic job of a Japanese recording company, but promotion, especially, was my favorite.
 
---------- What makes you favor promotion?
 
I am talkative, and I am also more active than many other men my age. Anyway, the important things in promotion are, 1. Good footwork, 2. Keep your promises, being extroverted, and 3. Not being pretentious.
 
---------- Quite persuasive. But your final goal was being a producer, right? Quite persuasive. But your final goal was being a producer, right?
 
Of course. My goal had been recording producer all the time. After I worked such various jobs for several years, I start working as a recording producer. The first recording I produced myself was a small music CD for oboe and harp. Due to the support of media I had made connections with, I sold ten thousand records which were uncommon for a classical record of Japanese musicians at that time.
 
---------- Congratulations for the big hit of your first record. Please tell me more about the album.
 
The oboe player was a principal oboe player of the Koln Radio Symphony Orchestra in Germany, Humiaki Miyamoto. The work with him was my first produced album in 1981. I knew his manager through by business. He said that Mr. Miyamoto wanted to create an album of oboe for the people who are not particularly oboe lovers. I knew him as a wonderful oboe player through concerts, and after I met him I liked his personality and his ideas. So, I was eager to make his album.
 
---------- It is daring again. It may be easy to dream it but it was not easy to embody your idea.
 
Right. I talked to some friends working in papers and music magazines about the idea of Miyamoto’s recording at first. Some of them promised me to write articles about the album when this project was completed. Then, I explained my album concept to my boss and told him that the album would be relaxed comfortable music just right for BGM, and also about promises of my friends’ article.
Majority opinion of the members of the company was that it was impossible to sell a solo oboe album, the public did not know any oboe players. My argument against them was that the editors of Asahi (one of the representative new papers in Japan), Ongaku no Tomo (music magazine) and FM Fun (also music magazine) promised me to support the album with their articles, and FM Tokyo gave me an opportunity to talk about the album on their program. Finally, they agreed to let me produce the album.
 
---------- Your aggressive tactics succeeded.
 
That’s right. Then, I discussed if with Mr. Miyamoto many times along with hearing the opinions of the company staff, and finally decided to create the first album of Miyamoto at CBS Sony as a duet album with harpist Ayako Shinozaki.comprising small pieces such as, Sicilienne of Faure and Meditation of Massenet.
 
----------- After all, it was a big hit as a classical record. Do you have any other tactics besides media promotion?
 
Sure. Media promotion is not the entire cause of the success. Along with publicity exposure, advertisement and sales are important for promotion as well. You would miss your opportunity if you didn’t advertise effectively and display the album in a good place in record shops while the media are introducing your album. There are many things you have to do, such as, advertising at an appropriate time on an appropriate medium, displaying the album in the store, and avoiding low stock and making a good POP (Point of purchase) to attract people. That is why every person in the project has to work together for a big hit.
 
---------- Would you give me some examples?
 
After I started promoting the first album of Mr. Miyamoto, some papers and music magazines published articles about the record as they promised before. FM Tokyo gave me a chance to talk on their program. The main media for promotion of classical records at that time was music magazines specializing in classical music. But my team intended to sell the album under the concept of `fashionable album for adults`; it sounds antique now, it was almost twenty years ago. Anyway, we visited the editorial offices of general magazines like Weekly Post and fashion magazines like Fashion Report, which hadn’t been interested in classical music at the time. They agreed to introduce the album in their articles. As a result Dreaming Stream, the title of the album, hit unexpectedly. I know our expectation was too small. And I happened to meet with a staff person of the popular TV program Tetsuko’s Room. I talked about the album with him and he arranged for me to be invited as a guest on the program. On the program, Miyamoto played one of the cuts from the album with Shinozaki. Ever after the program was aired sales of the record kept going up and up and soon reached ten thousand copies sold.
 
---------- So, there were lots of people helping you with the hit.
 
It is not uncommon for popular music to sell a million copies and several hundred thousand sales in classical CD’s today, but at that time, ten thousand copies sold was a great success. Maybe it was one of the top ten albums that sold more than ten thousand among five hundred new records released in Japan at that time. In my case, I have networking contacts in the promotion business, and I persuaded my company to produce the album with the help of the network. Then the success of that album allows me to go on to produce the next album. This patter of the process has been repeated there ever since.
 
---------- CDs of classical music seem to sell long term while sales of the mega hit pops end after a certain period. I think there are different promotion tactics for classical albums. What do you think?
 
In short, you need to `grow` or `develop` artists with long-term vision. The word `grow` may not be appropriate, but I think the producer of classical music should take care of artists from the start to the end of their careers. It is hard actually, but at least I tried to be such a producer. Planning promotion with such long-term vision is essential. However, there is an idea of the disposable artist even in the classical world now. One reason I quit being a recording producer was my annoyance with those circumstances.
 
---------- I want to ask about it later. Then, you produced an album entitled Japanese Songs played by Yo-Yo Ma.
 
The album was a part of the CBS Masterworks series of American CBS. I worked with Yo-Yo later in 1986. That was Brahms Piano Quartet No.3 recorded in Tokyo played with Stern and Ax and Laredo.