Virgin Music Group has teamed up with Tokyo-based Bushiroad Music to distribute anime music globally.
Under the terms of the partnership announced on Tuesday (November 12), Virgin Music, a division of Universal Music Group, will provide digital distribution services for Bushiroad Music‘s content across 35 countries.
Bushiroad Music is a subsidiary of gaming and anime producer Bushiroad Inc., which was established in 2007 as a producer of trading card games and other content production services. The company has since grown to diversify its IP media mix to include games, animation, live music, and other forms of media.
Bushiroad Music currently manages several music properties, including content from BanG Dream! Girls Band Party!, Bushiroad’s smartphone game with over 20 million users globally. The franchise has expanded into an anime adaptation, BanG Dream! It’s MyGO!!!!!, which aired in 2023.
The partnership coincides with Bushiroad’s upcoming sequel release, BanG Dream! Ave Mujica, scheduled to air in January 2025.
The collaboration with Virgin Music will distribute several theme songs from recent BanG Dream! theatrical releases. The movies BanG Dream! It’s MyGO!!!!! Part 1: Spring Sunshine, a Lost Cat, and Part 2: The Melody Within premiered in September and November, respectively.
Their ending theme songs, Adayume and Speed, are being distributed globally through VMG’s network. Releases including Mayoiuta and Hitoshizuku have been enhanced with Dolby Atmos technology, mixed at Universal Music Studio Harajuku’s facilities.
“We are very pleased to collaborate with Bushiroad Music to help share music from their powerful slate of Anime programming with new and wider global audiences, including the music from BanG Dream!“
Masaya Inokuchi, VMG/Universal Music Japan
Masaya Inokuchi, Managing Director, VMG/Universal Music Japan, said: “We are very pleased to collaborate with Bushiroad Music to help share music from their powerful slate of Anime programming with new and wider global audiences, including the music from BanG Dream!.
“We will utilize VMG’s global network to tap into the growing demand for music from Japanese content worldwide, sharing Bushiroad’s creative vision with the world, through their music and visionary content.”
“With VMG’s extensive marketing support, we will accelerate the global expansion of our contents and deliver new music experiences to our fans.”
Nano Kitaoka, Bushiroad Music
Bushiroad Music, Inc. Representative Director, Nano Kitaoka added: “Bushiroad Music aims to deliver the happiness of being moved by music content to all the people.
“This partnership opens up new possibilities in music distribution. With VMG’s extensive marketing support, we will accelerate the global expansion of our contents and deliver new music experiences to our fans.”
The partnership bolsters Virgin Music’s anime music distribution services. In July, the company partnered with Tokyo-based Frontier Works to release anime music projects.
At the time, Virgin Music and Frontier Works said the move comes “in response to the growing global demand for Japanese culture and content, including animation and gaming.”
According to the Association of Japanese Animators’ (AJA) latest Anime Industry Report, Japan’s domestic animation industry soared 106.8% in market size YoY to JPY 2.9 trillion yen (USD $18.88 billion). Outside Japan, anime revenue grew 111.1% YoY.
In August, Spotify reported that global streams of anime music have soared 395% on its platform since 2021.
Music Business Worldwide