There’s an interesting story about anime on Automaton, and how Sony’s increasing death grip on the medium could be potentially causing issues.
The story revolves around Ichiro Yamaguchi, the lead vocalist and guitarist for the band Sakanaction. He noted earlier in the year that he’d like to produce the soundtracks for more anime, but raised concerns about Sony Music’s ownership of entertainment company Aniplex.
Aniplex oversees a variety of anime, including Demon Slayer, and as a part of the Sony Music family it makes sense for the company to recruit artists and producers already on its books to create soundtracks for its movies and shows.
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This, according to Yamaguchi, reduces the opportunity for other artists to get involved.
Certainly, we can see the potential issue, as Sony seeks to synergise all of its divisions.
Sony Music group Yoasobi recently did the title track for Oshi no Ko, while fellow label mate Creepy Nuts was recruited to create the song for Dandadan.
To be fair, though, both are popular acts and neither of the animes were produced by Aniplex.
The company did, however, recruit Aimer and LiSA to write the main theme songs for the recent record-breaking Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle movie – both of whom are also signed to Sony Music.
We suppose this is just an issue of consolidation really. While we respect and appreciate Sony’s desire to grow its foothold in the anime space, we’re reluctant to see it keep buying its way to the top.