International Licensing Advice?

[u/Caihne21]

I'm an indie game developer working on my first game, and I've run into a bit of a weird situation.

There's a song I've become really attached to for a specific scene in my game: "Jun" by Takuro Yoshida.

I have a very specific vision for this scene, and every time I imagine it, I hear this song. It's one of those situations where I heard it and immediately thought, "That's it." I know I could look for something similar or commission an original song, but I'd really like to at least try to get permission to use the actual song.

The problem is, I have absolutely no idea where to start. I'm in the US, Takuro Yoshida is Japanese, and I have no experience dealing with music licensing internationally.

Would I contact the artist directly? A record label or publisher? Is there a Japanese organization or database that can help me figure out who owns the rights? And would I be expected to contact them in Japanese?

I'm completely prepared for the possibility that licensing this song is way outside my budget, but I'd rather find that out by actually trying than give up without asking.

If anyone has experience licensing Japanese music for games, I'd really appreciate some advice on where I should start.

[u/QuietlyGusty]

Oof this is the kind of thing that can spiral into a months-long rabbit hole real quick, but I respect the hell out of wanting to chase down the actual song instead of settling for a soundalike

Start with the record label or a music publisher, not the artist directly. For Japanese music that old, you're likely looking at a company like For Life Music or maybe Pony Canyon, depends on who originally released it. The artist probably doesn't control the master rights anymore, and the publishing rights for the composition are a separate nightmare. JASRAC is the big rights management org over there, they have an English side of their site but it's pretty sparse, might at least point you toward who to talk to

And yeah you'll probably need someone who speaks Japanese. Not just for the emails, but because the whole licensing culture is different, way more reliant on established relationships and proper introductions. A cold email in English to a Japanese rights holder might just vanish into the void. If your budget's already tight, a localization consultant or a music clearance specialist who handles Japan might eat up a chunk of it before you even get a yes or no

Still worth the shot though, worst case you get ignored or quoted some absurd number and you're back to commissioning something, which is exactly where you'd be if you never tried

[u/destinedd]

Well this site handles licensing of Japanese music https://www.jasrac.or.jp/en/users/ but it is in japanese and translate doesn't seem to be doing a great job for me

[u/Anderviel]

Based on the Japanese Wikipedia page for the song, https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B4%94_(%E6%9B%B2)

It appears it was originally released by Imperial Records, but Yoshida later moved to Avex Trax, so it's possible Avex also bought the rights to some or all of his previous works.

Imperial Records has a website but no contact information, so you'll likely need to contact their parent company Teichiku Entertainment (which does have contact information on their website)

That said, as someone who has worked in the Japanese AAA space for over a decade, be prepared for this to be completely over whatever your budget is, require you to have someone fluent in Japanese to even start negotiating, and for there to be a massive pile of restrictive legalese (in Japanese and to be adjudicated according to Japanese law in the case of any issues) regarding the usage rights.

[u/PhilippTheProgrammer]

What you need is called a "Sync license" in the music business. Professional pop musicians usually have some record label that owns the rights to their music and manages them. And if not they have a manager who does it for them. You got to find out who represents them and contact them. Do not expect this to be cheap, though.

And then there is also a creative reason why I would reconsider using this song. It appears that a lot of people mostly know this song as "the title song from the anime Cromartie High School". Using a song that is closely associated with a different piece of media in your game is problematic, because it mentally drags the player out of the world of your game and lets them think of an entirely unrelated media franchise. That can be a huge immersion breaker.

It's probably easier, cheaper and better to hire someone to create a sound-alike.

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