King Records Co., Ltd. a Japanese music company, was established in1931 and continues to be a major national corporation in the Japanese music industry as well as that world-wide. Begun as a section of the Japanese publishing company, Kodansha, by the 1950’s King Records had begun operating independent of its parent company. Organizationally, it is still a part of Kodansha’s Otawa Group, though it retains its own board and decision making structure. The company provides Japan with much national pride as it is currently the largest and most profitable music company to be owned solely by Japan as opposed to a multinational conglomerate. Headquartered in Tokyo, the music company has expanded to include several channels for varying types of music and entertainments. Under its Starchild label, the company produces and distributes anime music and films, Venus-B is the label for the company’s urban music, and You! B Cool is the label that produces the music of the Japanese Idol group, AKB48. The company’s newest label, Evil Line Records, produces such artists as uchu-jin, MEG, Momoiro Clover Z, and TeddyLoid. King Records also distributes video games for several types of computers in Japan including the PC-88, the Famicom, and the MSX2.
The King Records channel can be found on Youtube, and available music that can be streamed includes Japanese Pop, Japanese Rock, Traditional Japanese Music, Classical, Japanese Fusion and music for children and infants. Music can also be downloaded or streamed from the company’s official website which offers insights about the artists, regularly updated blog posts and more general information about up and coming bands and the music industry in Japan.
