Spinnup has launched in Japan.
Universal Music Group has established the global DIY digital distribution service for independent and unsigned music in the country.
The newly-launched, localised Japanese language service will aim to help provide local independent artists the opportunity to release their music around the world and be heard by local Universal Music A&Rs at the same time.
Through Spinnup, artists easily distribute their music to the major music platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon, as well as local Japanese platforms including LINE and AWA.
Spinnup also showcases new talent in front of UMG’s A&Rs. Having already signed more than 80 artists across Europe and the US to frontline UMG labels, Spinnup now has dedicated staff in Tokyo to support, discover and sign new talent in Japan.
For a limited time, all artists in Japan creating a new account can release either one single, mini-album or album for free via Spinnup. The offer has also been available in other territories during the pandemic.
Spinnup recently launched Creators United, an initiative to give artists a sense of connection and help them with new music. The project combines all-new content skewed to artists in lockdown, a Spinnup Community Facebook Group and a series of livestream programmes.
Ichiro Tamaki, corporate executive, Universal Music Japan, said: "Distributing music has never been easier than today, but the challenge of building a professional career is no different for new artists. Spinnup not only enables local independent artists to release their music to fans around the world, but it also enables our A&R to discover new talent. We're very excited to be able to find and support new Japanese talent through Spinnup and to invigorate the independent music scene here.”
Nina Usher, GM, Spinnup said: “As a global service, Spinnup places the utmost importance on being able to reach independent artists all over the world and help them get heard. We are so excited to launch a fully localised service in Japan, complete with new DSPs and powered by the team at Universal Music Japan. We can’t wait to tap into the community of independent artists here and to discover the best new talent.”
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