Billboard Japan recently interviewed Katsumi Kuroiwa, the CEO of Avex, due to his debut on Billboard’s International Power Players list. The interview has now been translated for the main Billboard into English. In the interview, Kuroiwa spoke about creating global hits and the potential of female artists, among other things.
Kuroiwa was selected for the 2023 Billboard International Power Players list in recognition of the success of XG’s debut and their appearance on the Mediabase Top 40 Radio Airplay charts, the first time ever for Japanese female artists.
He spoke of challenges he faced with the group’s debut, saying, “We launched XGALX, a global artist project behind artists like XG, six years ago, in 2017. This was when the world’s attention was first turning to KPop. Of course, KPop already had its fans at the time, but this was about when it started to establish an overwhelming presence due to BTS. Avex has a long history of producing KPop artists such as BoA, TVXQ, and BIGBANG. We formed a partnership with SM Entertainment in 2001, and we created a label with YG Entertainment. The strong impression I got through our activities with them was that they were keeping a close eye on the Japanese and global markets. Leveraging this experience, we launched the XGALX project with the aim of creating global hits. Initially, we were aiming for a 2020 debut, but the COVID pandemic but a halt to any major moves, so the debut ended up being in 2022. We built up even more knowledge in the intervening time, so in the end it turned out for the best.”
Speaking on the international buzz acts YOASOBI, Ado, Fujii Kaze, and imase have recently received, Kuroiwa said, “It’s extremely encouraging. Every artist gains ground in a different way, so I think we need to take a close look at the data to see just how they’re growing in each individual country, including Japan. Right now, roughly 30% of XG’s listeners are in Japan, 20% in the US, and 50% in other countries. I think this is an ideal distribution, and if Japanese artists from all kinds of genres become widely listened to — if people say ‘Fujii Kaze’s great and YOASOBI’s great, but XG’s also great’ — then I think the future of the Japanese music market will be a bright one.”
Billboard Japan asked Kuroiwa about how most of the artists on the Japanese charts have been male, and with few high-charting female artists, despite the overseas success of acts like NewJeans, BLACKPINK, Taylor Swift, and Olivia Rodrigo.
“Male artists, especially male groups, enjoy a lot of support from female fans, which makes it easy for them to generate revenue. However, we’ve made a lot of female artists, like Namie Amuro and Ayumi Hamasaki, into hit artists,” he responded. “Around the 2000s, what happened is that although these artists had some male fans, there was a societal phenomenon of female fans who aspired to be like these artists. For both men and women, it’s common for an artist to enjoy a lot of support from the other gender when they debut, but once they reach a certain level, female artists also have a lot of female fans. They have the power to create a kind of culture of their own. I’m not sure if, in our current age, it’s right to speak in terms of gender, but I think female artists have the power to transcend gender and generation barriers.”
Kuroiwa’s full interview can be read here.
