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Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc.

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Japanese record and visual brand management company, incorporated in April 1991. Known in Japanese as 株式会社ソニー・ミュージックエンタテインメント. Please do not enter as a label. Its predecessor was CBS/Sony Records Inc., established in 1968 as a Tokyo-based 50/50 joint venture between Sony Corporation and U.S. conglomerate CBS to distribute the latter's music releases in Japan. In August 1973, the company was renamed to CBS/Sony Inc., and in 1983 to CBS/Sony Group Inc. In March 1988, four wholly owned subsidiaries were folded into CBS/Sony Group: , Inc., and International. Until March 2007, Sony Music Japan also had its own North American sublabel, . Sony Music Japan releases now appear on Columbia or Epic in North America. Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. is wholly owned by the of Japan and independent from the US-based Sony Music Entertainment Inc. which is owned by . Many Japanese CDs from 1991 till 2007 have a mould manufacturing print around the center hole in the HUB as 'SMJ' - please use: 'Pressed By' in LCCN. Mastering SID codes registered to this company were L271-L280 with mould codes prefixed IFPI 45xx.