Tag: Tokyo

Up Close at Spotify’s ‘Tokyo Super Hits Live 2020’ Virtual Concert

December 4, 2020

Photo credit: THINGS

From RapCaviar to iViva Latino! and A1, Spotify’s flagship playlists help listeners around the world fall in love with new artists from across genres. These playlists—and the live events that come out of them—have helped artists both broaden their bases and connect more closely with fans old and new. Recently, our Tokyo Super Hits! playlist has paved the way for J-pop, delivering the great works of Japanese pop artists to global audiences. 

Last week we brought Tokyo Super Hits! to even more listeners through Tokyo Super Hits Live 2020, a virtual livestreamed concert for J-pop fans around the world. Hundreds of thousands of people across the U.S., Canada, Australia, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, and Indonesia tuned in for a three-hour livestream of performances and commentary from some of the biggest names in J-pop.

The seven artists who performed at the event included established creators like ARASHI, Perfume, End of the World, and [Alexandros], and emerging Early Noise artists like Vicke Blanka, Vaundy, and Macaroni Empitsu. During their sets, each act was surrounded by onstage effects such as LED panels, confetti, fireworks, laser beams, and rotating mirrors to create a feast for viewers’ eyes as well as ears. 

That evening, the event became the number one trending hashtag (#TokyoSuperHits) on Twitter in Japan and kept its position throughout the event as fans watched from their computers and smartphones and millions checked out the microsite.

Check out some close-up shots of Tokyo Super Hits Live 2020.

Stream Your Favorite TV and Movie Anime Songs with Spotify’s New Japanese Anime Hub

November 14, 2019

For years, anime television shows and movies like Attack on Titan and NARUTO have been making their way from Japan to TVs around the globe. Over time, the Japanese animation style has become known not only for its visual aesthetic, but also for the rich audio experience behind the medium. And for some, the music is just as important to the culture of anime as the animation itself.

These days, thanks in part to the availability of anime on Spotify in over 20 Spotify playlists, the music behind anime hits is experiencing its own surge in streaming. What’s more, the classical, J-Rock, and J-Pop musicians behind some of the genre’s beloved theme songs have also seen an increase in their stream counts.

To continue to raise the volume on the genre, we recently launched our new Anime Hub. Now fans in Japan, the U.S., Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Brazil, Mexico, India, South Africa, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, and the 13 regions in MENA can find and stream anime music more quickly and easily than ever.

Since the hub launched on October 8, fans in the U.S., Japan, Brazil, Indonesia, and Mexico have streamed anime music the most, with about 25,000 daily active users streaming playlists inspired by Attack on Titan, My Hero Academia, and Tokyo Ghoul. Plus, four new playlists—Genesis of Aquarion, Kantai Collection, Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, and CARDCAPTOR SAKURA—have recently come to Spotify from Victor Entertainment’s Flying Dog label, known for its rich categories of anime-related music. This adds over 1,300 anime-related tracks to Spotify, including theme songs and an original soundtrack album for Genesis of Aquarion mainly composed by Yoko Kanno.

Spotify Stages Overnight Concert for Fans at Japan’s Summer Sonic Festival

August 21, 2019

This past weekend, thousands of music lovers flocked to the 20th annual Summer Sonic music festival, which spanned three days and multistage venues in Tokyo and Osaka. The highlight was a special showcase, Spotify on Stage in MIDNIGHT SONIC, which featured seven artists representing multiple music scenes and countries. These groups—including R3HAB, MGMT, SEKAI NO OWARI, and NCT 127—performed from midnight into the wee hours of Saturday morning.

Despite an initially gloomy forecast, the skies cleared for a weekend that featured homegrown talent and international acts alike. Among those who took to the six stages in Tokyo and four in Osaka were BLACKPINK, The 1975, Weezer, Fall Out Boy, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Chainsmokers, and Rita Ora, to name just a few.

Check out the photo gallery below for some of the most exciting Summer Sonic moments across the three-day festival—one whose diverse line-up helped foster artist and genre discovery.