Universal Music Japan has obtained exclusive rights to the entire catalog of Japanese music management company Office Augusta. The partnership, announced Wednesday by UMJ's parent Universal Music Group, covers Office Augusta's master recording and publishing catalogs, and helps widen the label's overall scope and beefs up its artist roster in the market.
Established by Yoshinobu Morikawa in 1992, Office Augusta's roster includes Kyoko, Masayoshi Yamazaki, Sakai Yu, Motohiro Hata, COIL, Sukima Switch and Motohiro Hata, among others. The company has several divisions, covering rights management, artist management and a live music promotions tier. It also operates Augusta Publishing, representing more than 1,200 songs and a fan-club and merchandise business called Seven Dials.
"At UMG, we pride ourselves on our culture of artist development, so we are thrilled to join forces with Office Augusta, whose ambition mirrors our own in creating lasting career development and new commercial opportunities for recording artists and songwriters," said UMG chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge in a statement. "Japan is one of the most important and dynamic music markets in the world, and with Naoshi’s leadership combined with our exciting new partnership with Mr. Morikawa, I’m confident that we will continue to evolve Universal Music Japan into the preeminent home for artists."
According to both parties, the acquisition will go into effect on Jan. 6.
