The First Take Phenomenon: How Sony is Shaping Japan’s Music for the World

Viewers have been captivated by the “The First Take” since it blew up on YouTube a few years ago.

The series is well known for its amazing one take recordings from rising artists in Japan, and is the most subscribed Japanese music channel in history.

How does the First Take sound even better than the real studio recordings, and where are these amazing artists coming from? Does Sony’s involvement with the production make it less authentic?

Yes – The performances are (mostly) real

There is nothing indicating that The First Take is heavily edited or chopped together with multiple takes. While “cleaning up the sound in post” isn’t against the show‘s slogan of “a live performance shot in only one take”, according to industry rumors, interviews, and production quality – it seems very little is edited and the show does stick with its philosophy.

Some artists are even seen making mistakes. Things like messing up lyrics, not hitting the right note, and plugging in headphones incorrectly.

The stars natural emotions are left unedited, and it makes for a very raw performance each time.

A popular example is KANA BOON’s song, Naimonedari, where the singer comes in late at 3:10.

While there was a sensational YT video by an American musician a while back making bold claims about the show being fake, there is minimal criticism in Japan towards its authenticity.

It helps that there is a huge team setting up the room, recording equipment, etc. to perfectly reflect each artist’s unique abilities – but, again, nothing points to the First Take being “fake”.

The show is amazing at showcasing the vocal and artistic talent of Japanese musicians.

Where it gets “less” real…

Recently, people have been pointing out how The First Take is owned and operated by Sony. Why is this controversial?

Sony is near to having a monopoly on Japanese media. Sony owns Playstation (gaming), Crunchyroll (anime distribution and international concerts), Sony Music (record label), and is about to create their own animation studio. Effectively, they could own the entire media supply chain from creation, copyright, to distribution.

Here is a collab between PlayStation and the Sony Music arist, Yoasobi.

This means Sony can control what it wants the West and neighboring Asian countries to see, influencing their perception of Japan and its artists. This also drowns out other major artists from domestic labels like Universal Japan, Avex, or Pony Canyon.

For example, take the artist Creepy Nuts…

Creepy Nuts is an artist under Sony Music. They were picked by Sony Music to make the OP for the show DanDaDan, owned by Sony and distributed overseas by Crunchyroll (Sony). They starred on The First Take, further boosting their popularity, which is also… owned by Sony.

The icing on the cake – Creepy Nuts performed at The Crunchyroll Anime Awards. Yes, Sony owns the official anime awards in America, too.

The entire promo pipeline is owned by Sony.

Out of the featured artists on The First Take, around half or more are Sony related, or have some kind of industry ties to Sony personnel.

While I don’t have any wild conspiracy theories to offer you, this does present a problem to actual small artists.

THE GOOD

Without Sony’s broad influence and cash, it would be much, much harder for artists to cross borders. The First Take is currently the most subscribed Japanese music channel on the internet, and has spawned spin-offs outside of Japan. It is a great way for people all around the world to see what kind of talent is coming out of Japan’s music scene.

Big artists need promotion too!

THE BAD

Because of the high profile nature of The First Take, actual small-time rising artists are not featured often, if ever. This drowns out those smaller artists with less fame and money from being shared with the world.

The artists on The First Take typically have some kind of major label backing or big industry ties already. While The First Take likes to capitalize on the intimacy and freshness of showing new artists from Japan, a lot of those artists are already at the top domestically.

If you want to support actual rising artists in the scene, it can be hard to find performances online showcasing the talent outside of Japan. That is why I recommend another channel for the same kind of intimate performances from small rising artists…

My Rec: BLACK BOARD – ONE CUT LIVE SHOW –

Black Board is also a “one take” live performance and is owned by MTV. The artists featured in this show usually belong to small labels or even no label at all.

Here is their newest video, featuring a small band called the engy who I wrote about in the last article.

I can attest first hand – the artists on the show match up very well with the latest indies buzz. It is the best of artists on the cusp of a major breakout song and of local favorites.

If you like supporting rising artists with little biased and want to see the best of Japan’s new music scene, definitely give Black Board a watch.

While The First Take is incredibly important for sharing Japanese music to the world, monopolies can be kind of…mmhm. Popular artists still need promo too, but small artists deserve a chance!

Personally, while I still love The First Take, I like to balance out the artist selection with other channels.

Until next time ❤

official GF blog