Photo Credit: GoDigital Music x Pony Canyon
GoDigital Music expands into Asia with a partnership with Japanese entertainment company Pony Canyon and a new president for the APAC market.
GoDigital Music has announced a significant expansion in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) market, appointing executive Sebastian Mair as President of APAC and unveiling a new agreement between AdShare, a GoDigital Music company, and leading Japanese entertainment company Pony Canyon.
Headquartered in Tokyo, Pony Canyon’s repertoire spans production and distribution of music, film, home video, anime, and games. A member of the Fujisankei Communications Group, the company represents an extensive catalog of over 100,000 assets in Japanese entertainment. The company has played a significant role in bringing Japanese music and anime to audiences around the world.
The move marks the beginning of a broader APAC growth strategy for GoDigital Music, designed to build the company’s presence across key Asian markets and adapt its global capabilities to the distinct cultures and audiences through strategic partnerships, investments, distribution opportunities, rights management, and artist development.
“We’re thrilled to have Sebastian join GoDigital Music and lead our efforts across APAC,” said Jason Peterson, Founder and Chairman of GoDigital Music. “Sebastian brings a deep understanding of the market and strong relationships across the industry. Our partnership with Pony Canyon is a great place to start, and we see a tremendous opportunity to bring the technology, services, and expertise we’ve built at GoDigital Music to more artists, labels, and rights holders throughout the region.”
As President of APAC, Mair will provide strategic and commercial leadership across the region, developing multi-country growth strategies while overseeing collaboration across GoDigital Music’s portfolio. He will be tasked with managing joint ventures, minority investments, and distribution partnerships, expanding catalog acquisition and rights monetization opportunities, and developing new artist initiatives tailored to individual markets.
Mair will also help the company navigate the region’s diverse regulatory, copyright, and intellectual property frameworks as it builds a long-term presence across APAC. Mair has previously held senior leadership roles and collaborated with leading industry organizations such as Creativeman Productions, Fujipacific Music, Live Nation Japan, AEG Presents, Ubisoft, and more.
“GoDigital Music has built a truly global platform, and I’m excited to join the company at a moment where there is so much opportunity across APAC,” said Sebastian Mair, President of APAC at GoDigital Music. “The region is home to some of the world’s most influential music companies and catalogs, and I look forward to connecting my local expertise with GoDigital Music’s global reach and infrastructure. Our collaboration with Pony Canyon is just the beginning of the kind of work and long-term partnerships we hope to build.”
One of the first major initiatives under the expansion is an agreement between AdShare and Pony Canyon, under which AdShare will support YouTube monetization and intellectual property rights management across Pony Canyon’s catalog. AdShare identifies, tracks, and monetizes user-uploaded uses of music compositions, sound recordings, and video across YouTube. Its technology can identify uses ranging from full-length uploads to short snippets of copyrighted material, enabling rights holders to capture and optimize revenue that might otherwise go unclaimed.
“As Japanese content reaches audiences around the world, it is more important than ever to accurately understand how it is used overseas and the value it generates, and to ensure that creators and rights holders share in that value,” said Shin’ichi Ishii, GM of Global Marketing, Music Business Div., Pony Canyon. “On YouTube in particular, content travels across borders not only through official releases, but also through the many ways users incorporate it into their own videos. Both technology and specialized rights management expertise are essential to identifying these uses worldwide and translating them into appropriate monetization.
“By partnering with AdShare, which brings extensive global expertise and technological capabilities, we will further maximize the value of our content and strengthen our ability to return the resulting revenue to artists and creators. Our aim is to build a sustainable environment that not only brings Japanese entertainment to the world but also enables its success to support the next generation of creative work.”
AdShare provides full-service YouTube monetization for artists, labels, and rights holders worldwide, along with optimization services for existing YouTube partners designed to identify incremental revenue opportunities across their catalogs.
Partnering with Pony Canyon represents the first step in GoDigital Music’s broader APAC strategy, with the company planning to pursue additional partnerships, investments, catalog opportunities, and artist development initiatives throughout the region.
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