Appointed by Warner Music Japan Dr. Kenji Kitatani in the resurrected role of president of the label division, effective immediately. Dr. Kitatani will work closely with WMJ's longtime president and CEO, Kazuyuki “Kaz” Kobayashito boost the company's presence in the world's #2 music market.
Dr. Kitatani currently holds the title of president of DAZN Japan, a sports streaming platform, and writes regularly for Forbes Japan and is a professor and director at the Institute for Content and Technology Integration at Kanazawa Institute of Technology. (His priorities in academia also include faculty roles at Washington State University and Indiana University.) In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he held senior management positions at Sony Corporation, and between 2011 and 2017 was chairman of Avex International Holdings, the country's largest independent music entertainment group.
After his time at Avex Inc., Dr. Kitatani became executive vice president of Asia and executive director for Japan at AEG, leaving at the end of 2021 before taking on a series of consulting roles at companies such as Mitsubishi, NTTdocomo, InnoCan Pharma and FM Tokyo, among others.
“I am delighted to welcome Dr Kenji Kitatani to Warner Music and am delighted that such a distinguished executive has agreed to take on this challenge,” said Kobayashi. “We've achieved a lot over the past decade at Warner Music Japan, but our industry never stands still and we must continue to adapt if we want to continue to be the first choice for our country's most exciting artists.”
Although technically not replacing anyone as president of Warner Music Japan, Dr. Kitatani is not the first strain to hold the vaulted title. The last person to fill the position was an industry veteran Kei IshizakaKobayashi's predecessor as CEO until Ishizaka's departure in 2014.
“This is an exciting time in the Japanese music industry,” said Kitatani. “I am delighted to take on this new role at Warner Music, working with Kaz on the continued evolution of the company as we build the most forward-thinking company in the Japanese market.”
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/warner-music-japan-dr-kenji-kitatani-chairman/