When a favorite song becomes popular, behind the scenes there is always the work of those who "manage" it. The NexTone Award is the one night a year when light shines on this invisible work.
What is NexTone?
NexTone Inc. is a company that manages music copyrights and distributes digital content. NexTone Inc. is the "behind-the-scenes" company of the music industry, taking care of the copyrights of songs created by artists and music publishers, and appropriately distributing the royalties that accrue each time the songs are used.
NexTone's work is involved in all aspects of music consumption, including streaming services, YouTube, and Nico Nico Douga.
The NexTone Award was established by NexTone in 2017.
Awards will be given to works from among the songs managed by the company that have generated particularly high copyright royalty distribution amounts, as well as to artists and projects that have generated significant buzz throughout the year. The criteria for selection is based on the data itself, "how many times it has been heard, loved, and used in the world.
The award is not judged by a panel of experts, but is based on the daily actions of listeners. 2024 marks the 10th anniversary of the NexTone Award 2026, which will be held as an event-style award ceremony.
10th anniversary night in Roppongi
The venue was EX THEATER ROPPONGI in Roppongi, and in addition to the regular awards ceremony, there were special live performances by past award-winning artists to commemorate the 10th anniversary.
Hachimine was also there. Although he is not deeply involved in the music industry, he goes to these events because there are things he can see from outside the industry.
President of UUUM at the awards ceremony,Mr. Masayuki Umekagehad received the award. He had been a customer at BeeBee, a bar owned by Hachimine. At an awards ceremony for music rights management, he reunites with a customer from his own restaurant. It seems that we are outside the industry, but we find ourselves connected somehow. That has been happening ever since I was working in Ginza.
Awards ─ People who made the most listened to music in 2025
The NexTone Award is not given to artists, but to authors, that is, songwriters and composers who have created songs. The fact that a song has been widely distributed is the award for its creators.
Gold Medalwas awarded to "Haiyorokonde" created by Kochi no Kento and GRP.
Kocchi no Kento is a multi-creator, also known as Masaki Sugata's younger brother, who has been writing songs based on his own experience of depression. The song has exploded on TikTok, and its YouTube music video has received over 100 million views, making it one of the most popular songs of 2024. The song has reached the pinnacle of its popularity over the past year.
Silver Medalis "Can't I Just Be Cute?" by Hirotaka Hayakawa and Toshihiko Watanabe. The artist is CUTIE STREET.
Released one month after her debut, the song exploded on TikTok, surpassing 6.3 billion total views. The lyrics, which affirm both shortcomings and strengths as "cuteness," stuck with Generation Z and reached the podium in just one year or so. Hirotaka Hayakawa, who wrote the song, was present at the recording session and expressed his appreciation for the members, saying, "The vocalists' expressive ability to immediately express our image in their singing voice is amazing. The award was a result of the mutual interaction between the writers and the singers.
Bronze Medalis "Bunny Girl," a song written and composed by AKASAKI himself. It is a self-produced song that has been slowly gaining popularity on video platforms.
special prizeis colorful peach,International Awardwas awarded to "hot milk" by composer Snail's House, a Japanese creator who is internationally recognized in the electronic music scene, for the widespread use of his music abroad.YouTube Awardis "Tetris" written and arranged by Hiiragi Magnetite. This award proves that the music culture originating from Nico Nico Douga is still earning a lot of views on YouTube.
And the newly established to commemorate the 10th anniversary.10th Anniversary Special Awardwas "Little Love Song," with lyrics by Kiyosaku Uegoshi of MONGOL800 and music by MONGOL800.
This song, which was selected as the song with the highest royalty distribution in the past 10 years, is still sung at karaoke, played at weddings, and performed at school graduation ceremonies, even though it was released in 2001. The data for the past 10 years proves that the song continues to be heard throughout the ages. The fact that MONGOL800, who also performed at the special live concert on the day of the event, received this award for their own song was a quiet emotional moment for the audience.Nico Nico Creative Culture Achievement Awardwas awarded to Giga. The award is a tribute to the creators who have supported the culture of derivative works on Nico Nico Douga for many years.
Special Live ─ THE YELLOW MONKEY and MONGOL800
Two groups, THE YELLOW MONKEY and MONGOL800, performed at the special live concert held in conjunction with the awards ceremony.
THE YELLOW MONKEY started their career in 1989 and led the Japanese music scene in the 90's with their unique style rooted in glam rock. In 2024, the band successfully performed at Tokyo Dome and completed a 39-show tour in support of their 10th album, "Sparkle X".
MONGOL800 is a three-piece band from Okinawa, and their second album "MESSAGE" released in 2001 became the first indie album in history to reach No. 1 on the Oricon charts. The band's message of peace and natural language continues to attract support across generations, and in 2023 they will celebrate their 25th anniversary, and the fact that they performed "Little Love Songs," which won the 10th Anniversary Special Award, on this very day made me realize the long range of their music.
An evening where awards and performances intersect
The composition of the award ceremony and the live performance alternating in the same space was well done in the sense that it showed "the backside of the music industry" and "music itself" at the same time. The award-winning songs were played somewhere, and respect for the people who created them drifted through the venue. It was a night in which NexTone's intention to shed light on the human work behind the numbers seemed to be taking shape in its 10th year.
Music is protected and artists receive compensation because of a mechanism called copyright. An event that has spent 10 years visualizing this structure in the form of an "award ceremony" was quietly heating up the night in Roppongi. This story may seem irrelevant to those of us who love music, but in fact it is the most directly relevant. I thought that this kind of night was necessary so that the music I love will continue to ring out.
