WIN in Japan: Activities During MAJ Week 2026

WIN will travel to Japan for Music Awards Japan (MAJ) Week 2026. In its third official visit to the country, WIN CEO Noemí Planas will participate in a series of activities from June 11-15 organized in collaboration with the Japanese independent trade association IMCJ.

The independent music community will be represented at the Tokyo International Music Market (TIMM) on Thursday, June 11 through a featured panel session at Google Japan’s Shibuya Stream Office. WIN CEO Noemí Planas will join Kaoruko Hill (General Manager, APAC, Merlin), Shogo Jasmine Mizuno (IMCJ), and other speakers for a session titled Music Licensing Strategies in the Age of AI: Independents Landscape, moderated by Jay Kogami, Editorial Director of Music Ally Japan. The session is part of the official TIMM Business Seminar program organized by CEIPA/TIMM and produced in collaboration with IMCJ’s Music & Tech Committee. It will explore how independent music companies can benefit from and maximize AI licensing opportunities.

Further TIMM sessions will continue through June 11 and 12, with Sound Scramble showcases across iconic Shibuya venues on Thursday evening and Night Pulse concerts at various clubs across Tokyo on Friday.

As part of MAJ Week, the Billboard Global Power Players 2026 ceremony will be held on Friday, June 12 at the Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel. Several honorees will travel to Japan for the occasion, among them Planas, who has been recognized as a Billboard Indie Power Player 2026. The Music Awards Japan Gala Party will follow later that evening at the same venue. The centerpiece of MAJ Week is the Music Awards Japan Grand Ceremony at Toyota Arena Tokyo on Saturday, June 13, preceded by the Music Awards Japan Premiere Ceremony and a red carpet event. Together, these occasions will bring together leading figures from the Japanese and international music industries, offering opportunities for high-level networking and exchange.

WIN’s week in Tokyo will conclude on Monday, June 15 with a joint meeting of FMPJ and IMCJ at which Planas will present WIN’s BRIDGE project to members of both trade associations. The presentation will outline the project’s core objectives and findings and introduce some of its first resources, including BRIDGE country factsheets for Argentina, Chile, and Brazil, which IMCJ has kindly translated into Japanese, ensuring these insights are directly accessible to the Japanese music industry.

About IMCJ
Independent Music Coalition Japan (IMCJ) is WIN’s Japanese trade association. IMCJ’s mission is to support Japanese independent master rights holders in maximizing revenues in a fair and competitive manner in the global market including Japan, promoting collaboration among independent businesses, sharing information and promoting educational and advocacy activities, promoting the use of music technology, and contribute to the development of the independent sector in the Asian region through international cooperation.