Gerbera Music Agency

What Gerbera Music Agency does

Gerbera Music Agency (ガーベラミュージックエージェンシー) is a Tokyo-based, music industry-specialized digital advertising agency founded in October 2015 by Kanano Wakuma (金野和磨). The firm operates as a boutique professional services company delivering two interlocking service lines: (1) digital advertising campaigns for music artists and record labels, primarily on Instagram Stories, YouTube, and TikTok, designed to grow fan bases and drive streaming revenue; and (2) brand solutions for consumer brands and municipalities, including Spotify-based corporate playlist production, podcast production, artist casting, music event planning, and original music/sound production. Its proprietary asset is the Pluto playlist media platform on Spotify, which ranks #2 in Japan with 140,000+ combined followers across 100+ curated playlists and three podcast series.

The company monetizes through project-based fees with no publicly disclosed pricing, supplemented by an artist casting fee structure ranging from approximately ¥500,000 for emerging artists to ¥5,000,000+ for major artists. Revenue is generated from two primary customer segments: music artists and record labels (including all major Japanese labels such as Sony Music, Avex, Universal Music Japan, Warner Music Japan, King Records, and Pony Canyon), and consumer brands across verticals including automotive (Toyota, GM Japan), beverages (Sapporo Beer, Mercian), confectionery (Glico), fashion (Sazabyleague/Ron Herman), retail (Lumine), education (Meijo University, Digital Hollywood), and amusement (Fuji-Q Highland). The firm reports 200+ cumulative corporate clients, 700+ artists supported annually through 100+ record label relationships, 1,000+ songs advertised, and an 80%+ contract renewal rate.

The company operates from a single Tokyo headquarters in Chiyoda-ku, serves a Japan-domestic market, and is founder-owned with no disclosed external funding. Distribution is sales-led via direct client engagement, website contact forms, free consultation offerings, and industry conference presence. Technical infrastructure relies on third-party ad tech platforms (Meta, Google, TikTok, Spotify for Podcasters) layered with proprietary music industry relationship knowledge and the Pluto owned-media channel. No AI/ML capabilities, patents, or external capital raises are disclosed.

Name

Gerbera Music Agency

Legal name

Gerbera Music Agency株式会社

Website

https://gerbera-music.agency

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Gerbera Music Agency is a Tokyo-based, music industry-specialized digital advertising agency founded in 2015 that delivers Instagram/YouTube/TikTok fan-base campaigns for Japanese record labels and artists, plus brand playlist, podcast, artist casting, and original music production services for consumer brands.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Music Marketing Services

NAICS

Advertising Agencies (541810)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311)

akta.pro primary industry

Digital Strategy & Social Media Management (Artists) (MPAIAGAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Casting & Talent Placement (Sessions, Bands, Touring Musicians) (MPAIAGAM), Music Discovery & Curation Platforms (Recommendations, Playlists) (MPAIACAH)

Keywords

• Music advertising agency
• Digital marketing services
• Playlist media platform
• Artist promotion services
• Brand music marketing

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Digital Advertising Services for Artists: Digital advertising campaigns (Instagram Stories, YouTube, TikTok) to help music artists grow fan bases and increase streaming revenue. Planning, creative production, ad operations, and reporting are handled in-house.
2. Brand Solutions: Music-context-specific creative agency services for brands and municipalities including brand playlist production, podcast production, artist casting, music event planning, and music production. Services span from planning through production and delivery.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Gerbera Music Agency is a music industry-specialized digital advertising agency that provides Instagram Stories, YouTube, and TikTok advertising campaigns to grow music artists' fan bases and streaming revenue, along with brand-side music solutions including corporate playlist production, podcast production, artist casting, music event planning, and original music/sound production. The company also operates 'Pluto', a proprietary Spotify-based playlist media platform ranked #2 in Japan with 140,000+ combined followers, which serves as both an owned-media channel and a vehicle for branded music campaigns.

Product overview

Gerbera Music Agency is a music industry-specialized digital advertising agency offering a portfolio of interconnected services centered on music marketing. Core offerings include Instagram Stories advertising for artist fan-base growth, the proprietary playlist media platform 'Pluto' (Japan's #2 Spotify playlist publisher), corporate playlist production, corporate podcast production, artist casting services (700+ artists/100+ companies annually), music event planning, and original music/sound production. The Pluto platform also generates sub-brands including Pluto Radio podcasts, Pluto Sparkle events, and Pluto Selection playlists. All services leverage deep music industry relationships for music licensing, artist access, and promotional distribution through Spotify.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Pluto (プレイリストメディア『Pluto』): Playlist media platform operated by GMA since 2018. Japan's 2nd largest playlist media on Spotify with 140,000+ followers. Features multiple selectors creating mood, seasonal, and situational playlists.

Products and services

• Instagram Stories Advertising for Music Artists Digital advertising service specializing in Instagram Stories ads for music artists, focused on creating new fan connections and growing fan bases that support streaming revenue. Covers planning, MV-based creative production, ad operations, and reporting end-to-end.
• Pluto Playlist Media Spotify-based playlist media platform operated by GMA featuring mood, seasonal, and contextual playlists curated by professional music writers. Includes 100+ playlists and 140,000+ combined followers, ranked #2 in Japan on Spotify.
• Artist Casting Service Music industry-specialized artist casting service leveraging direct relationships with 700+ artist groups and 100+ record companies/music agencies annually. Covers advertising, events, music selection, and media appearances with indicative fees from 500,000 JPY (emerging) to 5,000,000+ JPY (major artists).
• Corporate Playlist Production Spotify-based brand playlist creation service producing 100+ corporate playlists since 2018. Includes theme planning, song selection (20-30 tracks per playlist), music licensing/permission handling, and Spotify account management.
• Corporate Podcast Production End-to-end corporate podcast production service including planning, recording, editing, and distribution. Leverages Pluto Radio expertise for music-context podcasts, with optional artist casting, jingle/BGM production, and artwork design. Distributed via Spotify for Podcasters (Anchor) with Music+Talk format.
• Music Event Planning Small-scale music event production (10-200 attendees) for brands. Covers concept development, visual design, artist casting, staff coordination, on-site production, and online streaming or video recording.
• Original Music / Sound Production Custom music composition service for brands including theme songs, BGM, and original tracks. Leverages relationships with home-recording artists, singer-songwriters, and sound creators for acoustic, electronic, Lo-Fi, and various genre productions.
• Music Licensing / Permission Service Music copyright and portrait rights permission handling for commercial use. Leverages industry relationships to streamline licensing approvals from labels and artists for brand playlists and promotional campaigns.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100+ companies served, 1,000+ songs advertised, 80%+ contract renewal rate
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers20 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• SpotifycoreTechnology or IntegrationCore technology and distribution platform partner. GMA operates Pluto playlist media on Spotify and produces brand playlists for Spotify. Spotify for Podcasters (Anchor) used for podcast distribution. Music+Talk feature utilized for podcast campaigns.
• Sony Music Entertainment Japan (株式会社ソニー・ミュージックエンタテインメント)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor record label client and music industry partner. Deep collaboration on digital promotion campaigns for artists under the label group, including Sony Music Labels Inc. as a direct client.
• Avex Group (エイベックス・エンタテインメント株式会社)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor Japanese entertainment conglomerate and record label group. One of the primary label partners for artist promotion campaigns.
• King Records (キング唱片株式会社)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHistoric Japanese record label. Primary label partner for artist promotion campaigns.
• Pony Canyon (株式会社ポニーキャニオン)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor Japanese record label and music publisher. Primary label partner for artist promotion campaigns.
• A-Sketch (エイysketch)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndependent Japanese record label with strong roster of domestic and international artists. Direct client relationship for artist promotion campaigns.
• Universal Music Japan (ユニバーサル ミュージック合同会社)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJapanese subsidiary of the world's largest record company. Primary label partner for artist promotion campaigns.
• Warner Music Japan (株式会社ワーナーミュージック・ジャパン)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor Japanese record label under Warner Music Group. Primary label partner for artist promotion campaigns.
• Dentsu (株式会社電通)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMajor Japanese advertising agency. May act as agency-of-record for brands, with GMA providing specialized music services as a specialist subcontractor.
• Toyota KonikopuRo (トヨタ・コニック・プロ株式会社)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAgency partner for Toyota traffic safety campaign. Responsible for project coordination and client management for Toyota's 'Tobidasanai de! Project' with GMA producing the original children's safety song.
• Amuse (株式会社アミューズ)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor Japanese talent agency and record label. Primary partner for artist promotion campaigns.
• LDH JAPAN (株式会社LDH JAPAN)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor Japanese entertainment agency managing artists, actors, and performers. Primary partner for artist promotion campaigns.
• Horipro (株式会社ホリプロ)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor Japanese talent agency. Primary partner for artist promotion campaigns.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• UnitedMasters: US-based music distribution and artist services platform offering digital promotion, brand partnership matchmaking, and marketing tooling to independent artists. Closest functional analog to GMA's artist-side digital advertising and fan-base growth services outside Japan.
• Amuse Inc. Japanese entertainment company combining artist management, label operations, and digital marketing services. Directly comparable as a Japan-headquartered music-industry specialist combining label/artist services with marketing capability, with overlap in casting and artist promotion work.
• AWAL: Global music distribution and artist services business owned by Sony Music. Comparable as a service-platform competitor offering digital marketing support, playlist promotion, and brand partnership facilitation to artists — a near-direct functional analog to GMA's artist-side offering.
• TuneCore: DIY music distribution platform with growing artist-marketing services. Comparable as a music-industry-native service provider helping independent artists reach streaming audiences, with overlap in digital promotion and fan-base growth services.

Broad incumbents

• Hakuhodo: Second-largest Japanese advertising agency group with an established music and entertainment division. Competes with GMA for the same brand-side music-contextual marketing budgets and artist-promotion work, with broader geographic reach and integrated media capabilities.
• Sony Music Entertainment Japan: Japan's largest record label group and a current GMA client. Compares as a counterparty that is simultaneously a customer and a potential in-house competitor, given the label's growing investment in direct-to-fan digital marketing and first-party audience development.
• Dentsu: Japan's largest advertising holding company with a dedicated music and entertainment practice. Directly comparable as it offers integrated digital advertising, brand experience, and media buying to the same record labels and consumer brands that GMA serves, but at vastly greater scale and as part of a global portfolio.
• Septeni Holdings: Japan-focused digital advertising agency group. Comparable as a digital-first competitor pursuing the same Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok advertising budgets in the Japanese market, with broader media-buying and creative capabilities.
• CyberAgent: Major Japanese digital advertising and internet conglomerate. Comparable as a digital-first competitor pursuing the same artist digital-ad and brand digital-marketing budgets in Japan, with substantially more media-inventory scale and a much larger balance sheet.

Regional players

• HYBE: South Korea-based entertainment company and K-pop giant with industry-leading digital marketing and audience-development capabilities. Comparable as a music-industry specialist with strong owned-media and digital fan-base expertise, but operating primarily outside Japan and at much larger scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/GMA_Tokyo
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCRQAK89Xz_4Zq7RdP_xUtRg
• Facebookfacebook.com/GerberaMusicAgency
• Instagraminstagram.com/pluto_playlist
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/gerbera-music-agency

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Gerbera Music Agency