What Headline Japan does

Headline Japan is a Japanese entertainment and live music venue operator established on October 25, 1999, and headquartered in Osaka (大阪市北区紅梅町2-17 第8田渕ビル 408号室). The company operates across three core business lines: Event Production, Stage Management (livehouse venue operations), and Lighting Services. It runs a network of approximately ten livehouse venues spanning the Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, Suita) and Tokyo, including branded properties such as BIGCAT, OSAKA MUSE, KYOTO MUSE, ESAKA MUSE, MusicClub JANUS, ROCK TOWN, LIVE SQUARE 2ndLINE, VARIT., Roppongi VARIT., and Knuckleport. Beyond venue operations, Headline provides artist management, radio programming, CD distribution, and web content services, and produces named event brands including MASTER COLiSEUM, KANSAI LOVERS, and 十代白書 (Jūdai Hakusho).

The business model is venue-centric: revenue is generated through ticket sales, drink/food concessions, door splits with performing artists, facility rental for promoters, and event production fees for third-party clients. The group operates through roughly fourteen wholly-owned subsidiaries that hold individual venue licenses and employ venue-specific staff, with the parent (20 employees, registered capital of ¥3,000,000) functioning as a holding and shared-services entity. Customers span three segments: individual live music attendees (long-tail consumer base), artists and management agencies (B2B performance clients), and corporate/event clients seeking production services.

A separate venture-capital-oriented entity sharing the "Headline Japan" name is referenced in 2026 startup-conference news as a co-host of StartupMarket 2026 alongside ANOBAKA, CyberAgent Capital, Genesia Ventures, mint, W fund, and TeamMake Capital. Source records explicitly note that this VC reference "may be a different entity from the entertainment company profiled here," and the company's own website (headline.co.jp) and detailed corporate records consistently describe the entertainment/livehouse business. On the basis of first-party material, the profiled company is the Osaka-based entertainment operator.

Name

Headline Japan

Legal name

有限会社ヘッドライン

Website

https://headline.co.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Headline Japan (有限会社ヘッドライン) is an Osaka-based entertainment company founded in 1999 that operates roughly ten livehouse venues across Japan's Kansai and Tokyo regions, alongside event production, lighting services, artist management, and media distribution.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Live Music Venue Operations

NAICS

Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events with Facilities (711310), Other Performing Arts Companies (711190)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Music Venues & Venue Operators (Clubs, Theaters, Arenas) (MPAIAFAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Touring & Production Services (Staging, Lighting, Sound, Video) (MPAIAFAF), Event Operations & Venue Services (Box Office, FOH/BOH, Concessions) (MPAIAFAL), Concert Halls & Music Venue Operations (Symphony Halls, Recital Venues) (MPAGALAC)

Keywords

• Live music venues
• Event production services
• Artist management
• Stage lighting services
• Concert venue operations

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices8 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Venture Capital Investment Returns: Returns from investments in startup portfolio companies through equity stakes, plus likely management fees from fund operations.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Headline Japan (HEADLINE CO., LTD. / 有限会社ヘッドライン) produces live music events and tours, owns and operates a network of livehouse venues across Kansai and Tokyo, manages artists, and provides stage management and lighting services for concerts and festivals. Adjacent operations include radio program production, CD/label distribution, web content, retail merchandise, and secondhand goods trading.

Product overview

HEADLINE CO., LTD. is an entertainment company operating across three main divisions: Event Production, Stage Management, and Lighting Services. The Event Production division creates and manages live events and entertainment productions including MASTER COLiSEUM, KANSAI LOVERS, and 十代白書. The Stage division manages multiple livehouse venues including BIGCAT (Osaka), MusicClub JANUS, LIVE SQUARE 2nd LINE, ROCK TOWN, and VARIT. locations in Osaka, Kobe, and Tokyo, as well as OSAKA MUSE, KYOTO MUSE, and ESAKA MUSE. The company also provides artist management, radio production, label and CD distribution, and web content services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• MASTER COLiSEUM: Event production business operated by Headline CO., LTD.
• KANSAI LOVERS
• 十代白書

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• LIQUIDROOM: Tokyo-based live music venue operator (Ebisu). Comparable to Headline's owned livehouse venues like BIGCAT and the MUSE chain in terms of scale and programming of live music events.
• Smash (Smash Corporation): Japanese live event promoter and venue operator running multiple livehouses and producing festivals/events. Directly comparable to Headline's combined venue + event production model.
• Creativeman Productions: Independent concert and festival promoter in Japan (Rock in Japan, Countdown Japan, etc.). Comparable to Headline's higher-format event production brands such as MASTER COLiSEUM and KANSAI LOVERS.
• HOT STUFF PROMOTION: Tokyo-based concert promoter and event production company that operates venues and produces live events. Comparable to Headline in live event promotion, venue operations, and artist booking.
• DISK GARAGE: Promoter and live event operator running venues and producing concerts/festivals in Japan. Comparable to Headline's event-production and venue-presentation businesses (MASTER COLiSEUM, KANSAI LOVERS).
• ZAI OFFICE: Japan-based live music venue and event production company operating multiple livehouse venues. Directly comparable to Headline as a multi-venue livehouse operator with adjacent artist management and event production activities.
• duo MUSIC EXCHANGE / Shibuya duo: Shibuya-based livehouse complex operated under the Tower Records-affiliated group. Comparable to Headline's urban Tokyo livehouse venues (Roppongi VARIT., 7th Floor) in mid-size live music programming.
• Beef or Chicken? / LOFT PROJECT: Operator of Shibuya LOFT and related venues/productions in Tokyo. Comparable to Headline as a multi-venue indie livehouse operator with adjacent event programming.

Broad incumbents

• Zepp (Sony Music Entertainment Japan): National chain of large-capacity live music venues operated under Sony Music. Broader incumbent competitor to Headline's livehouse network with significantly larger venue capacities and nationwide footprint.

Others

• Arm Enterprise (アームエンタープライズ): Wholly-owned subsidiary of Headline itself listed in the company data; included here as a referenced affiliated entity rather than an external peer. (Note: kept in peer list only as an ecosystem reference.)

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries14 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 Headline Japan