Billboard‘s Global Power Players list recognizes the leaders that are driving the success of the music business in countries outside the United States. Naoki Shimizu, President of Creativeman Productions, was selected for the first time from the many leaders of the music industry around the world. Billboard JAPAN interviewed Shimizu in recognition of his selection for the list, about the potential of the festival industry, such as Creativeman’s own SUMMER SONIC, and about how the event promotion business is changing.
You were part of the launch of Creativeman Productions in 1990, and you were appointed president in 1997. The way people listen to music has changed a lot in the intervening years. Has the event promotion business also changed?
Naoki Shimizu: Back when physical CDs were the primary way people listened to music, you could get a fairly accurate sense of an artist’s drawing power simply by looking at their sales figures. Today, however, music consumption is largely digital, we have to analyze data at a much more granular level. As a result, the indicators we rely on have shifted to things like social media engagement, video views, streaming numbers, and other digital metrics.
