Exceleration Music and Japanese rights company NexTone have acquired the recording and publishing catalog of Ryuichi Sakamoto, buying it directly from the estate of the composer, who died in 2023. The deal was announced on July 2, 2026, and financial terms were not disclosed.
What changes hands
The two companies take on both the master recordings and the publishing rights. They have split responsibilities by territory: Exceleration, based in the US, will look after the rights outside Asia, while NexTone will manage them across the Asia-Pacific region. FujiPacific handles publishing administration in Japan. The buyers plan to work with KAB, Sakamoto's management company, to raise global awareness of his work. Exceleration called this its first major acquisition in the Japanese market.
The catalog
The article does not list the individual works included, but Sakamoto's career spans:
- Yellow Magic Orchestra: the electronic group he co-founded in 1978.
- The Last Emperor: his score for the 1987 film made him the first Japanese composer to win an Academy Award, a Grammy and a Golden Globe.
- Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, Little Buddha and The Revenant: among his best-known film scores.
- Collaborations with David Bowie, David Byrne, Iggy Pop and Alva Noto.
Why it matters
Legacy catalog sales at this scale are still less common in Japan than in the US or the UK, which makes this deal a signal that international capital is starting to look at Japanese heritage repertoire. The joint venture model is the key detail: a Western buyer brings global reach, while a local partner brings rights management and networks in Asia. For estates in markets with specific local practices, this kind of split can make a sale easier to execute and maximize exploitation in each region.
Exceleration has been building a portfolio steadily. It acquired Redeye Worldwide in 2023, Mack Avenue Music Group in January 2025, the Cooking Vinyl label in June 2025 and the Dangerbird Records catalog in October 2025. For rightsholders, a catalog built on film scores and a strong artistic reputation offers durable sync and licensing value, which is exactly what buyers of this type look for.