
anotherblock is excited to welcome Takayuki Suzuki as an advisor informing the company’s work in the Japanese market. Japanese fans have embraced music NFTs, and Suzuki has been a pioneer in harnessing this wave of enthusiasm.
Suzuki brings with him decades of experience in the music business as an executive with international companies such as MTV Japan, Universal Music Group, and others. He has consulted numerous industry groups on marketing and tech strategies for media, most recently focusing on NFT and metaverse spaces as CEO of companies MetaTokyo and ParadeAll. His work as a director of copyright administration organization JASRAC gives him particular insight into issues of artistic ownership. Suzuki has given talks to audiences worldwide, most recently speaking at Meta Festival, Wallifornia Music & Innovation Summit, and NFT Show Europe.
As a market lead for anotherblock, Suzuki joins a growing community of artists and creators who believe in a more democratized way forward for the music industry. “Web3 is providing a way for new forms of expression, global distribution, and engagement,” says Suzuki, “not only to established artists, but also upcoming artists.”
“We’ve seen so many Japanese music fans get engaged on Discord or become NFT holders,” explains anotherblock co-founder and CEO Michel D. Traore. “Taka will help us understand this market, one he knows inside and out, and will give us invaluable guidance as we push to expand our presence in Japan.”
anotherblock’s recent drops prove its vision for music rights in web3. Its genesis drop, an original collaborative track between dance icons R3HAB and Laidback Luke, sold out in under 40 minutes, while its latest offering, a share of The Weeknd track “Acquainted” from GRAMMY-winning producer DannyBoyStyles, sold out in 4 minutes. Suzuki notes this demand and is drawn to anotherblock’s focus on rebalancing the power structures long accepted in music. “I see anotherblock as a startup with a clear vision and a creator-friendly atmosphere,” he remarks. “I believe in the important values they’re adding to the industry ecosystem.”
As a member of the anotherblock team, Suzuki will play a key role in growing the anotherblock community in the Japanese marketplace, a major hub for web3 and NFT developments. This growth will promote web3 transformation of music and democratization of music rights on a global scale.
“Web3 is a way for Japanese artists and creators to engage fanbases and supporters all around the world without frictions like distance and currency,” explains Suzuki. “Web3 tools and platforms should help us to build new types of artistic careers in general, and anotherblock is exactly one of the tools that Japanese artists and creators should explore.”