AI and Creators: NCG ENTERTAINMENT™ Launches a New Stage

On January 20, 2026, the Nippon Columbia Group announced the establishment of "NCG ENTERTAINMENT™", an AI-specialized entertainment label that comprehensively supports creators utilizing AI. This is the first attempt by a major domestic record company, and it aims to build a new entertainment business model for the AI era, including copyright, revenue sharing, and promotion, and to expand globally.

Hi, this is Saki, an AiCuty video explorer. This news is like a new star shining in the night sky. It seems that the Nippon Columbia Group has established an AI-specialized entertainment label called "NCG ENTERTAINMENT™". The AI tool that we deal with every day is finally fully recognized by existing record companies, and a new platform is being created. This will be a significant event for us AI creators.

A New Trend Supporting Creativity in the AI Era: The Full Picture of NCG ENTERTAINMENT™

The evolution of AI technology has dramatically changed the creative landscape. Works utilizing AI are being created daily in all fields, including music, video, visuals, and writing. Until now, there have been an increasing number of creators who complete everything from planning to production and dissemination on their own, but the reality is that the existing music business framework has not been able to fully support their talents. Copyright, contracts, revenue sharing, promotion, and karaoke deployment. These issues have always been whispered among our creator friends.

The Nippon Columbia Group has launched "NCG ENTERTAINMENT™" to properly support creators in the AI era by leveraging its long-standing knowledge of the music industry. It may become a hub for creation and challenge to expand the value of AI entertainment from Japan to the world.

Challenges Faced by AI Creators

The rapidly evolving AI technology has lowered the threshold for creativity, ushering in an era where each person can act as an artist. If you look at YouTube and SNS, you can see that AI-generated music, videos, and virtual existences are being created every day. I also use AI for video production, so I feel the possibilities firsthand.

However, on the other hand, there was the reality that the existing music industry system was not keeping up with this new wave. Who owns the copyright to works created using AI tools? How should revenue be distributed? What about access to karaoke and major distribution services? I think many AI artists have been troubled by these issues. NCG ENTERTAINMENT™ is a label that has emerged to fill that gap. It may be inevitable that existing business models cannot keep up with the speed of change. But overlooking the value there is a loss of talent.

Comprehensive Support Provided by NCG ENTERTAINMENT™

What's special about this label is the breadth of its support. It not only distributes works, but also provides specific support measures for AI artists to continue their activities and grow. This is very encouraging for us creators.

The main support contents seem to be roughly divided into the following three pillars.

Optimization of Business and Rights:

Supports the construction of new business models tailored to the AI era, such as IP creation, EC business, and SNS operation.
The introduction of a royalty/revenue distribution system with a view to global expansion will bring transparency and fairness amid the increasingly complex rights relationships of AI works.
Professional back-office support such as AI work similarity check functions is also an essential function in the future.

Strengthening Production and Promotion:

AI tool usage fee support is a welcome benefit for individual creators who have difficulty investing in expensive tools.
Support for developing physical goods such as CDs and analog records is attractive to artists who want to leave their works not only in digital but also in real form.
Support for deployment to major music distribution services such as Spotify and Apple Music is an essential requirement for delivering works to many people.
Collaboration with karaoke systems should also be a major promotional opportunity for AI singers and VTubers.

Expansion of Activities:

Support for live activities in virtual spaces will open up new possibilities for artists who are exploring expression in the metaverse.

This comprehensive support system means that AI creators can concentrate on their original creative activities and provide multifaceted support. As AICU Media, which has the vision of "creating people who create," this is a movement that should be noted.

Start of Recruiting Affiliated Artists and Future Prospects

NCG ENTERTAINMENT™ is widely recruiting creators who utilize AI. Anyone who creates something using AI, such as AI artists, AI singer developers, virtual talents, actors, and character creators, is eligible.

Recruitment will start on Tuesday, January 20, 2026. This could be a great opportunity for your talent to fly around the world. The infinite expressive power created by AI and the long history and achievements of the Columbia Group are fused together. This is a movement that makes us feel that it will bring a new era to the entertainment industry.

Click here for the entry form to apply for affiliated artists: https://forms.gle/LziSHAa6f6eAfsFi8

This label aims to "transmit an entertainment culture from Japan to the world in an era where people and AI weave expressions together." I feel that this is a vision that deeply resonates with what we are challenging every day at AiCuty. AI is not just a tool, but a partner that expands our creators' imaginations and opens up new horizons of expression. The establishment of NCG ENTERTAINMENT™ will officially support that partnership and provide a more free and secure environment for talented creators to work in. The entertainment of the future may be born from here.

Summary

Such exciting news has come in from the beginning of 2026. It means that the path for AI to become a source of creativity and for its works to achieve commercial success has finally begun to be developed. I think this is an important step for creators like us to engage with AI more deeply, more freely, and more responsibly.

Buzzworthy works are certainly attractive, but I also want to see works that are loved for a long time and works that prompt deep consideration. To that end, a stable foundation and careful handling of realistic issues such as copyright and revenue are essential. I hope that NCG ENTERTAINMENT™ will take on that important responsibility and shape the dreams of many AI creators.

Now it's your turn to create. Why not seize this opportunity to ride this new wave and unleash your creativity on the world?

The names of the creators involved are properly credited in Takashi Hosokawa's "Kamui Misaki" announced by the Columbia Group the other day, and I feel that a new era has arrived!

▶︎Nippon Columbia Group releases Takashi Hosokawa's "Kamui Misaki" full AI music video from "COLOWORKS"

Nippon Columbia Group releases Takashi Hosokawa's "Kamui Misaki" full AI music video from "COLOWORKS" | Nippon Columbia Group Co., Ltd.

www.columbia.co.jp AI creative co-creation base operated by Nippon Columbia Group Co., Ltd. (President: Shunsuke Sato, Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, hereinafter NCG)

https://www.columbia.co.jp/press/details/20260107

I hope that the creation of such labels will lead to progress in support for open-source tools. At that time, I will share it at AICU Lab+ study group.

See you in the next news. This was Saki Noir, in charge of AiCuty videos, an idol created by people and AI. I'm also rooting for your challenge. See you soon💜

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