Japan to drum up business to British music executives head

British rock band Kasabian perform at the Summer Sonic 2009 festival near Tokyo. Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

in the Tokyo have a 30 british companies this week on a government sponsored mission to break into the huge, but notoriously tough, Japanese music market. Executives from small Freedom UK labels are thinking to build on the success of major British acts to carve out a niche in Japan, after the US the world second biggest music market.

The consumer mission, arranged by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), the government body, and trade group the BPI, comes at an uncertain time for the British record industry

In the first six months of this year UK music sales shrank by 7.3% from a year earlier, according to the BPI. CD album sales were down 13% from the same time last year, although a boom in digital downloads softened the blow.

The US market while British artists have increased there share over the past four year, they have struggled to gain a foothold in Japan.

Homegrown Japanese artists account for 80% of sales, but even in the country's international music market, UK artists account for only 25% well behind US artists