Last week, via their official web pages, several major acts at Sony Music of Japan announced that their contracts with their management agency Ken-On have ended. The acts include major names such as The Brilliant Green, and idols Mai Hoshimura, and Sowelu. Each act subsequently announced they would be leaving their labels, DefSTAR, a sub-label of SMEJ, and Sony Music Japan.

In addition to The Brilliant Green, Tomoko Kawase's solo acts Tommy february6 and Tommy heavenly6 were both dropped from the label. Despite this, I doubt it'll be the last we hear from her. Both Sowelu and Hoshimura simply stated that they were leaving their labels, with Sowelu thanking her fans and Hoshimura vowing to focus on music that's truly her own. No notes were left regarding where these acts might end up in terms of labels, but the most likely candidate is Avex.

Frankly, I think it's sad that these artists have recently released "best of" albums, had managed to land tie-ins with various anime, and yet their label and management put so little stock in them. I get that the economy isn't really doing well, but seriously? And here I was thinking these artists were doing fairly well.

[via mimu-net]