The Billboard Global Power Players 2026 Awards Ceremony took place June 12 at the Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel in Tokyo’s Shibuya district. It’s only the second time the awards have been held as a live event, following last year’s London ceremony, and the first ever staged in Asia. The evening was presented as part of the broader MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN 2026 WEEK.

The evening’s master of ceremonies was mikako, who is fluent in English, German, Korean and Japanese; she conducted the proceedings in English and Japanese across roughly 30 minutes of tributes to the executives shaping the global music business.

Billboard CEO Mike Van opened the ceremony, offering context on the Global Power Players franchise, now nearly a decade old and spanning 15 international Billboard editions across five continents. He noted that the Tokyo edition was made possible through partnerships with Billboard JAPAN and CEIPA (Japan Culture and Entertainment Industry Promotion Association). Billboard Co-Chief Content Officer Jason Lipshutz followed, introducing the evening’s three special awards.

The first special award of the night, the Artist Advocate Award, recognizes an executive who connects artists, audiences and cross-border opportunities while championing their clients. Presenting the honor to Marlene Tsuchii of Creative Artists Agency (CAA) was Miyu, a globally active house dancer and TikTok’s Dance Creator of the Year for 2022.

Speaking to her personal connection with the honoree, Miyu said, “Marlene Tsuchii changed my life. Thanks to her support, I became the first Japanese dancer to sign with CAA.”

CAA’s roster spans global superstars including Ariana Grande, Sabrina Carpenter and Dua Lipa, and as the music agent and Co-head of International Touring at the company, Tsuchii has served as liaison in introducing Japanese acts such as YOASOBI, MIYAVI and BABYMETAL to international markets. Accepting the award, Tsuchii reflected on nearly 25 years at CAA and the privilege of witnessing her clients’ growth firsthand. She also spoke to her work expanding Asian artists’ global reach through projects with 88rising and SM Entertainment, adding a personal note: “My mother was born in Tokyo and my father’s family is from Hiroshima. I feel an inherent responsibility to expand the reach of Japanese artists.”

The Global Growth Award, recognizing leaders who have amplified music’s international presence and influence through bold vision and collaboration, was presented to two honorees: Avex Inc. Music Group CEO Katsumi Kuroiwa and Avex Music Group USA CEO Brandon Silverstein. Each were recognized for elevating the global profile of Japan-based independent music and creative talent, most notably through an innovative worldwide publishing partnership with Bruno Mars.

The award was presented by Japanese group ONE OR EIGHT and member NEO expressed, “Every step of the way Katsumi and Brandon from Avex have had our backs, supporting us as we follow our dreams.”

When reflecting on the partnership, Kuroiwa shared, “We at Avex started as a small record rental shop and have steadily progressed within the Japanese music scene. However, looking at it from a global perspective, we’re still a young company with a future ahead of us. I don’t think we could have succeeded if we had tried to enter the US market alone. The reason we are standing here today is because of our encounter with Brandon.”

Silverstein remarked, “I often say that I came to Avex as a partner, but over time it has become much more than that.” Speaking about the road ahead, he said, “We’re not simply building a Japanese music company with international ambitions. We’re building a global music company headquartered in Tokyo.” He also spoke of Avex’s global publishing business expansion, welcoming Bruno Mars to its roster and the announcement of the first phase of its $100 million catalog investment strategy.

The final special award of the evening, the Impact Award, is presented to an executive who has transformed how music is discovered, experienced and shared across platforms, borders and cultures. The award was presented by Mino, a wide-ranging talent who works as a creator, music critic, musician and author, and who also hosts “Tokyo Highway Radio” on Apple Music.

The recipient was Rachel Newman, Co-Head of Music at Apple Music. Newman began her career as a music journalist in Australia and served as programming director at one of the country’s major television networks before moving to Apple, where she has driven the growth of its services for more than 16 years. At Apple Music, which operates in over 160 countries and regions, she has worked to support emerging artists while balancing creative independence with business growth. She is also known for leading the creation of an industry-leading anti-fraud program.

Newman said in her acceptance speech, “I’ve always believed that music is that magical something that can change us” and continued, “We have always aimed to create a feeling of togetherness and global community, to deepen the connections between artists and fans and the music itself.”

Following the three special awards, all attending honorees named to the Global Power Players 2026 list gathered onstage to a warm reception from the audience.  

Those in attendance in Tokyo included: Carlos Souffront (President, Rimas Publishing), Dickon Stainer (Chairman and CEO, Universal Music Group UK and Ireland), Gadi Oron (Director General, CISAC), Jasmine Young (Director, Warner Music/ Blavatnik Center for Music Business at Howard University), Jay Mehta (Managing Director, Warner Music South Asia), Kaori Hayashi (President & CEO, Live Nation H.I.P.), Kazumasa Izawa (Director General, JASRAC), Lo Ting-Fai (President, Warner Music APAC), Naoki Shimizu (CEO, Creative Man Productions), Naoshi Fujikura (President & CEO, Universal Music Japan), Paul Smith (Managing Director, YouTube Music, APAC), Satoshi Tanaka (President & CEO, SPACE SHOWER FUGA FUGA), Shunsuke Muramatsu (Chairman, Sony Music Entertainment Japan), Sylvain Delange (President, APAC, Believe), Takeshi Okada (President & CEO, Warner Music Japan) and Yena Kim (Senior Creative Manager, Universal Music Publishing Korea).

Representing MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN 2026, the ceremony closed with a speech by CEIPA Chairman Shunsuke Muramatsu. Acknowledging the growing global presence of Japanese music alongside anime, gaming and other cultural exports, Muramatsu called the award “a dream that many in the Japanese music industry have held for many years.” For MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN to earn recognition as a truly international award, he said, “it needs to continue for five years, ten years,” and closed on a note of forward-looking resolve: “When we look back five or ten years from now, I want us to be able to say that this is where it all began, and to that end, we will keep pushing forward.”

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