Avex Trax

Avex Trax (Japanese: エイベックス トラックス, Hepburn: Eibekkusu Torakkusu) is a record label owned by Japanese entertainment conglomerate Avex Inc. The label was launched in September 1990, and was the first label by the Group.^[1]

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Avex Trax
Parent company	Avex Inc.
Founded	September 1990; 34 years ago (September 1990)
Founder	Max Matsuura
Distributor(s)	Avex Music Creative (Avex Inc.) (since 1997) Former distributors SOHBI Corporation [ja] (1990–1992) Nippon Crown Co. Ltd. (1992–1997)
Genre	Various (mostly J-pop and Dance)
Country of origin	Japan
Location	Minato, Tokyo
Official website	www.avexnet.jp

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This section does not cite any sources. (August 2010)

Two years after Max Matsuura began a career distributing studio albums from other countries, he and his two Avex co-founders, Tom Yoda and Ken Suzuki, decided to found their own label. Aiming to compete with more established labels such as Nippon Columbia, Nippon Crown, BMG Victor, Victor Musical Industries, Toshiba-EMI, CBS/Sony, Teichiku Records, King Records, Nippon Phonogram and PolyGram K.K., they created the Avex Trax label.

The first artist to sign to the label was the band TRF, which became a success. This led to Avex Trax becoming a "house of refuge" for artists who had left their former labels (e.g. Ayumi Hamasaki from Nippon Columbia, Namie Amuro from Toshiba-EMI, Ami Suzuki from Sony Music Japan).^[2][3][4] It also appealed to artists not content with their current labels (e.g. Gackt from Nippon Crown).^[5]

Formerly distributed by Sohbi Corporation [ja] until 1992^[6] and then by the Nippon Crown label from 1992 on, in 1997 Avex became a self-distributed label together with Cutting Edge, which was formerly distributed by Toshiba-EMI.

Groups

• AAA
• After School
• SweetS

Soloists

• Sae Ōtsuka
• Hitomi Shimatani
• Namie Amuro