Sony Music Japan

Background

Sony Music Entertainment Japan (formerly CBS/Sony Group) was a music company that was owned by Sony Corporation that was founded in 1968. It was renamed to its current moniker in 1991.

1st Logo (1984-1992)

Logo: We just see the text in blue:

A
CBS/SONY GROUP
RELEASE

Variants::

In later years, the text reads:

A
Sony Music Entertainment
RELEASE

Sometimes, the text says "CBS/SONY HOME VIDEO"
Sometimes, the text was in white.
A variant with the text in Didot, CBS' (the company's co-owner) corporate font, exists.

FX/SFX: The logo fading in and the logo fading out.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Ultra rare. You can see it on releases from the company including anime such as Penguin's Memory: Shiawase Monogatari.

2nd Logo (1992-1998)

Logo: On a gray gradient background, we see a flash, and then we see a light blue parallelogram that divides into slanted lines. The lines disappear, and then we see the text "Sony Music Entertainment" in white. Then, a red line draws the white italic word "(Japan) Inc." below the text.

Variants:

Sometimes, the text reads "Sony Records", "Ki/oon Sony Records" or "Epic/Sony Records" and then the line forms the normal text below in italics.
On SNES games, the text is already formed, except for the line drawing the text.

FX/SFX: The parallelogram and lines forming the text.

Music/Sounds: There are two musical versions of the logo.

One version has a choir, followed by a xylophone theme.
The other was a singing choir followed by wobbling synth noises.
On the SNES version, the logo is silent.

Availability: Seen on anime and music releases from the company in Japan, as well as on SNES games in the Japanese market, such as the Japanese version of Solstice.

3rd Logo (1994-1998)

Logo: On a black background, we see a white vertical rectangle in the middle with the Columbia Records "walking eye" symbol inside of it. Below that is the text "Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc.".

Variants:

On Lagnacure, the logo fades to white at the end, transitioning to the Art System logo.
On Bakuden Unbalance Zone, the Amuse logo is shown below the logo.

FX/SFX: Same as the 1st logo.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Was seen on Japanese PSX games that distributed their music on the Japanese Sony Music label.

4th Logo (1998- )

Logo: On a black background, a white light appears, revealing the 3D white text "Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc." in stacked form, also forming from light effects. Then we see a disc, that later turns into the letter "a".

Variants:

Sometimes, the text would read either "Sony Music Labels Inc.", "Sony Music Direct (Japan) Inc.", "Sony Music Records" or "SME Records".
The SME version also has the light forming the italic text "Sony Music Records Inc." below the logo.

FX/SFX: The light forming the text.

Music/Sounds: Same as the first musical version of the second logo. On some games, like Click Medic, the logo is silent.

Availability: Seen on Japanese music VHS and DVD releases from the company, as well as PS1 and PS2 Japanese video games from the era.