AmPm – The mysterious yet popular music duo from Japan that is having great success on Spotify

In 2017, a mysterious two-person group from Japan known as AmPm took #6 on Spotify’s “Viral Chart” for the song “Best Part of Us”.

Who are these guys?  An interview by Yahoo! was conducted.

The duo said they thought it was an error, because honestly, they have no name recognition and no budget to promote.  But they ranked high up in the viral chart and what is known as that migi (right) overlooks the music market and analyzes it while hidari (left) is responsible for musical creativity.

When asked about their popularity, Migi said, “we looked at the mechanism of the viral chart of Spotify.  The algorithm was private but there is a sharing service of a source code from GitHub and Spotify also has an official account on there, so I examined and verified the code that I am using and the API that is provided.  So, I learned of when and how to advertise and it became clear on how to reach Spotify listeners effectively”.

So far, 20 songs have been released and have achieved 30 million stream counts and they have been selected as important playlists for users all over the world.  In 2017, “Best Part of Us” led to AmPm to become the most popular Japanese artist in the world, exceed 19 million playbacks as of December.

So popular that Afrojack, R3HAB and Nicky Romero have offered to remix their tracks.

Migi said, “At the time there was no budget and we didn’t have a contract with a large record company.  It’s a self-destructive act to introduce yourself without understanding the market”.

AmPm feels they are not being secretive.  Hidari is 40-years-old and from Niigata Prefecture, Migi is 34-years-old and is from Saitama Prefecture.  Migi is an entrepreneur who has developed business in China.  He says he communicates with Chinese staff who can’t speak Japanese with the help of a translation app and he has seven stores in China.  He was awarded the Cannes International Advertisement Award at the age of 30 and said he feels like a creator and manager.

Hidari joined a large company that everyone knows in Japan and worked as a salesman and is a DJ at a club at night and wants to start a music project with emerging musicians.

There name is derived from the fact that the group is operated by two people.

AmPm said they do not write their lyrics or do composition.  Hidari said he works with fellow musicians, they are more like producers that serve the role of sending music to the world.  They are like an agency “for artists”.

AmPM often uses the word “marketing” during their interview.  “Best Part of Us” was delivered in March 2017 because Migi chose spring as being conscious of the relationship between music and season.  Analyzing the market calmly, releasing songs that carries a feeling for the music market.

The group also revealed how much they made.

“The revenue from Spotify is about close to 10 million yen per year, but I’ve used t all. I’d like to make it as cheap as possible for the production costs to create new songs, advertisement expenses and costumes.  I think that makes it convenient,” Migi said.

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