THE FIRST TAKE: one mic, one take — Sony's white-room music channel goes global

In November 2019, Sony Music Entertainment Japan and TBWA\Hakuhodo's content lab DISCO launched a YouTube channel called THE FIRST TAKE. The concept is deliberately minimal: a white studio, a single microphone, and one unedited performance of a song. Whatever the artist sings — nerves, breath, mistakes included — is what the viewer gets.

The team, inspired by NPR's Tiny Desk series and Germany's Colors, shot from the side so the viewer feels like they are in the studio watching an artist at work. Producer Makoto Uchida said the goal was 'something you couldn't see on TV, or more detailed than what you would see on a weekly music show'. Channel director Naoko Furukawa said the hardest early battle was convincing artists that there would be no retakes.

The channel found its audience fast: LiSA's one-take version of the Demon Slayer opening 'Gurenge' became the first viral hit, and pandemic-era uploads surged. Billboard reported the channel surpassed 7 million subscribers by late 2022, that artists like YOASOBI, Yuuri and DISH// went from newcomers to Billboard Japan Hot 100 toppers with videos past 100 million views, and that the project helped shift Japan's notoriously physical-first music market toward streaming.

The format kept expanding: Stray Kids was the first non-Japanese act, Harry Styles and Avril Lavigne followed, and the project grew a news site, podcasts and live concerts. In February 2024 it became the fastest Japanese music channel to reach 9 million subscribers, then passed 10 million by August — with 297 artists, 549 songs and about 4.7 billion views. The idea also swept awards: ADFEST 2022 Branded Entertainment Lotus Grande and Effective Lotus Silver, and Spikes Asia 2021 Silver and Bronze.