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 1988.

1st Logo (1984-1991)
Visuals: We just see the text in blue: A CBS/SONY GROUP RELEASE

Variants:: A Sony Music Entertainment RELEASE
 * In later years, the text reads:
 * 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.

Technique: Fading effects.

Audio: None.

Availability: You can see it on releases from the company including anime such as Penguin's Memory: Shiawase Monogatari and Tama and Friends: Third Street Story.

2nd Logo (April 1991-1998)
Visuals: On a gray gradient background, there is a flash, and then there is a light blue parallelogram that divides into slanted lines. The lines disappear, and then there is the text "Sony Music Entertainment" in white. Then, a 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.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: There are two musical versions of the logo.
 * One version has a choir, followed by a xylophone theme, which is actually the Roland D-50 Fantasia preset.
 * 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 (1994-2004)
Visuals: On a black background, there is 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.

Technique: Fading effects.

Audio: None.

Availability: Was seen on Japanese PS1 and PS2 games that distributed their music on the Japanese Sony Music label.

4th Logo (1998-)
Visuals: On a black background, 3 white lights appear and wipe in the 3D white text "Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc." in stacked form, which starts off on the sides of the letters before they rotate one by one to face the camera. A CD is also formed among the letters, which starts to spin rapidly before flashing and turning 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". Here, only one light is shown because there's only 1 line of text.
 * The SME version also has a light forming the italic text "Sony Music Records Inc." below the logo, this time flipping up from below.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: Same as the first musical version of the second logo. On some occasions, the logo is silent.

Availability: Seen on Japanese music VHS and DVD releases from the company, as well as PS1, PS2, PSP, and PS3 video games from the era.