Seiya Matsumiya’s path into music was shaped as much by circumstance as by ambition. After graduating from Berklee College of Music, he chose Los Angeles over New York for reasons beyond the industry—his sister was there and offered him a free place to stay.
In LA, he joined her as a programmer and supporting musician, performing frequently around the city and at a large circus event in New York, before the project evolved into a band called ESP. It was a period, he recalls, when asking Flea to play bass on a track or approaching Maroon 5 about joining a tour was simply part of the conversation. From there, his work expanded into composing and producing for film, television, and advertising — and in 2018, he and his sister founded Black Cat White Cat Music.
The company has since grown into a full-service music agency with offices in Tokyo, Tallinn, and Austin. Its credits include global campaigns for Uniqlo and Audi, the latter earning Black Cat White Cat Music Company of the Year at CICLOPE Berlin, as well as work on A24’s After Yang and Netflix’s Beyond Goodbye, which became Japan’s most-watched series for several consecutive weeks following its release.
We spoke with Matsumiya about his journey from Southern California stages to building a Tokyo-based music agency, the creative culture in Japan, how he approaches a brief, and why the strongest brand work happens when music is part of the conversation from the very beginning.
You started out performing in Southern California alongside artists like Flea, Cat Power, and Maroon 5 before moving into composing for film, television, and advertising. How did that path take shape?
After graduating from Berklee College of Music in Boston, I was trying to decide between New York and Los Angeles when my sister, who had been living in LA for years, told me I could stay with her rent-free.
That alone was enough to make the decision.
Around that time, she had contributed a song to a Spike Jonze short film called I’m Here, which led to a lot of live performances and touring. I joined her as a programmer and supporting musician for many of those shows. We played frequently around LA, as well as at a massive circus event in New York, and eventually evolved into a band called ESP after a drummer joined the project.
We were doing fairly experimental music, and built a strong following pretty quickly. It was also one of those rare periods in life where asking things like “Hey, Flea, would you play bass on one of our songs?” or “Hey, Maroon 5, can we go on tour with you?” was actually possible.
You founded Black Cat White Cat Music in 2018. What led you to start the company?
I was already working for a music agency, and my sister had become a successful film composer in LA. We were both still in music, and it was a no-brainer for us to do business together. If you read the first question, you can see we’re clearly very close. And many of our friends in the industry supported the idea, some even saying they would personally make sure we’d get enough jobs to sustain ourselves. And then it was just…. Let’s go.
Love the name. How did it come about?
My sister came up with it. She had just moved into a house that basically came with a cat, and she went from not necessarily an animal person to a total cat lady. I hated it at first.
It felt too long. But after she showed me the logo that she had one of her friends design, I kind of fell in love with it.
Also, I’m getting ready for a question where I don’t have to bring up my sister.
You’ve previously said, “My mission is to build bridges through sound, culture, and creativity, and help the next generation of artists turn local noise into global waves.” Can you tell us more about that philosophy and motivation?
Having grown up between Japan and the US as a musician and now working in the creative industry, I’ve always gravitated toward the role of a bridge between cultures. That perspective has permeated throughout Black Cat White Cat Music. Almost everyone on our team comes from some version of that same experience.
We tend to operate best from a kind of third culture perspective. Many of us grew up slightly outside the center of the societies that raised us, so we naturally connect with artists, musicians, and creators who have strong local identities but may not yet have a global platform.
Because of that, we are often less interested in smoothing cultural edges out, and more interested in helping amplify what makes someone specific and unique in the first place.
We tend to operate best from a kind of third culture perspective. Many of us grew up slightly outside the center of the societies that raised us, so we naturally connect with artists, musicians, and creators who have strong local identities but may not yet have a global platform.
Whether it’s advertising, film, or music supervision, a big part of what drives us is creating pathways between local culture and global audiences. We want to help turn something deeply rooted in one place into something that can emotionally resonate everywhere.
Working across diverse markets, what do you think makes Japan unique when creating work that engages consumers there?
I once heard in a podcast that Japan is “just like anywhere else, but even more so.” That statement has stayed with me. Japanese creativity contains the same spectrum of creativity as anywhere else (humor, emotional, minimalism, etc), but the amplitude is turned up in every direction. Everything ranges from its standard form to the extreme versions of itself.
Japanese creativity contains the same spectrum of creativity as anywhere else (humor, emotional, minimalism, etc), but the amplitude is turned up in every direction.
You see this in advertising all the time. There are beautifully restrained and subtle campaigns, and then there are pieces of work that are completely surreal and almost impossible to explain outside Japan. What’s interesting is that both can coexist comfortably within mainstream culture.
I think that range is part of what makes Japan creatively unique.
When a brand comes to you with a brief, how do you approach the creative process from that first conversation through to the finished sound?
I rely heavily on inspiration. That intangible space where it’s just sparks that you can’t explain. That creative spark often happens in the middle of the first meeting, and sometimes it’s after hours of playing music while reading the treatment, storyboard, watching the offline, etc.
I rely heavily on inspiration. That intangible space where it’s just sparks that you can’t explain.
Once I have that, then it’s translating into words that I can communicate to both my clients and the artists that I work with. The process from then on is turning into reality what was only fantasy. Sometimes easy, sometimes not.
Over the course of your career, is there a piece of work that stands out to you? (share links to any creative assets)
Some of my first jobs as Black Cat White Cat Music were global campaigns for Uniqlo. They are forever etched in my memories for obvious reasons, and in particular, the one we did called EZY Ankle Pants really stands out to me. Long story short, the music is Afro-Jazz, and I needed an authentic singer. I called the Nigerian Embassy in LA to get a singer’s name, and I found his number in the phone book and cold-called him while he was watching his Wednesday night football or whatever to come join the session. He said, “Afro-Jazz is my life’s mission, and I’ll do anything.”
Najite, I hope you remember me.
Another one that stands out is Audi: Electric Wave. This one was our first major global win specifically for music, and it also made us Music Company of the Year at CICLOPE in Berlin.
Nearly every creative person has a “damn, I wish I did that” moment. What is yours?
I was just talking about this today…. So jealous of this idea.
What advice would you give brands about how to think about music in their work?
Music and sound should be part of the conversation from the very beginning, not something added at the end once everything else is finished.
A lot of brands still treat music as decoration, but the strongest work usually happens when sound is treated as part of the core creative idea itself.
People respond to sound incredibly directly and emotionally. Music shapes memory, atmosphere, pacing, and emotional tone often before people consciously process what they’re even watching.
A lot of brands still treat music as decoration, but the strongest work usually happens when sound is treated as part of the core creative idea itself.
Quick Hits
Your desert island one album for the rest of your life pick:
Honestly, 4’33” by John Cage.
I love the idea of randomness and generative music and the purest form of that was achieved by John Cage all those years ago.
Book, podcast, or resource you recommend:
As a teenager, I read Brave New World and I always go back to the final page of Chapter 17 for inspiration. Just read it this week, and I’m pumped!
Something you want to learn or get better at:
Oh, too many things. But I’m planning on picking up foiling this summer. I hear it’s the closest thing to an actual hover board, and I want to be Marty McFly.
