Talks with MAD STARS stars, Erik Reiff, founding partner & CCO, Black Cat White Cat Music: AI is information at your fingertips. But childlike wonder …?

In 2021, two of Japan’s top music producers – Erik Reiff, who had just left his job at audioforce, and Seiya Matsumiya, co-founder of Black Cat White Cat Music with his sister, realised they would be a great mix. Their personalities clicked and they were totally aligned about the idea of culture, what they wanted to do with their industry and how they wanted to spread music. They shared Japanese roots, but very different backgrounds. Matsumiya was born and raised in Japan until moving to the US at 11, Reiff is German-Filipino, but grew up in Tokyo.

Reiff’s Japanese roots go back to his great-grandmother, who met his German great-grandfather when he came to Japan from Germany, when the country opened its doors to the west. Marrying a foreigner still broke rules, but they did. Reiff was born in the Philippines but moved to Japan with his family when he was five, moving to the UK at 17 to study at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts.

In the 5 years since its foundation, Black Cat White Cat Music has produced music for adverts in the global market, and has won international awards including Cannes Lions and CICLOPE Berlin, where it was named Music Company of the Year in 2020. It has also expanded into film, network series for major streaming services in the US and Japan, sonic branding, music supervision and most recently, experiential.

Reiff came to MAD STARS as a final juror this year as well as a speaker, presenting the session, It’s Not about the Sound. It’s about Whos Listening: Culture, Curiosity and AI-vertising, reminding his audience that while AI has even made a full music album in 2025, risk-taking, empathy and taste – the ingredients of distinctive work – can’t be outsourced.

He shared the impact of an evolving world on the way he works and the work he values with The Stable:

The Stable: Fewer TVCs and an explosion of different ways to reach audiences. How has your work changed?

Erik Reiff: Both Seiya and I started off with TVCs. That was our main thing but we were also always interested in things like film and TV series. I did a couple of games back in the day. So it was like, how do we start using sound and music as culture? And because of our different cultures, how do we actually bring that into a market that is predominantly Japanese. So that started the conversation of making soundtracks for TV series that have a different kind of edge. It was the same for music supervision. Seiya is really, really into music supervision. It’s something that he’s bringing to Tokyo, something that’s new for Japan. Both of these are doing really well with us. We also recently did an interactive exhibition in Tokyo. Experiential was a new kind of foray for us. Post-COVID, even though people can get everything online, they want the face-to-face experience – going to festivals, tasting it, feeling the wind, feeling tired, whatever it is. For us, it’s how do we make that into storytelling through sound? That’s where we’re pushing right now. Of course, TVCs – love them. There are not many workplaces where you can do different genres of music on a weekly basis.

How has AI impacted your work?

Erik Reiff: The same way that it’s impacted everyone else, I think. First it was like, ooh, let’s make silly cat videos. Then it was like, oh, what does this mean for music? But then AI within music has always kind of existed. If you trace it back, people have been playing around with computers and seeing what they can do with computers since the ‘50s. Can they generate music, and so on? So, with AI it’s wondering what can it do? How is it going to go? Now that it’s gotten to this point of Udio and Suno and ElevenLabs where it’s making symphonies, that’s amazing, but I still use it more for generating ideas rather than just leaving it all completely up to AI. I’ve tried it, but prompting just takes more time than it actually does to make it. And in advertising or in the film or anything, you will get feedback. Then AI is a lot of effort. So I’m not at that point yet where I would be okay to use AI make something. But I do use AI, not necessarily the music programs themselves, but ChatGPT and others like Gemini, for generating different insights into different cultures. I use it more for background – like, what are the rhythmic changes in Indonesia in comparison to Japan? Things that you would never find or maybe would have to research a lot. AI is information is at your fingertips.

The Stable: What are you most proud of?

Erik Reiff: My kid. I mean, he’s the blankest page, the blankest canvas, the most interesting being that I’ve ever met. When I see him, I’m proud of him just as a father, yes, but it’s also seeing someone develop and seeing how they see the world. I just remember the first time he realised that he had two hands. We take these small things for granted. And especially in our industry, when it’s “another job”, or “another pitch”. But my kid’s wonder brings you back to how we should approach things. He has a kind of insight that society or whatever you want to call it, has tarnished or ground down – you know, death and taxes. There’s a purity of life you see in a child. And if we could always do that in the creative world, that would be awesome.