Kawai Draws Japan's First Freelance-Law Warning Over 500-Yen Trial Lesson Pay
- Kawai Musical Instruments received Japan's first 'price squeeze' warning under the Freelance Act, issued by the JFTC.
- Trial lessons paid as little as 500 yen per 30 minutes were judged unfairly low.
- This is the third Freelance Act violation surfacing in the music school industry.
- Unpaid fees and one-sided contracts are long-standing industry practices.
Japan's Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) has issued its first 'price squeeze' warning under the country's Freelance Act, and the target is Kawai Musical Instruments. The issue is trial-lesson pay: 500 yen for 30 minutes, which the regulator judged to be unfairly low rather than a freely negotiated rate.
This is the third Freelance Act case to surface in the music school industry, which points to an industry-wide practice rather than one company's misstep. Unpaid fees and informal contract terms have long been normal in the sector.
For readers running lesson-based businesses, the lesson is simple: put the rate calculation and payment timing in writing. What to watch next is how Kawai responds to the warning and whether trial-lesson pay is revised across the industry.