Hatsune-Miku
I think lots of people are writing about Hatsune-Miku nowadays
but it seems that there still are people who has never seen nor heard of it,
so I would like to briefly summarize what is happening here.
1)What is Hatsune-Miku?
It is a DTM (Desktop Music) software created by Crypton Future Media.
It was released in 2007,and was the best selling DTM software.
-DTM software that sells 1000 copies are supposed to be hit- Hatsune-Miku sold 30,000.
Its price is 140USD (15,000JPY)
According to BCN, Hatsune-Miku got nearly 30% of the share of DTM music,
and won the sound related software div. of BCN ranking last year.
Crypton has released their second product of the Character Vocaloid series: Kagamine-Rin/Ren.
I think Hatsune-Miku is creating a completely new phenomena,
where people who had never created music (just listens or hums or sings in Karaoke etc)
started creating original music using Hatsune-Miku.
Just like what blogs did in text world, what Youtube did in video world,
Hatsune-Miku is creating consumer generated "music" market in Japan.
It stimulated people’s creativity, not only did people create music,
but people who heard the music started to draw
amazing pictures, animes, and 3DCGs etc for the music.
but it seems that there still are people who has never seen nor heard of it,
so I would like to briefly summarize what is happening here.
1)What is Hatsune-Miku?
It is a DTM (Desktop Music) software created by Crypton Future Media.
It was released in 2007,and was the best selling DTM software.
-DTM software that sells 1000 copies are supposed to be hit- Hatsune-Miku sold 30,000.
Its price is 140USD (15,000JPY)
According to BCN, Hatsune-Miku got nearly 30% of the share of DTM music,
and won the sound related software div. of BCN ranking last year.
Crypton has released their second product of the Character Vocaloid series: Kagamine-Rin/Ren.
I think Hatsune-Miku is creating a completely new phenomena,
where people who had never created music (just listens or hums or sings in Karaoke etc)
started creating original music using Hatsune-Miku.
Just like what blogs did in text world, what Youtube did in video world,
Hatsune-Miku is creating consumer generated "music" market in Japan.
It stimulated people’s creativity, not only did people create music,
but people who heard the music started to draw
amazing pictures, animes, and 3DCGs etc for the music.
2) Why was Hatsune-Miku so successful?
Hatsune-Miku is not just a "software", but it has a character “Miku”
which you can see the picture as above, and its profile.
It is more like a virtual idol, and people who loved Miku started using the software
and it became to have a viral effect.
The voice is that of a very popular anime voice actor, Saki Fujita.
Quality of the software itself was good in that it was using "Vocaloid" software
which was originally developed by YAMAHA.
You can easily create songs and make Miku (with a cute voice) sing it for you
- which stimulated user's motivation.
A popular video sharing site in Japan called "Nico Nico Douga" ( meaning Smile Video ) and its community
contributed to the success of Hatsune-Miku largely.
I am plannig to write another post separately about Nico Nico Douga, but just in short
-it is a video sharing site by Niwango
-viewers can comment "on" the video itself, not beneath the videos as in YouTube etc.
which enables the users to communicate on top of the video contents asynchroniously
(and you don’t have to be logged in at the same time like Joost or Second Life etc)
-time spent per user exceeded YouTube according to NetRatings,
it is using 1/12 of Japanese internet traffic now.
-you cannot see videos unless registered and logged in, yet it is very very popular
-personally, I think it is much more fun to watch the same clip on Nico Nico Douga than Youtube
in that "comments" are "communication"
and we feel like we're watching the video together with the community.
-users can add videos, comments, subtitles, tags, affiliates, etc
-it is a very dense community
Anyways, I think this large and deep and dense community was one of the driving forces
that pushed Hatsune-Miku to one of the "hit" products.
3) Examples of various clips created by users
* You need a Nico Nico Douga account to watch the following videos.
This article gives you English instructions on how to get Nico Nico account :)
-Let me know if you have any problem getting an account I think I can help out.
Miku Miku ni shiteageru (I will make you Miku Miku!)
One of the most popular Hatsune-Miku songs.
It got Jasraced and is on karaokes now.
Koi Suru Voc@loid
One of the most popular Hatsune-Miku songs.
It got Jasraced and is on karaokes now.
Melt
One of the most popular Hatsune-Miku songs.
When people create original and wonderful song with Miku,
others started to put pictures for that music, animes for that music,
and even 3DCGs for the music and the quality of those contents are AMAZING.
Examples of Miku 3DCG videos can be seen as follows:
Miku Miku ni shiteageru
Koi suru Voc@loid
Watashi no Jikan (my time)
-original song
Melody
-original song
Mr.Gibson who is an amazing Miku-3DCG creator started a lecture series
on how to create 3DCG lecture videos for others to create.
There are 10 lessons so far.
Levan Polkka
The song is not original, but someone made this anime
that Miku plays around with onion and this onion became
the "sign" of Miku and spread throught the community.
Also, this cute deforme Miku came to be called "Hachune-Miku"
which like a baby pronunciation of "Hatsune-Miku".
Because users love Hatsune-Miku,
Someone made Miku sing Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen.
Someone made a video drawing Miku
Someone made a tutorial of Hatsune-Miku
etc.. etc...
This positive and creative viral effect of people creating contents for the love not for the money
(they are not paid...!) is really really amazing.
...and not only did this phoenomena end as people creating songs and making Miku (the software) sing,
but people started to sing or play instruments of those Miku-original music in the real world.
Sung "Melt"
Played "Melt" with recorders
Played "Melt" with Alto Sax
Played "Hajimete no Oto" with acoustic guitar
"Miku Miku ni Shiteageru" orchestra version
Hatsune-Miku is not just a "software", but it has a character “Miku”
which you can see the picture as above, and its profile.
It is more like a virtual idol, and people who loved Miku started using the software
and it became to have a viral effect.
The voice is that of a very popular anime voice actor, Saki Fujita.
Quality of the software itself was good in that it was using "Vocaloid" software
which was originally developed by YAMAHA.
You can easily create songs and make Miku (with a cute voice) sing it for you
- which stimulated user's motivation.
A popular video sharing site in Japan called "Nico Nico Douga" ( meaning Smile Video ) and its community
contributed to the success of Hatsune-Miku largely.
I am plannig to write another post separately about Nico Nico Douga, but just in short
-it is a video sharing site by Niwango
-viewers can comment "on" the video itself, not beneath the videos as in YouTube etc.
which enables the users to communicate on top of the video contents asynchroniously
(and you don’t have to be logged in at the same time like Joost or Second Life etc)
-time spent per user exceeded YouTube according to NetRatings,
it is using 1/12 of Japanese internet traffic now.
-you cannot see videos unless registered and logged in, yet it is very very popular
-personally, I think it is much more fun to watch the same clip on Nico Nico Douga than Youtube
in that "comments" are "communication"
and we feel like we're watching the video together with the community.
-users can add videos, comments, subtitles, tags, affiliates, etc
-it is a very dense community
Anyways, I think this large and deep and dense community was one of the driving forces
that pushed Hatsune-Miku to one of the "hit" products.
3) Examples of various clips created by users
* You need a Nico Nico Douga account to watch the following videos.
This article gives you English instructions on how to get Nico Nico account :)
-Let me know if you have any problem getting an account I think I can help out.
Miku Miku ni shiteageru (I will make you Miku Miku!)
One of the most popular Hatsune-Miku songs.
It got Jasraced and is on karaokes now.
Koi Suru Voc@loid
One of the most popular Hatsune-Miku songs.
It got Jasraced and is on karaokes now.
Melt
One of the most popular Hatsune-Miku songs.
When people create original and wonderful song with Miku,
others started to put pictures for that music, animes for that music,
and even 3DCGs for the music and the quality of those contents are AMAZING.
Examples of Miku 3DCG videos can be seen as follows:
Miku Miku ni shiteageru
Koi suru Voc@loid
Watashi no Jikan (my time)
-original song
Melody
-original song
Mr.Gibson who is an amazing Miku-3DCG creator started a lecture series
on how to create 3DCG lecture videos for others to create.
There are 10 lessons so far.
Levan Polkka
The song is not original, but someone made this anime
that Miku plays around with onion and this onion became
the "sign" of Miku and spread throught the community.
Also, this cute deforme Miku came to be called "Hachune-Miku"
which like a baby pronunciation of "Hatsune-Miku".
Because users love Hatsune-Miku,
Someone made Miku sing Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen.
Someone made a video drawing Miku
Someone made a tutorial of Hatsune-Miku
etc.. etc...
This positive and creative viral effect of people creating contents for the love not for the money
(they are not paid...!) is really really amazing.
...and not only did this phoenomena end as people creating songs and making Miku (the software) sing,
but people started to sing or play instruments of those Miku-original music in the real world.
Sung "Melt"
Played "Melt" with recorders
Played "Melt" with Alto Sax
Played "Hajimete no Oto" with acoustic guitar
"Miku Miku ni Shiteageru" orchestra version
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Yes, Miku surely became a new source for a lot of memes and creative minds in Japan. However I don't think that it can really be compared to the effect of blogs of youtube. Afterall to properly use the software you still have to be somewhat skilled at musics. And if you are skilled at musics you probably would have found another way to express it already.
Nonetheless I love Hatsune Miku!
Hello Mikufan, thanks for your comment :)
Yes, I think you're right in that it requires some music skills, and not easy for "complete music beginners" per se.
Although- I think they did open up the door to people who might not have created music if Miku didn't exist, and it has various possiblities.
BTW, I saw your site- great to see all those Miku videos introduced in English world :D