Hatsune Miku, Crypton Future Media's Virtual Pop Star, Sells Out Shows In Tokyo

By Chris Meyers

TOKYO (Reuters) - Hatsune Miku has a following that would make most Japanese pop stars green with envy, with thousands of fans at every concert and a big international following.

She never misses a beat, fluffs a line or messes up a step. But then she doesn't really exist.

Hatsune Miku is computer generated, based on a voice-synthesizing programme developed by the company Crypton Future Media that allows users to create their own music.

Her image was produced by the company, but her music is a creation of her fans, Her best songs -- the ones headlined at her concerts -- have emerged from more than 20 different people.

The fans know what the fans like.

All 10,000 tickets for the digital diva's four shows in Tokyo -- two on Thursday and two on Friday -- sold out in hours despite the 6,300 yen ($76) ticket price.

Hatsune Miku was projected onto the stage at the shows while thousands of other fans packed into 24 cinemas to watch live.

"It was absolutely amazing, it's like my heart is still dancing. I don't think I'll be able to sleep," 21-year-old Yuya Ofuji said as she came out of a concert.

Another fan, Hazuki Koide, showed her dedication by dressing up as Hatsune Miku.

"I've liked her for a long time and wasn't able to come to the concert last year and watched it in a movie theatre. But this year I thought that I absolutely had to make it," Koide said.

The concert, billed as possibly Hatsune Miku's last, was also broadcast in cinemas in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Some fans came from further afield to catch what could be their idol's last gig.

"We thought we really had to make a real effort to come because we wouldn't get a chance to see her in the future," said Daniel Noll who flew in from Australia.

It's not clear why organizers said these shows could be Hatsune Miku's last, but if they are, she'll be going out on a high. Some online polls have her down as the most-requested singer for the London Olympics opening ceremony.

Whatever her future, the virtual star has made a real difference to many fans, they say.

"She gave a lot of people that didn't have a voice, a voice to express their feelings and thoughts," Noll said.

(Editing by Elaine Lies and Robert Birsel)

Comments

[t jane20]

12:33 AM on 04/17/2012

don't care what anyone says, that is strange

[Mitsuki Kagene]

02:48 AM on 03/12/2012

Okay, get this:

The first Vocaloid concert was in Russia, way back in 2004, using Miriam.

http://www.jasminemusic.com/vocaloid/first_public_performance.htm

[Trebot]

11:56 PM on 03/11/2012

The only problem I have with this is that the crowd is motioning to the screen as if the computer generated image can see them.

[Corban]

11:31 PM on 03/11/2012

I wonder what William Gibson's take on this is?

[Zontarina]

11:00 PM on 03/11/2012

Wake up! Luka Luka Night Fever forever!

[jsarets]

06:25 PM on 03/11/2012

Ok, so the fans are creating original music without compensation using this company's content creation software, in the process waiving their rights as creators and assigning copyright ownership of their work to Crypton Future Media for the exclusive rights to commercial representation.

The promise of personal computing cerca 1990 was a future in which everyone was a creator. But the ease and value of content-sharing on the Internet has made it difficult to sell commercial licenses for content creation software to amateurs.

So now the business model is to give the software away for free and take ownership of the user-generated content instead. We're all creators in this future, except we toil for somebody else.

[Mitsuki Kagene]

06:38 PM on 03/11/2012

Uh, sorry if I sound like an idiot but Vocaloid costs money (200 dollars per voice) and Crypton only owns the rights to the character's images, not the songs people make. All the songs in the concerts had to be used with permission from the producers.

[wellingtonian]

08:55 PM on 03/11/2012

That's an interesting concept (not my cup of tea but I won't rag on the people who like it either). What happens to the profits from the concerts?

[Wuud52]

05:15 PM on 03/11/2012

Blade Runner is here...

[Bartolo27]

01:24 PM on 03/11/2012

It's the end of the world as we know it. Too much Fukishima in their milk.

[Sara Gutierrez]

01:06 PM on 03/11/2012

Ah! Hatsune Miku, our goddess our savor! She gives us the courage to write music and release it to the world. She made peoples dreams come true and now after about 5 concert she goes to the biggest stadium in Japan that took another great band about who knows how many concerts and TV concerts to get too. And with the tickets being 76 dollars for two concerts and 42,000 seats it still sells out. (BTW all her concerts including her L.A concert have been sold out since her first one.) Her music has so much meaning that you truly have to dig into, shes a work of art. Her and all of the other Vocaloids deserve this kind of attention. They are the meaning of creativity and music. These are just normal people making her music and there it is in concerts and games! Sadly a very small portion of those people get to make it big, but others works are still appreciated and loved. :) In all, Miku is everyone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGt25mv4-2Q (watch to see what I mean)

[Citats]

11:54 AM on 03/11/2012

Welcome to the future.

[super kitteh]

07:55 AM on 03/11/2012

Japan. Nuff said

[Corban]

11:33 PM on 03/11/2012

Japan: It's like the western world on LSD but without the LSD.

[KPinSEA]

06:43 AM on 03/11/2012

So ... just like Madonna's shows any more. You're not there for any actual singing, because there isn't any, but it's entertaining to look at. For some.

Whatever floats your boat, I guess.

[DanInALionsDen]

02:46 PM on 03/11/2012

Madonna sings live at all of her concerts. She lipsynced the Super Bowl, but so does everyone else, including Whitney Houston.

[booksnmoreforyou]

04:30 AM on 03/11/2012

The really wild thing about this is that the performance was generated entirely by software, both the graphic and vocal parts (a voice synthesizer), that anyone can download. The video shown above is user-generated content, as is all of "Hatsune Miku's" "performances." The software is at http://www.crypton.co.jp/miku_eng

Got a band but no singer. Well, there ya go.

[NerdyStudent]

12:35 AM on 03/11/2012

Wow, haven't seen that video in years.

[Mitsuki Kagene]

12:12 AM on 03/11/2012

Um yeah, there was a concert on the 8th and yesterday, but the video in this article is two years old.