Aug 102017
 

Crypton Future Media’s record label KarenT has released the Hatsune Miku: Magical Mirai 2017 song contest’s Grand Prix song Singularityby keisei and the runner-ups starting now, with the special selection titled “Hatsune Miku “Magical Mirai 2017” Song Contest Selection“. The selection will include the following works available via iTunes, Amazon MP3 and more, with “Singularity” by keisei to feature an additional song “Winter Sky Discovery”.

Hatsune Miku: Magical Mirai 2017 song contest’s result announcement video

Jul 132017
 

The list of participating Vocaloid producers for this year’s Creators Market at Hatsune Miku: Magical Mirai has been announced, with no-less than 39 different producers! This makes the number of participating artists nearly 4X larger than last year. The Creators Market is a dedicated section of the Magical Mirai exhibition where you can meet various Vocaloid producers in-person and show your support by buying their albums from their own tables!

Here’s the list of participating artists, and the dates they will be present:

Be sure to stop by and say hello to your favorite producers at the event! Additional info via official Magical Mirai website: http://magicalmirai.com/2017/ex_market.html

May 122017
 

Due to the incredible feedback from last year’s Magical Mirai, it has been announced that the “Creators Market” section of the exhibition will be making its return, and bigger than ever!

Last year’s Creators Market area of the exhibition allowed fans to buy music directly from creators featured on Crypton’s KarenT music label. This gave the fans a chance to meet producers such as ATOLS, Yunosuke, Misumi, risou and more in person!


 
Magical Mirai’s announcement says they plan to expand the Creators Market area to introduce even more producers. Mitchie M seemed a little excited and also shared the news, so perhaps we can expect him to make an appearance at the event?

Magical Mirai Creators Market page: http://magicalmirai.com/2017/ex_market.html

Oct 252015
 

mf_how2_karent
This is a simple guide that I hoped I would not have to create, as I’ve been pushing for well over a year for the user-friendly issues on KarenT.jp to get fixed. But with many fans likely confused about whether they can even buy some of the music from their favorite producer or not, I felt something needs to be done. If you’re an older or more experienced Vocaloid fan, chances are you might not need this guide (but who knows, maybe you’ll learn something new).

First of all, what is KarenT? KarenT is Crypton Future Media’s own record label, where they partner with various Vocaloid musicians to make their music digitally available worldwide. Many producers might not have the time or ability to push for the exposure of their music on a world-wide scale, so this service from Crypton is highly useful and beneficial to Vocaloid producers for commercializing their music. Each album release is also advertised on the official Hatsune Miku Facebook page, which garners over 2.5 million followers (making this problem even more critical).

So what is the problem we’re talking about? Before sometime in 2012, KarenT used to be much more catering towards non-Japanese visitors. Each album page included links to various album purchase sources, not just iTunes. Additionally, the iTunes links also used to direct to the correct language based on the KarenT site language (.com/jp/ for the Japanese KarenT site, .com/us/ for the English site, etc). Sometime in 2012, however, this changed. All links now direct to the Japanese iTunes page, regardless of the language you view KarenT in. Even worse, they no longer list the other music sources available, despite the albums still being published on these sites.

This presents two main problems for Vocaloid fans that have been in the community for less than 3 years, or for those that haven’t dug further on their own:

1: Directing to the Japanese iTunes store leads many newer and inexperienced Vocaloid fans to believe the music is Japan-only. They wouldn’t know it’s available on their own region’s store, or think they will be forced to somehow create a Japanese iTunes account.

2: Vocaloid fans think iTunes is the only option, and give up on buying the music (not everyone uses iTunes, and some avoid it like the plague).

To access the songs for your own region, or from alternate sources, is quite simple. If you’re an iTunes user, simply select “iTunes” from the store links on the page of the album you’re interested in. Then change the “/jp/” in the iTunes store URL to your own region (/sg/ for Singapore, /de/ for Germany, etc) to see the music on your own store, and the proper price. Alternatively, you can also just remove the /jp/ completely and have it redirect to the default U.S. store.

What if you’re not an iTunes user? Because the alternate services for the albums are not directly linked for each album, finding them is somewhat more challenging. First, you have to scroll to the very bottom of the KarenT website to see the other services KarenT uses.

karent_services

Yes, the BOTTOM, the last place someone would think to look for the link of the album they want to buy. Pick a service that best suits your personal preference (mine happens to be AmazonMP3, also available in Canada, UK, Germany, etc), then simply search the album or song name you want to buy.

These small hurdles may seem elementary to older or experienced Vocaloid fans, but you would be surprised by the number of people in the community I’ve seen that did not know these options were available, and upon hearing the news, made a mad rush to purchase an album from their favorite Vocaloid producer. Hopefully this problem will eventually be fixed in the future. Happy music listening, everyone!

Aug 212015
 

mian8_bannerIllustration by 依存

Speaking of August, it’s time for Hatsune Miku’s birthday! Crypton Future Media’s record label KarenT has launched today the special music collection, titled “Hatsune Miku 8th Anniversary”, featuring various music from 17 different producers; an uplifting music collection for your precious moment of celebration.

The albums are now available via KarenT on iTunes and Amazon MP3 (must search manually on Amazon). In addition to the songs, free wallpapers by the artist comet are given away for fans to enjoy.

There are so many glittering milestones on her way from then to now. Hope that her voice will carry people’s thoughts for someone special to them, and keep ringing throughout the world! Let’s celebrate Hatsune Miku’s 8th Anniversary.

– Message from “Hatsune Miku 8th Anniversary” via KarenT