If someone, maybe a friend, approached you and asked, “Have you ever heard of Vocaloid or Hatsune Miku?” what would be your answer? Would that answer be no? Well, if it is, you are in the right place! Hi, my name is Jack Shorenstein, the host of the Studio 39 YouTube channel, and today we will be talking about something that I have wanted to talk about for a long time. That is the history and impact of Vocaloid and its pop idol, Hatsune Miku. For context, Vocaloid is a piece of voice synthesis software that allows anyone who buys it and a corresponding voice pack (usually done by a human voice actor) to make music without needing to hire a vocalist or sing by themselves. For example, Miku (the character that we will be talking about) is a voice pack. Anyways, this podcast will be split into three parts: Pre-Miku (which encompasses 1961, as well as the history from 2000 to mid-2007), post-Miku (which comprises the rest of 2007 to the present day), and the impact that Vocaloid and Miku have had on technology and society at large. So, without further ado, let’s get started!
Pre-Miku:
Interestingly, this story begins in a different century. According to Shigamuri Nana, a YouTuber who researched Vocaloid, it started in 1961 at Bell Labs, when researchers were able to get a computer, specifically an IBM 7094 mainframe (yes, the computers that took up entire rooms), to sing the song “Daisy Bell,” which was originally from 1892 (Nana 1:25 – 2:18). The results were… interesting but promising, marking a significant milestone for computing. This one event would pave the way for computer voice synthesis for decades to come.
Let’s fast forward to 2000, when Hideki Kenmuchi was studying at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain. According to the YouTuber Salad Daze, he was working on a project, a voice synthesis program that was trying to replicate human singing. Eventually, Yamaha Corporation saw the project, and they decided to fund it. After years of development, Vocaloid was released in 2004. Unfortunately, Vocaloid did not sell well due to various factors, ranging from poor marketing to a robotic-sounding voice and much more. Now, through all this, a company called Crypton Future Media released two voice packs for the original Vocaloid. Those being Meiko and Kaito. They sold somewhat well, but they were not a commercial success. (Salad Daze 1:45 – 5:00). Although it did not sell well, the software was still impressive. There were no comparable programs to it for many years, and it also paved the way for software very similar to it to start appearing, like UTAU, but that’s a story for another time.
Post-Miku:
Even with the failure of Vocaloid V1, it was still successful enough to get an updated version. Salad Daze also mentioned in her video that Vocaloid V2 was released in 2007 with the voice pack “Sweet Ann” built in. But it wouldn’t be till August that Vocaloid would finally have a majorly successful voice pack. That voice pack was Hatsune Miku, released on August 31st, 2007 (Salad Daze 5:00 – 7:10). Also, according to Sarah A. Bell at the University of Utah, when she was released, she took off for many factors, including people posting music and videos on platforms such as YouTube and Nico Nico Douga (which is Japan’s version of YouTube), fan art being released, and so much more (Bell). The release of Miku’s voice pack began a new era in music. She was the first digital singer to get attention from mainstream media and mainstream singers like Lady Gaga. Actually, Miku was the opening singer for her 2014 concerts, but I am getting ahead of myself.
Donna Li of The Science Study also points out that after her release and massive success, Crypton decided to make her open for anyone to use. That’s right, you were now able to use Miku’s image along with other Crypton Vocaloids (including the previously mentioned Meiko and Kaito, along with any others released after Miku) without the fear of being sued since they would fall under a Creative Commons license, which allows people to use and make fan projects based on these Vocaloids for non-commercial purposes (Li). This was huge, allowing more fan content to become available and increasing her popularity even more. Also, after this, Miku and the other “Cryptonloids” would become real through one type of event… concerts (which would be put on by SEGA, the video game company, and Crypton). Also, as pointed out by Li, in 2010, tickets for one of her concerts wholly sold out at the Zepp Tokyo, even though this was her third time doing a concert (Li). But these concerts would not stay in Japan for long. A year later, in 2011, there was a concert called “Mikunopolis” at Anime Expo in Los Angeles. SEGA and Crypton also put it on, but with help from TOYOTA of all companies, since they decided to run an ad campaign around this time with the Toyota Corolla becoming the official car of Hatsune Miku! It was interesting, but it does show the impact she had on people, which speaking of, let’s talk about her impact.
Impact of Miku and Vocaloid:
The impact of Vocaloid and Miku can be seen from many different aspects of technology and society, from music production to concert-going to even copycats (I’m looking at you, Polar), and so much more! However, the one aspect that Vocaloid and Miku have had a significant impact on is community engagement for fans and companies. This is also significantly mentioned by Sarah A. Bell, who talks about how fans drive the community. She uses the example of the song “PoPiPo,” which became a hit after it was released on Nico Nico Douga and is still relevant due to its popularity. However, she also mentions the impact of companies trying to capitalize on Miku’s success, such as with the song “Tell Your World.” Even though it was made by livetune, a respected Vocaloid artist, it was still commissioned by Google Chrome Japan for an ad they ran around 2011 (Bell). Personally, I love a lot of the fan-made songs that have come out over the years (such as “World is Mine,” “Anonymous M,” “Miku (Anamanaguchi),” and so much more). They make Miku who she is as a character, which is special to me. Now, even with that said, I can’t entirely agree with companies using Miku’s success for their gain since it feels like they are using the community to their advantage, and that feels wrong, but that is my opinion.
Conclusion:
With that, that’s the history and impact of Vocaloid and Hatsune Miku! It was a bumpy ride, but it was all interesting and important to computer voice synthesis as a whole. Now, after listening to me ramble about Miku and Vocaloid, you might be interested in the Vocaloid community and its music, and if you are, I have good news. I created a playlist of all my favorite Vocaloid songs that I continually update over time! If you are interested, the link will be below. It will be available on Spotify and YouTube! Thanks for listening, and I hope you have a good one!
Annotated Bibliography
Bell, Sarah A. “The dB in the .db: Vocaloid Software as Posthuman Instrument.” Popular Music & Society, vol. 39, no. 2, May 2016, doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2015.1049041.
Sarah A. Bell dives into the history, technology, and culture of the Vocaloid software from its creation to now. Bell starts by talking about its history, with the software being created at the Pompeu Fabra University in Spain, with the financing for the project coming from Yamaha Corporation, with the end goal being to create a voice synthesis engine that could sound like a human singer. They eventually created Vocaloid, which works by a human voice actor creating a voice pack that has many different samples in it so that the end user can create any phoneme combination (basically a combination of units of sound) that can help create a song. Bell goes on to say that in 2007, the voice pack of "Hatsune Miku" was release by Crypton Future Media, and she instantly became a huge success with fans creating songs like PoPiPo, which became hits on Japan's version of YouTube, NicoNico Douga. Bell also mentions that companies have used the community for their own benefit, as seen with the song Tell Your World. When it comes to creditability, this source is creditable because the release date is recent enough, the article is relevant to my research, the author is a doctoral candidate and the University of Utah, there is a works cited at the end, and the article does not include any bias.
“The History & Cultural Significance Of Vocaloid | Vocaloids: Behind The Mic.” YouTube, Salad Daze, www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7x_pkdEynA.
YouTube user Salad Daze runs through the history of Vocaloid and the impact it has had on people in her video. She starts with a quick rundown on the software, by saying that it is a voice synthesis program created by Yamaha in 2004 that was made to replicate a human singer's voice, even though it did still sound robotic. She goes on to say that the history really started in 2000 with Hideki Kenmochi while he was at university in Spain, where he developed a program for voice synthesis that would eventually turn into Vocaloid. But even though the tech was impressive, the software did not sell very well until the 2007 release of Hatsune Miku by Crypton Future Media, which then exploded the software's popularity, and created a devoted community centered around it. She then talks about how the cultural impact of Vocaloid is immense, with Miku, along with other Vocaloids having impacts in many areas including storytelling, with things like the Daughter of Evil series, artist creation (which means the impact that Vocaloid had on getting artists/musicians off the ground), and so much more! When it comes to creditability, this video is creditable because the release date is recent, it addresses my research questions, the content matches my other sources, even though there is no works cited and the author does not have any creditability in the Vocaloid community, and the purpose is to inform without any bias present.
Li, Donna. “The Rise of Vocaloid, a Voice Synthesizing Software That Has Revolutionized the Digital Music Industry.” The Science Study, 22 June 2021, thesciencesurvey.com/arts-entertainment/2021/06/22/the-rise-of-vocaloid-a-voice-synthesizing-software-that-has-revolutionized-the-digital-music-industry/.
Donna Li talks about the history and impact of Vocaloid and Hatsune Miku in her article. She starts with talking about the software, by saying that it was released in 2004 by Yamaha, but it really got its start in 2000 with a university in Barcelona creating a joint project with Yamaha, along with one of its students, Hideki Kenmochi. They eventually created Vocaloid, which did not sell well when it first came onto the market. But, after the release of Hatsune Miku by Crypton Future Media in 2007, the software started to sell, which prompted Crypton to create more vocaloids and even make Miku and Crypton's other vocaloids free for people to use without getting sued. This led to the impact we see, with Miku and Vocaloid being seen in many places including storytelling and music production, along with the community that has spawned creating music and fanart. When it comes to creditability, this source is creditable because the article is recent, it addresses my research questions, there is no works cited and the author is not involved in the Vocaloid community like in the 2nd and 4th source, but the information matches, and the purpose of the article is to inform, but there is an opinion part from an interviewee that I will not be using.
Nana, Shigamuri. “WHAT IS VOCALOID? #1 The History of Vocaloid.” YouTube, KaminariEnterprise Presents, 14 February 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E-gRzc4ytA.
Shigamuri Nana runs through a brief history of the Vocaloid software, with a little history about vocal synthesis mixed in. She begins with talking about the 1961 performance of the song Daisy Bell by an IBM 7094, a mainframe computer. She mentions that it will not be the last time a computer would sing by then talking about the history of the Vocaloid software. It started with Hideki Kenmuchi, the so-called father of Vocaloid, while he was in Spain. He developed software that in the beginning, could only produce vowels, but with time, it could do much more that Yamaha and Zero-G released the software under the name Vocaloid, with it not selling very well, even with the release of Meiko and Kaito by Crypton Future Media. But, even with its troubles, Vocaloid 2 was released in 2007 with the Sweet Ann voice pack, but it wouldn't be till later that year when Hatsune Miku was released. With her release, the community grew exponentially, with new vocaloids, new versions of Vocaloid, and even a community-made software package called Utau being released. When it comes to creditability, this video is creditable because the release date is recent enough, the video addresses my research questions, this video does not contain a works cited and the creator is not involved in the Vocaloid community like the 2nd and 3rd source, but it does match when it comes to information, and the purpose is to inform without any bias present.