A singing voice synthesizer software program (Vocaloid) developed by Hatsune Miku (HM) was one of the key inventions of the Crypton Future Media, a music software company situated in Sapporo, Japan, that led the company to numerous new business opportunities.
Many of the user tried this new software, they simply entered the lyrics and melodies to create songs, which was then converted by Hatsune Miku, featured with virtual singer of 16 years old female on software packaging. First target segment for the company were professionals, but rather than this, HM got the popularity among amateurs who use the social media abundantly. They produced lyrics and music which they shared on multiple websites including YouTube, Nico Nico Douga and Crypton’s Piapro.
By March 2014, the company had obtained a huge market share and it had over 110,000 released songs, 170,000 uploaded videos, 1,000,000 created artworks and thousands of “likes” on Facebook. This expansion and usage of the software obtained the attention of international media coverage for Crypton.
Crypton then got number of proposals from the companies such as Google, Domino’s Pizza, and Toyota, for the advertisement and she also held sold out “live” concerts across the world. Although, the company was on a fast growing track within six years after the initial launch but it had to face the challenges related to the future development of their business and this rapidly growing virtual idol.
Author, Timothy Craig, has the affiliation with the Doshisha Business School.
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