Anime "Once Upon A Witch's Death" ED 「花咲く道で」produced by Yuki Kajiura sung by Aoi Teshima

[Saber]

Look I hate AI as much as the next person but i don't think you're obligated to physically buy things to prove your loyalty or some shit.

I stream out of convenience. I pirate to save money. I download from HnA when I don't have internet. If I happen to be in Japan, then absolutely I treat myself to a CD or BD because I personally want to collect that item and memorialise it. If it weren't for the illegal uploads to YouTube almost 20 years ago, I would have never become a fan in the first place. And would have never ended up going to their live concert which I think is a far better way to support the artists you love (most artists get peanuts from album/single sales regardless of physical and digital) and a better use of your money by spending it on an unforgettable experience, not just for the sake of having it.

AI is a tool, like autotune is a tool, and like garageband is a tool. Using another artist's voice and profiting off of that sucks. But creating an instrumental of a song that doesn't have an officially released version for like a karoake session? Who gives a crap. That's like saying its bad to use Audacity to invert the track to create a shittier instrumental version. (And even if its officially released why in gods name would I spend another 5000 yen on a karaoke ver)

 

[grunty]

If it weren't for the illegal uploads to YouTube almost 20 years ago, I would have never become a fan in the first place.

Frankly, same. Not necessarily youtube, but I also definitely started with piracy.

I don't think I said anywhere that you are obligated to do anything. I know damn well everything is expensive.

What I am saying is don't act surprised when you're no longer getting something that used to be available. That's what george's post directed at me was about (singles in general, instrumentals in particular). If you think companies (who did spend their money on hiring and promoting Kajiura or Kalafina) don't care about sale results and that their decisions aren't influenced by those sales (regardless of whether we agree with their decisions or not), I believe you are wrong. Or maybe I am.

You are likely very correct saying that going to lives is the best way to directly support your fave artist. I think it is absolutely valid and important. With that said, while I'm happy for your live experiences, I like specific music. I want to support that any way I can. And that unfortunately is not lives (which I cannot attend) but usually giving that extra unit sold (be it physical, or digital) for people in charge to see.

PS.
As my previous post @george1234 might now be the previous page's last post, plz2not ignore it. Thanks.

Edit:
Wooo editing galore. Don't think I changed anything from the initial post but tried being more precise.

 

[grunty]

AI is a tool, like autotune is a tool, and like garageband is a tool. Using another artist's voice and profiting off of that sucks. But creating an instrumental of a song that doesn't have an officially released version for like a karoake session? Who gives a crap. That's like saying its bad to use Audacity to invert the track to create a shittier instrumental version. (And even if its officially released why in gods name would I spend another 5000 yen on a karaoke ver)

Doing a separate post to end the AI thing.

One. I reacted the way I reacted in response to george's post.

Two. Ignoring the legality/morality of feeding someone's music to AI (yes, I realize the hypocrisy with what we're often doing), if you want to use some AI results for your karaoke session, or if you want to use it to decipher something from a song, go for it.

In context of actual instrumentals, I like official instrumentals not because I like to do karaoke sessions but because I like the music itself. As far as I'm concerned, the quality of AI results does not cut it. Go back to One and my reaction to george's dumb ass suggestion that companies should/would take note of people having AI results when deciding on releasing instrumentals.

 

[grunty]

Look I hate AI as much as the next person but i don't think you're obligated to physically buy things to prove your loyalty or some shit.

Ooookay... so @Saber 's first line here has kind of been haunting me the last few hours.

I don't particularly care what anyone thinks of my takes on AI or art, I don't particularly care what you think of my takes on supporting YK (as long as we're here for YK and feel like we are adding something to her career, we're at least in the same book if not on the same page), but I do care what you guys think when it comes to displaying EGO and such.

If anyone (and @george1234 in particular) felt I was trying to shame @george1234 or pass judgment by asking whether he had purchased those two singles or not, I assure you that was not my intention and I do apologize. It was tied directly to his comment Re:"why they stopped physical singles".

If anyone got the impression that I was trying to put myself on some pedestal, I assure you that was not my intention and I do apologize. I never claimed to have purchased everything ever released by Kajiura, nor that I have never listened to Kajiura in other manners. I was not trying to imply anyone should feel "obligated to buy" anything and "prove loyalty". I apologize if that's how it all came across.

I actually think I had already addressed it in my two posts preceding and following @Saber 's but I felt the need of stressing it again from a different angle. Maybe the post preceding @Saber 's by few minutes gets less attention, or maybe it's all still poorly worded.

 

[george1234]

^ Yes it kinda did but its okay since i know you well enough by this point :)

(BECAUSE YOU DO as you admitted to not buying it).

Yes, but do you seriously believe they care about it ? They never made any of the physical copies available in most of our countries and not even the anime. I came to know of japanese anime thats not Pokemon Yugioh Sailor Moon or Dragonball, from 7 episodes of Tokyo Mew Mew that were in a local channel. They kept restarting after 7 eps so my brother looked it up online and found the rest (52 in total), and next one he found was Tsubasa, which made me fall in love with Kajiura's music. The global anime / anime music market being even more niche than in japan is a very small % of their sales.

It is why Kalafina never went outside of France or Germany when in Europe, as if other countries do not exist, or why YK never did a concert on any of those either. So whatever marketing practice the labels follow i think its mostly based on what the japanese buyers do.

Besides who owns a CD drive these days ? Phones dont have, laptops/notebooks dont have, TVs dont have, CD players almost ceize to exist, even PS5 has a digital-only version, so they adjust to it because people i bet were just buying the CDs to support but never actually used the disc. You have to buy an external CD drive to plug into the laptop, and even that (laptop) some people don't have either.

Heck i even went like 6 years ago to the Greek-Japanese association and send a letter in order to network meet people who also appreciate japanese culture and possible learn the language but they told me they do not accept members , they only have some boring old movies once or twice per year and some tea ceremony lessons.

Just only recently one company started to translate /subtitle some anime movies (AoT and KnY) and give them to cinemas to screen which makes me happy, and i did went to see it.

 

[grunty]

^ Yes it kinda did but its okay since i know you well enough by this point :)

I'm reading my posts again and I honestly do not know how me asking about those singles in response to you came across so strongly offensive (elitist?) to anyone. I can only apologize and try to do better in the future.

Yes, but do you seriously believe they care about it ? They never made any of the physical copies available in most of our countries and not even the anime. I came to know of japanese anime thats not Pokemon Yugioh Sailor Moon or Dragonball, from 7 episodes of Tokyo Mew Mew that were in a local channel. They kept restarting after 7 eps so my brother looked it up online and found the rest (52 in total), and next one he found was Tsubasa, which made me fall in love with Kajiura's music. The global anime / anime music market being even more niche than in japan is a very small % of their sales.

It is why Kalafina never went outside of France or Germany when in Europe, as if other countries do not exist, or why YK never did a concert on any of those either. So whatever marketing practice the labels follow i think its mostly based on what the japanese buyers do.

Besides who owns a CD drive these days ? Phones dont have, laptops/notebooks dont have, TVs dont have, CD players almost ceize to exist, even PS5 has a digital-only version, so they adjust to it because people i bet were just buying the CDs to support but never actually used the disc. You have to buy an external CD drive to plug into the laptop, and even that (laptop) some people don't have either.

Heck i even went like 6 years ago to the Greek-Japanese association and send a letter in order to network meet people who also appreciate japanese culture and possible learn the language but they told me they do not accept members , they only have some boring old movies once or twice per year and some tea ceremony lessons.

Just only recently one company started to translate /subtitle some anime movies (AoT and KnY) and give them to cinemas to screen which makes me happy, and i did went to see it.

I'm sorry but I don't know what you are trying to suggest or argue compared to your posts on last page. You were questioning "why they stopped physical singles" on the last page, and now you are coming at me with a full on tirade about the CD format already being dead worldwide (Yes, it has been for a good while. Yet Japan continued to appease at least the animu music fans with physical media.) and Japanese culture not thriving in Europe. (Which has nothing to do with Japanese physical media.)

I am honestly confused and trying really hard not to work myself up.