Kalafina Post-Kajiura thread (Upd:「Kalafina Anniversary LIVE 2026」Jan 14-19 2026)

juchanx3 said:
Part of me is happy that they are doing lives, even if I cannot go... but another part of me is sad because they ignore Kajiura existence even if she was the backbone of Kalafina back then. If they don't plan to release new songs they will just do easy money with Kajiura previous work, sadly... I know she will gain her royalities, but I believe when she was part of SC she could get more money from Kalafina lives.
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I suspect she was earning an OK sum. The thing about your royalties is it depends on the contracts you signed.

As I saw in a explanatory video on YouTube about the American industry, I learned that if you sign a recording contract you no longer have full rights to the "masters" (the finalized originals) as it belongs to the recording company. If you sign a publishing contract, you give up full rights to the composition and so on to take advantage of their ability to print and promote the work. It actually belongs to the publishing company.

For example, Michael Jackson purchased the publishing rights to the majority of The Beatles' catalog in 1985 for $47.5 million but it was later worth close to billion. https://finelytunedmusic.com/articles/michael-jackson-and-the-beatles-music-catalog/ (In the article, "Retaining the publishing rights gave him authority to regulate the commercial usage of these legendary songs.").

Kajiura cannot regulate the commercial use of her music if it's in the hands of others.

You can bet that Kajiura is earning a lot more per song for her post-Kalafina stuff under her own management, having taken up and putting together her own team. Building her own recording studio also means she doesn't need to pay for studio time or depend on anyone else. She can just bring in the people to work on projects as she needs them, so she can fully own her masters.
 
~ I did a little AI questioning on the issue of rights for Kajiura and this is what I got. Please people here with industry experience can review and chime in on/correct whatever seems off. ~



Here’s how Yuki Kajiura’s transition from agency representation to independent management affected her career and royalties:

🎼 Before FictionJunction Music (Pre-2018)​

  • Agency: Space Craft Produce managed her career and negotiated contracts with record labels and publishers.
  • Record Label: Her music was released under labels like Victor Entertainment, FlyingDog, and Sony Music Japan, depending on the project.
  • Publisher: Publishing rights were typically held by the production companies behind anime or game projects she scored — meaning she had limited control over licensing and royalties.

🚀 After Founding FictionJunction Music (2018–Present)​

  • Independent Management: By launching FictionJunction Music, Kajiura gained full control over her career decisions.
  • Record Label: She continues to release music through FlyingDog, a subsidiary of Victor Entertainment, but now likely negotiates terms directly.
  • Publisher: FictionJunction Music likely administers her publishing rights, giving her:
    • Greater control over licensing (e.g., for anime, games, concerts)
    • Direct access to royalty streams
    • Flexibility in collaborations and international deals

💰 Impact on Royalties and Career​

AreaBefore (Agency-managed)After (Independent via FictionJunction)
Creative ControlLimited by agency and labelFull autonomy
Publishing RoyaltiesShared or managed externallyLikely self-administered
Licensing DecisionsAgency/label-ledArtist-led
Brand IdentityTied to agencyUnified under FictionJunction brand

This move mirrors what many established composers and artists do when they want to consolidate their creative and financial power. If you’re considering a similar path, I can help you explore what it takes to set up your own label or publishing entity.
 
The more skills you have as a musical creative the better you can have a possibility of more value, i.e. a greater spread of income, from your music, depending on your contracts.

From her boldly taking on SC for the Kalafina copyright, back in the day, I think it's fair to say that Keiko is a fairly shrewd, and business-minded person. I wonder what she was able to negotiate with SC for the group, if anything. They wouldn't just go cap in hand, at least I hope not.
 
Ghibli Album has been delayed to February 26th, 2026.

(Honestly, I’m not all that surprised. I’ve been checking for the track list announcement for the past week or so, and it still hadn’t been announced. Compared to the first album which announced five weeks before release, I had a feeling either they were taking their time with the announcement or it was gonna get delayed. Oh well.)

Link: https://www.jvcmusic.co.jp/-/News/CL65894/14.html
 
JVC Special Webpage Artist Profile
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tsubasa said:
JVC Special Webpage Artist ProfileView attachment 26016
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I am guessing the flow of the first sentence mentioning Satoshi leads into the second one: "this was the reason", meaning their work with Satoshi is the reason they are participating in the Ghibli concert album. That's what I am getting from it.

Satoshi is also mentioned in his role as "musical director" which is exactly what he did for the reunion concert. He wasn't composer or arranger or lyricist to the songs, unlike Kajiura definitely was, but he was just listed appropriately as the musical director for the concert.

Now, it's possible the live versions of that reunion concert, with the myriad of changes (omissions and additions) that we heard and that he and his musicians introduced, could be re-released as part of a future album release, as another version/take of the originals. In that scenario, I would imagine he could have some composer/arranger credits. Anyway, if those changed version were released together with completely new music from him (and/or other composers/ lyricists/ arrangers) then it could give a true sense of post-Kajiura exploration, just as this Ghibli concert begins to point to, as a possibility for the fandom to imagine. If/when that happens, then I would suggest that Kajiura may never write new music for the group in the future.
 
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Don't know why you keep saying Ghibli concert - did it get confirmed for a concert? AFAIK this is an album.

And Satoshi Takebe DID arrange most of the covers on the first Ghibli wo Utau album, which also featured a track by Wakana.
https://vgmdb.net/album/134174

He's been working with Wakana since the SCxYK split (Tsubasa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXaNXULkcCA ) and now that all members chose SCxKalafina over YK, he doesn't seem like a surprising collaborator. Not much math to do here.

Fingers crossed they succeed and win me over IF they ever do original songs.
 
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grunty said:
Don't know why you keep saying Ghibli concert - did it get confirmed for a concert? AFAIK this is an album.
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Yeah, that was a mistake on my part.

grunty said:
He's been working with Wakana since the SCxYK split (Tsubasa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXaNXULkcCA ) and now that all members chose SCxKalafina over YK, he doesn't seem like a surprising collaborator. Not much math to do here.
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I was not arguing that there was something unusual about him working with Kalafina sequel to Wakana. It's completely natural, to be honest.

The graphic (translated, hopefully correctly) shared by @tsubasa (no pun intended), stated "this was also the reason they participated", which is the wording I was interacting, with since it seemed to explicitly state that him working with them for the reunion was the reason they got to be part of the Ghibli album.

It's obvious but the wording just felt a little weird to me, that's all.
 
CloisteredFlame said:
The graphic (translated, hopefully correctly) shared by @tsubasa (no pun intended), stated "this was also the reason they participated", which is the wording I was interacting, with since it seemed to explicitly state that him working with them for the reunion was the reason they got to be part of the Ghibli album.

It's obvious but the wording just felt a little weird to me, that's all.
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The album is his project. It's not particularly surprising he would be the reason of getting Kalafina involved having previously worked with Wakana and Kalafina on the reunion (&2026 lives).

I see nothing interesting or deep in this Google Translation of that profile, lol.
 
grunty said:
The album is his project. It's not particularly surprising he would be the reason of getting Kalafina involved having previously worked with Wakana and Kalafina on the reunion (&2026 lives).

I see nothing interesting or deep in this Google Translation of that profile, lol.
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We are saying the same thing. 😁
 
I hope they perform more deep cuts… 2025 I get they did all their top rated singles but pls dig into the discography 😭😭

(I’m still waiting to hear “blaze” live)

Also who’s going? I’m contemplating ..
 
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