Other Software Music distribution service BIG UP! allows international vocal synth producers to monetize their work

[SeleDreams]

Yeah, I guess it's best for me to publish my work, with an original character or logo or something, using another service, because I'm not planning on only using Miku and Gumi.

You also can use multiple services. nothing prevents you from posting one song with big up, another with routenote. etc

 

[SeleDreams]

Big Up now allows to feature multiple vocal synths in one song !
Before we could only assign one vocal synth per song. Now it allows to assign up to 5 ! Which is great for songs using multiple vbs.

 

[SeleDreams]

It seems Big Up reviewed their terms of service and addes some changes which are not that great :
- Free plan users will have a limit of one submission per month.
- If a submission makes less than 1000 plays in a year, it might get removed.

My guess is that their current free model was unsustainable so they added these limitations

 

[JikyuVox]

It seems Big Up reviewed their terms of service and addes some changes which are not that great :
- Free plan users will have a limit of one submission per month.
- If a submission makes less than 1000 plays in a year, it might get removed.

My guess is that their current free model was unsustainable so they added these limitations

Rats!
Are there any alternative distributors that allow Vocaloid and other Vocal Synths?

 

[Vector]

Rats!
Are there any alternative distributors that allow Vocaloid and other Vocal Synths?

You can use any music distributor (DistroKid, LANDR, TuneCore, etc) to distribute vocal synth music, so long as you don't put the name of the voice bank in the metadata or use their likeness in album art.

Using the voice itself is fine...because obviously someone would be laughed out of town if they tried selling music tools with a license forbidding their use to distribute music lol. But the name and likeness are trademark territory and, for example, Miku merchandise is big business, so Crypton is incentivized to look at that on a case by case basis.

The two paths, in the Crypton example, to having a character on the album cover and metadata would be to contact them and ask (unlikely for people outside of Japan) or being signed by their Karent record label. That's why you might notice that 4BLOOD by KIRA has no mentions of Miku on streaming services, but Highlight (a song commissioned for Miku Expo) does. One's through KIRA's distributor and the other was published by Crypton.

Also, Crypton basically considers anything on YouTube, NicoNico, or other social media platforms to be "doujin activity" and their stance is that it benefits them so do what you want. Fan art away and say the song is featuring Luka or Miku or whatever. They know they have their golden goose because of people making videos with Miku in them.

Personally, I use LANDR. It's $24/year for unlimited releases (and they don't delist them if you stop paying, unlike DistroKid) and they don't take any portion of the royalties. They will also, for a per-song fee, arrange the paperwork for you for licenses for cover songs. (i.e. an original performance of a song...sampling existing recordings is a very different legal area.)

 

[Alphonse]

Using the voice itself is fine...because obviously someone would be laughed out of town if they tried selling music tools with a license forbidding their use to distribute music lol.

That's literally Fukase and Stardust if you don't get their explicit permission.

 

[Vector]

That's literally Fukase and Stardust if you don't get their explicit permission.

I will have to proceed to laugh at them, I guess. I find the concept more silly than subscriptions for VSTs. I wouldn't take a piano seriously either if the manufacturer claimed the timbre required separate licensing.

 

[SeleDreams]

I will have to proceed to laugh at them, I guess. I find the concept more silly than subscriptions for VSTs. I wouldn't take a piano seriously either if the manufacturer claimed the timbre required separate licensing.

there's also miku NT where you can't use the voice alone thanks to a EULA rabbit hole.

Like technically there's nothing against using the voice commercially.... BUT they have a term that forces to mention the use of hatsune miku. and from there you end up bound by the terms of the Piapro license

it's some EULA trickery

 

[Vector]

Ouch. That isn't great: https://ec.crypton.co.jp/download/pdf/eula_virtualsinger.pdf

That definitely is another mark against NT. Hopefully they don't do that with Miku V6, and/or Yamaha disallows such a restrictive license.

 

[Alphonse]

I will have to proceed to laugh at them, I guess. I find the concept more silly than subscriptions for VSTs. I wouldn't take a piano seriously either if the manufacturer claimed the timbre required separate licensing.

I was so mad about this because who sells virtual instruments you're not allowed to use commercially? Like, what did I buy it for then?

 

[Grzesiek11]

I wonder if this is even legally enforceable. There are limits to EULAs after all.

I doubt anybody is going to sue Crypton over this though, so we'll never know. Most will play it safe and either comply with the terms, or use voicebanks other than NT.

 

[synvo]

Section �. SEPARATE ADDITIONAL LICENSE
You may use the Synthesized Singing produced by you for commercial or non-commercial purposes. However, if you wish to use the Synthesized Singing in any of the following
ways or purposes, please in the first instance contact CRYPTON. Depending on the way or purpose of your intended use, a separate additional license from Licensors may be
required (which may include license fee payments).
(�)Use for Products with Contract Representation
To use the Synthesized Singing commercially for any of the following products, coupled with Licensors f trademark(s) such as "VOCALOID" "VOCALO" or the titles of the Libraries
("Hatsune Miku V�", "Hatsune Miku" , or their representations in other languages “初音ミク”, “初音未来”), or other similar expression ("Contract Representation") in whole or in
part, by way of, including but not limited to, the following commercial products or services:
(a)products on which name(s) are credited as singer, artist, musical instrument and the like, together with the Contract Representation;
(b)products of which packaging and/or promotion materials bear the Contract Representation; or
(c)audiovisual works/products with Contract Representation shown in end-title roll or otherwise visible to the public.
(�)Use in Commercial Karaoke
To use the Synthesized Singing in commercial Karaoke or similar service/system to provide vocals including backing vocals, including use to create commercial Karaoke
software, Karaoke hardware, and internet-based Karaoke products systems and services.
(�)Use as Telephone Ringtones or Alerts/Signals for Commercial Purposes
To use the Synthesized Singing commercially as telephone ringtones or as audio alerts or signals in telephone or telecommunication equipment, except where such
ringtone uses a sound source sold exclusively for the purpose of music appreciation (such as standard music distribution).
(�)Use as Built-in Voice or Sound for Electronic Devices etc.
To use the Synthesized Singing as built-in voice or sound for consumer electronics products, robots, car navigation systems, gambling machines, musical instruments,
computer software, game software, or any other hardware and software products.
(�)Use in Commercial Audiovisual Works
To use the Synthesized Singing in commercial audiovisual works (including motion pictures), as if person(s) or animation character(s) therein are singing or performing.

Soooo....???

 

[SeleDreams]

Soooo....???

This is the standard license. Big Up is a special distribution service with agreements for commercial use with crypton.
The vocaloids with which they have an agreement are listed there

https://big-up.style/static/vocaloids

when you use listed vocaloids here, around 20% of the income of the song would be versed to the company that created the voice. It's directly taken from the earnings automatically. that's part of the commercial agreement.

 

[SeleDreams]

Kazehiki and Gekiyaku are now available for commercial use on Big Up. It seems to include their UTAUs as well

 

[synvo]

This is the new agreement of Hatsune Miku V6 early access. The previous EULA the people here were talking about in Miku NT EULA was discussed here before.

 

[SeleDreams]

This is the new agreement of Hatsune Miku V6 early access. The previous EULA the people here were talking about in Miku NT EULA was discussed here before.

Ah, i see what you mean. Miku V6's license is identical to V4x. Basically you can use her commercially without big up if you use her in a song, but you aren't allowed to put "feat. Hatsune Miku" or use her character for the cover art.
If you publish through big up though, you're allowed to do that

 

[Vector]

It's mostly a case of an overly broad license that isn't enforced, so they can ensure companies aren't profiting from their brand. Crypton knows the purpose of their tool is to make music for other people to listen to, and that people routinely do so on streaming services. They would absolutely be clarifying that if they had a problem with it, on the scale that it happens. Their concern is with the character name and design, because they reserve the right to merchandise their characters.

Crypton has also gone on record in the past that YouTube/NND/other social media platform videos are considered doujin/fan activity and are not considered commercial audiovisual works. You can Mikufy anything you want on there, because it's just building interest as far as they're concerned. At this point, Miku is like Hello Kitty: they make their money licensing the name and likeness to other companies. The music stuff is basically free marketing.

Also confirming that the V6 license is identical to the V4X one. I checked it this morning to see if there were any NT-style surprises.

 

[SeleDreams]

It's mostly a case of an overly broad license that isn't enforced, so they can ensure companies aren't profiting from their brand. Crypton knows the purpose of their tool is to make music for other people to listen to, and that people routinely do so on streaming services. They would absolutely be clarifying that if they had a problem with it, on the scale that it happens. Their concern is with the character name and design, because they reserve the right to merchandise their characters.

Crypton has also gone on record in the past that YouTube/NND/other social media platform videos are considered doujin/fan activity and are not considered commercial audiovisual works. You can Mikufy anything you want on there, because it's just building interest as far as they're concerned. At this point, Miku is like Hello Kitty: they make their money licensing the name and likeness to other companies. The music stuff is basically free marketing.

Also confirming that the V6 license is identical to the V4X one. I checked it this morning to see if there were any NT-style surprises.

It's obvious, but from the moment it's in the license, going with big up is the safest bet if you want to mention the vb name of design