Crypton Future Media, Inc.

Crypton Future Media is an importer of sound devices based in Sapporo, Japan. This company is also known as the developer of the VOCALOIDs MEIKO, KAITO, Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin/Len, and Megurine Luka. It was the very first of the VOCALOID companies to enter production for the series.

About
Crypton Future Media, Inc. was established in 1995 as an importer and seller of music software. Crypton joined the project in May 2002, Crypton's first two Vocaloids were MEIKO (released in 2004) and KAITO (released in 2006). Meiko and Kaito were developed by Yamaha with Crypton Future Media being used to get the product commercially released, similar to the role of Bplats, Inc. in regards to the releases of VY1 and VY2. According to Crypton themselves, they were also charged with recommending English studios for the English version of the software and so far have managed to gain the recommendations for both Zero-G and later, PowerFX.

It was not, however, until Hatsune Miku was released in August 2007 that Crypton along with VOCALOID became popular. When they began to use the VOCALOID2 engine, they created the "Character Vocal Series," which would later influence the use of 'avatars' or 'mascots' by other companies working on the VOCALOID program. This success in commercial strategy made Crypton the leading VOCALOID developer.

According to Crypton, because professional singers refused to provide singing data (they feared that the software might create their singing voice's clones), Crypton changed their focus from imitating or using certain singers to creating characteristic vocals. This change of focus led to sampling vocals of voice actors.

Any rights or obligations arising from the vocals created by the software belong to the software user. Just like any music synthesizer, the software is treated as a musical instrument and the vocals as sound. Under the term of license, the Character Vocal Series software can be used to create vocals for commercial or non-commercial use, as long as the vocals do not offend public policy. In other words, the user is bound under the term of license with Crypton not to synthesize derogatory or disturbing lyrics. On the other hand, copyrights to the mascot image and name belong to Crypton. Under the term of license, a user cannot commercially distribute a vocal as a song sung by the character, nor use the mascot image on commercial products, without Crypton's consent.

Crypton has also produced several voicebanks that are still in a developmental stage, to date only CV-4Cβ and Junger März_PROTOTYPE β are known. These voicebanks are intended for denominational and/or corporate purposes only so it is unknown how many such voicebanks Crypton has recorded or if these voicebanks will later become commercial VOCALOIDs.

At the 2010 New York Comic-Con, a U.S. store was announced.

VOCALOID2
Character Vocal Series (CV)

Unreleased

 * Notice - The following boxes link to articles currently in sandbox mode.
 * The article names are consider placeholders and are subjected to change without notice.

Games

 * Project DIVA Series

Apps

 * Miku Flick


 * Miscellaneous

Piapro
Crypton set up Piapro to clear up some of the problems related to copyright issues. Under the Japanese law code, which strictly preserves the original creator's right, secondary fan arts may be interpreted as copyright violation. However, VOCALOID movement owed much to these fan creations, so in response, Crypton approved these productions by the license similar to Creative Commons (Note: Crypton is NOT a member of the association). Users are encouraged to post illustrations, music, and lyrics onto Piapro. The site authorizes the use of these fan-made creations for the non-commercial purpose, automatically when posted. This arrangement is for the products distributed by and the derivatives adopted by Crypton only. No other VOCALOID distributor has a plan like this currently.

@Games/Tinier Me
The Japanese avatar community @Games has done a collaboration with Crypton VOCALOIDs, involving a special (virtual) dispenser machine called "Tinier Gacha" which where also transferred to the English dubbed site Tinierme. This machine dispenses random items for members to equip and they are limited edition, not available in the regular shops. The campaign started on July 20, 2010 and ended on November 30, 2010 with a full line-up of all Crypton VOCALOIDs. The ones that performed songs on an outdoor stage handed out album covers. Members were encouraged to listen to VOCALOID songs on KarenT, an online entertainment site. The site gives musicians a place to feature their music.

With the success of the first release, additional gacha were released, called Music Festa*(@Games)/Persona Gacha Vol*(Tinierme). These gacha were based upon popular outfits seen in animated PVs and artwork. The promotion for them ended in December 2010 on Tinierme, but is still on-going at @Games.

As of now, the Tinierme site is closed. Items obtained through Tinierme and account details were not transferred to @Games, so the old Tinierme members are required to make a new account if they wish to play on @Games.

Robot Miku
At CEATEC Japan 2009, Boffin (in joint with Yamaha), had the robot model HRP-4C react to VOCALOID software for demonstration purposes. She was dressed up to look like Hatsune Miku for the demo.

Toyota Corolla
In May 2011 Toyota used Miku for two online adverts to promote their car, the Corolla. She is also displayed on the official Toyota page. On the May 7th, USAmazon placed a preview of Supercell's hit song "World is Mine" as a single. The entry was presented as "The World is Mine Feat. Hatsune Miku."

Involvement in Super GT Series
The VOCALOID series, particularly Miku, has been actively involved in the GT300 class of the Super GT since 2008 Super GT season with the support of Good Smile Racing (a branch of Good Smile company, mainly in charge of car-related products, especially itasha [which are cars featuring illustrations of anime-styled characters] stickers). Although Good Smile Company was not the first to bring the anime and manga culture to Super GT, it departs from others by featuring itasha directly rather than colorings onto vehicles.

Trivia

 * Crypton Future Media has stated they will not be making an anime based on their VOCALOIDs.