The Chinese Virtual Singer Business: Introduction and Preliminary Analysis

The Chinese Virtual Singer Business: Introduction and Preliminary Analysis

Yi Jiangnan

Abstract

The so-called virtual singers are personified singing synthesizer voicebanks, with the business around them straddling music industry and AGC (anime, games and comics) industry. Originated from Japan, where the first singing synthesizer in the world was invented, the virtual singer business has grown into a global business of billions. Today virtual singers are widely recognized as the first generation of virtual artists who have achieved notable global success, especially Hatsune Miku, the most popular Vocaloid singer in history. A local virtual singer business in China blossomed soon after the rise of Hatsune Miku, which has formed its own shape over the years in the unique social-economic context of China. Having gone through many ups and downs, the Chinese virtual singer business has moved into a stable yet bottleneck period, with one profitable superstar Luo Tianyi and hundreds of others struggling with attaining any attention of the audience. This paper intends to present the history, market structure, business model and copyright distribution of the Chinese virtual singer business, as well as to conduct a preliminary SWOT analysis on it. In order to better explain the business model and cultural context of the virtual singer business, some relevant aspects of the Japanese virtual singer business will also be discussed in literature review. The methodology of the paper is part case studies analysis, part primary interview.

Publication Date

7-1-2020

Campus

Valencia (Spain) Campus

Keywords

virtual singer; Hatsune Miku; Luo Tianyi; Vocaloid; China

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The Chinese Virtual Singer Business: Introduction and Preliminary Analysis

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