Supercell featuring Hatsune Miku

33⅓ Japan #1

by Keisuke Yamada, Noriko Manabe (Series Editor)

The lead singer on Supercell's eponymous first album is Hatsune Miku-a Vocaloid character created by Crypton Future Media with voice synthesizers. A virtual superstar, over 100,000 songs, uploaded mostly by fans, are attributed to her. Supercell is a Japanese creator music group with the composer Ryo leading ten artists, who design album illustrations and make music videos. These videos are uploaded onto Niconico and other video-sharing sites. By the time Supercell was released in March 2009, the group's Vocaloid works were already well-known to Niconico users and fans. This book explores the Vocaloid and DTM (desktop music) phenomena through the lenses of media and fan studies, looking closely at online social media platforms, the new technology for composing, avid fans of the Vocaloid character, and these fans' performative practices. It provides a sense of how interactive new media and an empowered fan base combine to engage in the creation processes and enhance the circulation of DTM works.

33 1/3 Global , a series related to but independent from 33 1/3, takes the format of the original series of short, music-basedbooks and brings the focus to music throughout the world. With initial volumes focusing on Japanese and Brazilian music, the series will also include volumes on the popular music of Australia/Oceania, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and more.

Genres: Music

128 pages, Paperback

First published August 10, 2017

Reviews

[Luthfi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Secara keseluruhan buku ini seru namun memang akan sedikit memusingkan karena banyaknya teori budaya dan filsafat di dalamnya terutama tentang pop kultur (tetapi kalau misalnya sudah sering nonton videonya Wisecrack bakal nyaman baca teori yang ada di buku ini). Buku ini memang tidak membedah track by track dari album Supercell Feat. Hatsune Miku yang ngebuat kultur Vocaloid naik kelas ke pasar mainstream tetapi buku ini sangat menghadirkan konteks KENAPA kultur ini bisa naik ke pasar mainstream mulai dari ekosistem kreator, tingkat partisipasi kreator, dan kultur membuat musik sendiri lengkap dengan teori budaya yang mendukungnya.

Ada banyak trivia baru ketika membaca buku ini mulai dari kultur Vocaloid sangat dekat dengan Idolm@ster, ryo yang awalnya "nyolong" ilustrasi buat videonya, ryo yang demen sama Nine Inch Nails dan Nirvana (dan ngebuat make sense kenapa lagu Miku buatan dia seperti itu), Hatsune Miku yang dibikin karena Kaito gak laku dan langsung re-targeting ke orang yang demen animanga dan masih banyak trivia lainnya yang mungkin bakal dibahas di podcast LUTALK

Secara keseluruhan buku ini memang tidak membahas Vocaloid secara lagu tetapi secara konteks budaya dan pelakunya dan itu merupakan suatu treat yang sangat apik karena akhirnya menghadirkan/mernagkum "kenapa Hatsune Miku dan kultur Vocaloid bisa meledak" dari kacamata akademik

8/10

(Buku dan komik ke-16 yang selesai dibaca di tahun ini)

[Tristan R Kneschke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Academically dry and not all that revelatory

Presents an academic look at an interesting cultural phenomenon, but doesn't provide many new insights to those who consider themselves digital natives

[L.J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit of a disjointed read, with less insights than I had hoped.

Readers will get more out of perusing the sources firsthand where possible.