Virtual Music Worlds – Part 2: Hatsune Miku

While the first and second generations of virtual musicians required human singers to provide the vocals and studio bands to interpret the music, Vocaloid software, developed by Japanese synthesiser manufacturer Yamaha in the late 1990s, enabled the creation of purely computer-generated voices for the first time. This resulted in the creation of the music avatar Hatsune Miku by the Sapporo-based gaming company Crypton. Originally intended as a marketing tool, Hatsune Miku developed a life of her own on social media, leading to the creation of a music avatar of the same name. To this day, the avatar gives concerts in front of tens of thousands of fans worldwide, generating millions in merchandising and branding revenue for Crypton.

Part 2 of the blog series will explore the background to Hatsune Miku’s creation, as well as her subsequent career as a concert-performing singing avatar.

Virtual Music Worlds – Part 2: Hatsune Miku

The pre-history of Hatsune Miku

To bring Kyoto Date and Adam to life, human singers had to lend them their voices. At that time, there were no AI-generated voice clones capable of singing independently. Nevertheless, the development of synthetic voice generation dates back to the late 1990s. In 1998, Japanese instrument manufacturer Yamaha unveiled the FS1R voice synthesiser, which could already distinguish between voiced and unvoiced sounds. This enabled it to imitate the human voice to a certain extent. However, the FS1R’s voice generation was still very rudimentary and artistically unsatisfactory. Yamaha therefore began to improve the synthesiser and teamed up with the Music Technology Group at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. Together, they developed the Vocaloid software synthesiser, which was presented to the public in March 2003 at the music fair in Frankfurt am Main under the name “Daisy”, but was renamed Vocaloid shortly afterwards due to copyright concerns. Although the software was relatively simple to use, it was time-consuming. Users had to enter the notes of a song and its lyrics, after which they could reproduce the song using a synthetic voice. However, at least a MIDI interface allowed WAV files to be transferred, enabling the music to be edited further.

In January 2004, British sound library manufacturer Zero-G, in cooperation with Yamaha, presented the first two programmes for virtual male and female voices, Leon and Lola, at the National Association of Music Merchants music fair (NAMM Show) in Anaheim, California. In addition, a software package called Miriam was offered, based on the voice of British pop star Miriam Stockley. The first software packages for synthetic voices attracted media attention, but sold very poorly. Nevertheless, the Sapporo-based software company Crypton Future Media developed the first synthetic voices in Japanese. On 5 October 2004, Meiko, based on the voice of singer Meiko Haigō, was released, followed on 17 February 2006 by Kaito, based on the voice of singer Naoto Fūga. While Meiko sold relatively well with 3,000 units shipped, Kaito remained a slow seller. Crypton executives concluded that female voice synthesiser programmes sold better because the target audience was mostly young male anime fans, as Crypton CEO Hiroyuki Ito revealed in an interview in 2008.

The Creation of Hatsune Miku

In 2007, to cater to Japanese desktop music users and anime fans, Crypton launched a new Vocaloid project called Hatsune Miku, which translates as “The Voice from the Future”. This development coincided with Yamaha’s release of Vocaloid 2. This new synthesiser software was not only more user-friendly but also produced higher-quality sound synthesis. This suited the creators of Hatsune Miku, who travelled to Tokyo to find the right voice for the new software package and have the graphic design for Hatsune Miku developed. Wataru Sasaki, the producer responsible for Vocaloid, went to Arts Vision, a company that had a database of voice actors. Sasaki listened to 300 sound samples for hours and finally chose the voice of Saki Fujita because it was “easy to understand and cute,” as Sasaki explained in an interview. The necessary voice recordings were made with Saki Fujita, which were then fed into the Vocaloid programme. The aim was to create a virtual-sounding voice that was neither too synthetic nor too natural. It had to fit the fictional character that was subsequently developed by manga artist Kei Garō. They had become aware of him via the Internet and commissioned him to design a 16-year-old girl in anime style. Kei Garō sent various designs by email until those responsible at Crypton were satisfied. The end result was a girl with turquoise hair that reached almost to the floor in the form of extra-long braids, held together by magenta square hair rings. Headphones connected to a microphone could be seen peeking out from under her magnificent hair. She wore an equally turquoise, extra-long tie over a sleeveless black school uniform that ended in a miniskirt. Black arm socks covered her forearms and black stockings wrapped her legs. The number “01” was tattooed in red on her left upper arm, clearly indicating that Hatsune Miku was the first Vocaloid character created by Crypton.

Crypton created two additional Vocaloid voices alongside Hatsune Miku: Kagamine Rin and Len. These are a pair of 14-year-old siblings, voiced by Japanese actress Asami Shimoda. In contrast to Hatsune Miku, the voices of Rin and Len are significantly stronger and richer and were intended to appeal to a different target audience.

Hatsune Miku Becomes a Bestseller

On 31 August 2007, sales of the Hatsune Miku Vocaloid software began. At that time, Hatsune Miku existed only as a synthetic voice and as an anime drawing that adorned the software box. Nevertheless, the release was an unexpectedly huge success. More than a thousand units were sold in the first week alone. Crypton had to impose a holiday ban so that the immense demand could be met in day and night shifts. Within six months, more than 30,000 copies of the software package had been sold.

However, Hatsune Miku would have remained a short-lived marketing phenomenon if a loyal fan base had not been emerged who used the software extensively to create their own content. Immediately after its initial release, user-generated music tracks featuring Hatsune Miku’s voice appeared on the Japanese video-sharing platform “Niko Niko Dōga”, and were subsequently animated in 2D or even 3D by other users. There was a veritable creative explosion on the Japanese YouTube clone, which was cleverly exploited by the manufacturer Crypton to further increase the popularity of the fictional character. Instead of placing Hatsune Miku in a copyright cage, its use was released in 2012 under the Creative Commons licence CC-BY-NC. However, in order to retain control over the use of Hatsune Miku, Crypton launched the Piapro platform in December 2007, where Vocaloid users could upload the content they had created and exchange ideas with other users. Piapro stands for peer production and aims to unleash the creativity of Hatsune Miku fans by allowing them to share illustrations, animations and other digital content. By the end of February 2008, the platform already had around 50,000 registered users, who had uploaded 17,000 illustrations, 2,500 pieces of music and 1,700 lyrics.Hatsune Miku thus became a social media phenomenon before she even existed as an avatar, and soon spilled over into the real world. Hatsune Miku fan clubs were founded throughout Japan, organising parties and other events where fans appeared dressed in the anime character’s outfit.

Fans and Japanese artists alike used the Hatsune Miku vocal synthesiser to produce their own music. In Japan, this is referred to as Dōjin Ongaku, i.e. music produced by fans, which even made it into the Japanese charts. The first Dōjin album with music based on the Hatsune Miku software was released in September 2007, and many more were to follow in the years that followed.

The album ‘Supercell’ by the J-pop group of the same name was particularly successful. Composer and lyricist Ryo had the songs interpreted using the Hatsune Miku vocal synthesiser. The album reached number 4 in the Japanese Oricon charts and remained there for 37 weeks. Since 2007, more than 100,000 songs have been created using the Hatsune Miku software, according to the virtual artist’s homepage.

However, Hatsune Miku appeared not only in music but also in other media. She was the protagonist of the manga series “Maker Hikōshiki Hatsune Mix”, created by Kei Garō and published in “Comic Rush” magazine from November 2007 to December 2010. Hatsune Miku also appeared as a character in the golf simulation game PangYa in May 2008, and the virtual star was even the main character in the rhythm game “Hatsune Miku: Project Diva” from Sega, which was available for PlayStation from July 2009.

Hatsune Miku quickly became a huge marketing phenomenon, which Crypton Future Media successfully exploited in licensing agreements for merchandising and branding activities. Hatsune Miku even made it onto two BMW GT300 class racing cars belonging to the Studio AG racing team, which competed on racetracks around the world in 2008 and 2009. In March 2012, the Japanese business portal SankeiBiz cited a study by the Nomura Research Institute, according to which sales of products and services branded with Hatsune Miku had totalled YEN 10 billion (around EUR 125 million) since 2007.

Hatsune Miku Comes to Life

However, Hatsune Miku only truly came to life as an avatar who also performed live in concerts. She made her debut on 22 August 2009 at the anime music festival “Animelo Summer Live 2009 Re:bridge” in the Saitama Super Arena in front of 25,000 anime fans. Anime News Network provided a concert review the following day, describing the memorable performance: “The concert used a screen installed at the back of the stage to project Hatsune several stories tall before a standing-room-only crowd of 25,000. After a greeting, the computer-generated Hatsune proceeded to sing (and dance) on two songs — ‘Miku Miku ni Shite Ageru (Shiteyan yo)’ and ‘Black Rock Shooter.'” A few months later, in November 2009, Hatsune Miku made her first appearance outside Japan at the “Anime Festival Asia” in Singapore.

Encouraged by the overwhelming public response, Crypton organised the virtual star’s first solo concert in 2010. For this purpose, a 3D animation of Hatsune Miku was developed and projected onto transparent, human-sized screens. Following extensive preparation and rehearsals, the concert took place on 9 March 2010 at the Zepp concert hall on the man-made island of Odaiba in Tokyo Bay. The concert began in a mystical atmosphere with the solo voice of Hatsune Miku coming from offstage in front of a sea of tens of thousands of glow sticks, which the fans, shrouded in darkness, waved euphorically to the lovely melody. The scene was illuminated by an oversized disco ball that shone like the moon in the sky, before techno rhythms brought the live band into view and Hatsune Miku rose like a life-size ghost from the stage floor to introduce the new song. In total, the virtual superstar performed 39 songs, changing outfits and performing with the other Vocaloid characters Rin, Len and Luka. The concert was titled “Miku no Hi Kanshasai 39’s Giving Day”, with the number 39 standing for “Thank you” in Japanese, expressing gratitude to the fans for their support, which made the phenomenon of Hatsune Miku possible in the first place.

To promote the music outside Japan, the concert was performed again on 2 July 2011 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles as part of “Anime Expo 2011”, in the “39’s Giving Day” format. In 2012, Crypton teamed up with French luxury brand Louis Vuitton and produced the Vocaloid opera “The End” with Japanese star director Toshiki Okada, in which Hatsune Miku and other Vocaloid characters performed at the Chatelet Opera House in Paris from 13 to 15 November 2012. However, Hatsune Miku‘s international breakthrough came when she was the opening act for Lady Gaga‘s “ArtRave: The Artpop Ball” world tour, as Lady Gaga had declared herself to be a fan of Hatsune Miku. From 6 May to 3 June 2014, the Japanese music avatar opened the concerts of the US superstar. And on 8 October 2014, Hatsune Miku even appeared on David Letterman’s Late Show on CBS, performing the song “Sharing the World”.

Crypton Future Media has successfully established the virtual pop star as an international, lasting phenomenon. Since 2013, Hatsune Miku’s “birthday” has been celebrated every year with tens of thousands of fans at the end of August in Japan under the title “Magical Mirai”. Since 2014, the ‘Miku Expo’ concerts have been held regularly around the world, bringing Hatsune Miku and her Vocaloid colleagues to other Asian countries, Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand, thereby expanding their fan base.

It is astonishing how many fans worldwide cheer for the virtual pop star at concerts, buy her merchandise and music, and thus increase her advertising value even further. An unmanageable amount of merchandise and branded products benefit from the continuing popularity of Hatsune Miku. The concerts are just one element of an entire marketing universe that Crypton Future Media has created around the virtual superstar. The concerts are also a blueprint for AI-generated music avatars, which have recently begun to take the world’s concert stages by storm.

Endnotes

Sound on Sound, “Yamaha FS1R – FM Synthesis/Formant-shaping Tone Generator”, December 1998, accessed: 2025-08-20.

Die Welt am Sonntag, “Software trifft den richtigen Ton”, December 7, 2003, accessed: 2025-08-20.

Zero-G press release, “HOT NEWS!! Zero-G announces the world’s first VOCALOID virtual vocalist products, LEON and LOLA”, January 15, 2004, accessed: 2025-08-20.

IT Media, “The Making of Hatsune Miku”, February 22, 2008, translated from Japanese with DeepL, accessed: 2025-08-21.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Sound on Sound, “PowerFX Vocaloid 2 Sweet Ann”, January 2008, accessed: 2025-08-21.

IT Media, “The Making of Hatsune Miku”, February 22, 2008, translated from Japanese with DeepL, accessed: 2025-08-21.

Ibid.

Ibid.

IT Media, “Hatsune Miku Opens the ‘Door to Creativity'”, February 25, 2008, accessed: 2025-08-21.

Ibid.

Crypton Future Media, “Who is Hatsune Miku?”, n.d., accessed: 2025-08-21.

IT Media, “Hatsune Miku Opens the ‘Door to Creativity'”, February 25, 2008, accessed: 2025-08-21.

Ibid.

Ibid.

The German Wikipedia page on Hatsune Miku provides a good overview: Wikipedia, “Hatsune Miku”, version of July 28, 2025, accessed: 2025-08-21.

Wikipedia, “Supercell (album)”, version of August 21, 2025, accessed: 2025-08-21.

Crypton Future Media, “Who is Hatsune Miku?”, n.d., accessed: 2025-08-21.

Anime News Network, “Dark Horse Adds New Lone Wolf and Cub, Hatsune Miku: Unofficial Hatsune Mix Manga”, March 29, 2013, accessed: 2025-08-21.

Wikipedia, “PangYa”, version of January 27, 2025, accessed: 2025-08-21.

Wikipedia, “Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA (video game)”, version of May 22, 2025, accessed: 2025-08-21.

Super GT Hot News, “The Rumored No. 808 Hatsune Miku Studie Glad BMW Z4”, August 18, 2008, accessed: 2025-08-21.

SankeiBiz, “Hatsune Miku, a real business opportunity: live performances, karaoke, commercials… related consumption exceeds 10 billion yen”, March 27, 2012, accessed: 2025-08-21.

Anime News Network, “Hatsune Miku Virtual Idol Performs ‘Live’ Before 25,000”, 23. August 2009, Zugriff am 22.08.2025.

YouTube, “Miku no Hi Kanshasai 39’s Giving Day”, February 16, 2019, accessed: 2025-08-22.

Anime News Network, “Hatsune Miku Virtual Idol to Hold 1st Solo Concert”, December 10, 2009, accessed: 2025-08-22.

Anime Expo, “Japan’s Virtual Pop Star Hatsune Miku To Make U.S. Concert Debut At Anime Expo 2011”, May 12, 2011, accessed: 2025-08-22.

Japanverse, “Louis Vuitton And Marc Jacobs To Team Up With Hatsune Miku”, November 22, 2012, accessed: 2025-08-22.

Anime News Network, “Hatsune Miku to Open For Lady Gaga”, April 16, 2014, accessed: 2025-08-22.

YouTube, “Hatsune Miku Performs “Sharing The World” | Letterman”, May 12, 2023, accessed: 2025-08-22.

Crypton Future Media, “Hatsune Miku Magical Mirai”, n.d., accessed: 2025-08-22.

Crypton Future Media, “Miku Expo History”, n.d. accessed: 2025-08-22.