Caso 07 Hatsune Miku Japanese Virtual Idol Ignites Global Value Co creation
For exclusive use Universidad Torcuato di Tella (UTDT), 2015
W14631
HATSUNE MIKU: JAPANESE VIRTUAL IDOL IGNITES GLOBAL VALUE
CO-CREATION
Timothy Craig, Philip Sugai and Lukman Aroean wrote this case solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality.
This publication may not be transmitted, photocopied, digitized or otherwise reproduced in any form or by any means without the permission of the copyright holder. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Ivey Business School, Western
University, London, Ontario, Canada, N6G 0N1; (t) 519.661.3208; (e) cases@ivey.ca; www.iveycases.com.
Copyright © 2014, Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation
Version: 2014-12-18
In March 2014, Hiroyuki Itoh, chief executive officer (CEO) of Crypton Future Media, Inc. (Crypton), looked out his office window at the still snow-covered cityscape of late-afternoon Sapporo and reflected on the journey that had taken him from founder of a music technology start-up in 1995 to creator and
“manager” of the world’s best-known virtual idol, Hatsune Miku. Crypton was already a leading company in its core business of music software development and sales when, in August 2007, it released Hatsune
Miku, a singing synthesizer application based on Yamaha’s second-generation speech synthesis engine
Vocaloid 2. Users of the Hatsune Miku application could create songs by entering the melody and lyrics into the program, after which the songs would be “sung” by Miku, whose picture was featured on the software packaging.
Originally targeting professional music producers, the release of Hatsune Miku set off an unexpected burst of creative activity
W14631
HATSUNE MIKU: JAPANESE VIRTUAL IDOL IGNITES GLOBAL VALUE
CO-CREATION
Timothy Craig, Philip Sugai and Lukman Aroean wrote this case solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality.
This publication may not be transmitted, photocopied, digitized or otherwise reproduced in any form or by any means without the permission of the copyright holder. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Ivey Business School, Western
University, London, Ontario, Canada, N6G 0N1; (t) 519.661.3208; (e) cases@ivey.ca; www.iveycases.com.
Copyright © 2014, Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation
Version: 2014-12-18
In March 2014, Hiroyuki Itoh, chief executive officer (CEO) of Crypton Future Media, Inc. (Crypton), looked out his office window at the still snow-covered cityscape of late-afternoon Sapporo and reflected on the journey that had taken him from founder of a music technology start-up in 1995 to creator and
“manager” of the world’s best-known virtual idol, Hatsune Miku. Crypton was already a leading company in its core business of music software development and sales when, in August 2007, it released Hatsune
Miku, a singing synthesizer application based on Yamaha’s second-generation speech synthesis engine
Vocaloid 2. Users of the Hatsune Miku application could create songs by entering the melody and lyrics into the program, after which the songs would be “sung” by Miku, whose picture was featured on the software packaging.
Originally targeting professional music producers, the release of Hatsune Miku set off an unexpected burst of creative activity