Forum - View topicInterview: The Creators of ANiUTa
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RegSuzaku
Posts: 273 Location: Ikebukuro |
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Ah! I didn't realize the US version will have a smaller catalog... I hope they expand soon. I couldn't find any links to what exactly the US version does and doesn't have...
I've been telling people to go on this app and just search their favorite seiyuu and listen to some of the things that come up, because that is legitimately how I found basically all of my favorite series, but if this app doesn't have a lot of songs yet, then... Does anyone know if Rejet and TsukiPro have their music on there yet? I hope they do soon, even though those aren't popular with American fans, they have really good music. |
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Kougeru
 Posts: 5592 |
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Decent interview, but they have a lot of work to do. They launched way too early, IMO. If only they actually put effort into making the interface and database decent. Several artsits show up twice, with different libraries. This is just dumb. Yuki Kajiura for example was listed twice. One had .hack music and one had Princess Principal only. Typing in an artist name will suggest their name, even if they're not available in your region. That's just teasing and again, dumb. A lot of tags are just plain incorrect. For example they have "A Page of My Story: four-handed ver." when it should be "A Page of My Story 〜four-handed ver.". Just one example out of many I found. They should just have an option to leave tracks and artists in JP. And worst of all is the "Free" version is a joke. You only get a few seconds to listen to each song. There's no "listen to a few ads then enjoy music". All it is for free users is a few seconds of a song. That's completely pointless. This app is pointless as a free service. Get some ads in there between songs like every other music service so that free users can actually listen to full songs.
Lastly, I still feel the whole "anisong" thing is really sad. If people truly enjoy the music from these artists, they should get their non-anime songs as well. That would be much better for everyone, though I understand difficulty as well. edit: A few artists did have non-anime tracks but I think that should be true for all of them. Last edited by Kougeru on Thu Sep 06, 2018 12:05 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Aca Vuksa
Posts: 643 Location: Nis, Serbia |
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I agree with you, digital streaming music is the key for the Japanese music industry that Japan needs to embrace it. They can't still rely on CDs because they are becoming too outdated to me. Why Japan wants to stay in old-fashioned way makes me unhappy why are they're doing this. I mean, i've seen quite few J-Pop songs on Spotify after all. There are tons of K-pop songs out there, and is one of the reasons why i hooked on K-Pop because they are more popular right now (sorry for my poor English) |
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Kougeru
Posts: 5592 |
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I agree. I noticed more and more JP artists on spotify lately, at least. But they need to really boost it up. That said, I do NOT agree that CDs are becoming "outdated". CD quality is still FAR superior to streaming services. Most streaming services cap out at 320kbps while CDs can go over 1400. In pure numbers. The difference people notice will vary, but to me and millions of other people it's night and day. I'd still prefer CDs until streaming services can support that kind of quality. I have the bandwidth for it, so I'd like to have that option. |
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Aca Vuksa
Posts: 643 Location: Nis, Serbia |
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@Kougeru
Of course, Johnny and Associates should follow the same steps as other Japanese music label agency of allowing more song availabile on Aniuta songs. They need to relax their strict rules like not allowing MV on YT and more. (sorry for my poor English) |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4640 |
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Hopefully, it won't take too long to bring over those other labels. That was the biggest thing I noticed from the start was that the current selection probably isn't enough to sustain subscriptions long-term. There are also some shows that only have either the most recent or the oldest season's songs available.
As far as making your own playlist goes, the biggest problem I see right now is that things will show up multiple times. if I search for an artist, the same song will show up under their name, the album name, the show's name, etc. Currently, if I select the Show By Rock category, it actually pulls up a list where most of the songs are duplicated, and I checked to make sure it wasn't a TV vs. full version thing. Overall, I think I agree with Kougero that it probably launched too soon, especially if only some of the labels involved have a presence in the US version. |
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WingKing
Posts: 617 |
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I wish them luck, but I'm not going to be an early adopter. Besides the issue of not being able to download-to-own, which is a big problem for me right off, I want to wait and see how the catalog expands from here, and how quickly they fix some of the early issues people are already noticing. As I noted before, there are also some music labels (especially King Records) that would go a long way towards convincing me to eventually give them a chance if they can ever get them on board.
I'm with you, but unfortunately, the difference in sound quality is going to be irrelevant to people who are used to listening to music on tinny little earbuds, or even tinnier laptop/mobile device speakers, as so many are these days. I grew up in the era when having a really good home stereo setup was a big deal, and my older brothers taught me at an early age about the importance of having high-quality speakers (or over-the-ear headphones) if you really want a full listening experience. I still have a real stereo system, and I'll take a CD over a streaming file anytime I can get one. |
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omoikane
Posts: 494 |
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I think this is the case in the Japanese version of the subscription. The distinction is if a mainstream artist (or obscure artist, actually is the more common case) commissioned for a show, and that show's music is in Aniuta, often times the rest of that artist's catalog may not be present. If the artist is "anisong" kind of artist, all their music would be present if their catalog is in Aniuta, even music not from any anime or games. I think this is fine, it's like what Sasaki said, Spoitfy/Google/Apple all will be able to provide that gap. |
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Alkzy
Posts: 15 |
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This is my first time hearing of the app. I’m going to download it to check it out.
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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With regards to digital services I think we also need to distinguish between streaming subscriptions and digital sales. I wish it was more like Bandcamp (or Google Play, iTunes or Amazon) than Spotify, with Bandcamp being the only service offering FLAC, plus multiple formats for everything.
It is also too bad there's no desktop / browser option. I would like to actually purchase music with the option to stream what I purchased than to rely on streaming subscription alone. I am also much more interested in anime Soundtracks than Opening or Ending songs. That said, I did notice Japan does offer digital sales of high-res (96kHz / 24bit) FLAC of some anisongs, but again, they're almost all limited to OP/ED songs. |
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invalidname
 Contributor Posts: 2483 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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ITunes actually has a surprising amount of anisong stuff in its international stores, and while the model is download-to-own, you can stream it to Apple devices as long as you’re signed into the store. Sometimes there’s stuff that’s only on the Japan store; for that you’d need to set up a Japan iTunes account and buy iTunes gift cards online, which is pretty easy to do. It seems like they mostly have OP/EDs, but I did buy the Kakegurui (iTunes link) soundtrack from there a few months ago. As for ANiUTa, I’m subscribing for now, in hopes that charter subscribers like me will keep the service around long enough to get good. It’s a little frustrating that the search engine reveals how much stuff isn’t available in the US — well-known artist names will auto-complete, but then turn up with zero results. I suspect these artists are available in the Japan version of the service, but not here (yet). Also, the existing taxonomies (by show and by season) are pretty limited — I’d love to see a Pandora-like radio experience where it just picks songs for me and I can thumbs-up or thumbs-down them to personalize my experience (or just skip the thumbs and let them come randomly, like an anime internet radio station). I also wonder if I’d be better off getting ANiUTa from the new Crunchyroll super-jumbo package, if and when there’s an annual option for that. |
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SuiSeiKen
 Posts: 67 |
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As expected before reading, no words for an "hypothetical" access outside of the US.
Think about it, ANN. Your audience is mostly and logically people in the US, but not only. And for some of us who live in other countries, you're the only way to get information about what is planned worldwide - or not - for this kind of service. With worldwide means woldwide. |
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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Thanks for that info. I'm not really fond of iTunes since you need their program to do anything at all, but I'll search there too for any potential music. Incidentally I found and bought the All Out!! soundtrack on Amazon, but I couldn't find his other work, the Naruto soundtracks anywhere. |
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omiya
 Posts: 1852 Location: Adelaide, South Australia |
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I'm still busy buying secondhand CD's at the likes of Mandarake / Lashinbang / BookOff stores in Japan.
Having the option of buying high quality music that won't go away when someone decides to close down or withdraw licensing together with accurate track listings is important to me. |
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