(Chifuyu, Karin, Rikka) TOKYO6 Character Usage Questions

Lounge / 大厅 / ラウンジ
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Links:

Character Usage Guidelines

About usable music distribution agency service

About the sale of Doujin works and the use of official illustrations

Since I couldn’t find an equivalent topic, starting this thread for whatever questions that may come up with TOKYO6’s character usage.

My question:

Am I allowed to redesign the character and still use TOKYO6’s character name?

While I’m sure under doujin & non-commercial usage it wouldn’t be a problem as long as I’m not presenting the character in a damaging way; it seems like putting the music up via music distributors (Tunecore, Distrokid, LANDR, etc) counts as commercial?

There’s a part that translates to “digital distribution via subscriptions constitutes commercial use”, so I’m guessing if I don’t use the specific music distribution services they list down I won’t be able to use their names without TOKYO6 permission?

Basically I intend to put my music up for free on Bandcamp while also putting it up on streaming (Spotify, Apple Music, etc) via LANDR. I am unsure if there will be problems if I use the character names in the project. Just the character names, I don’t intend to use the official character designs, let alone the official illustrations.

Which of these options won’t cause issues:

  1. I use the official name (example, Natsuki Karin) in the song information (title or artist: ft. Natsuki Karin) with my own character design
  2. I don’t use the official full name (example, KARIN) in the song information, with my own character design, so I’m alluding to TOKYO6’s character
  3. I use an original name (example, Nikka) in the song information, with my own character design, sidestepping TOKYO6 guidelines entirely

Currently I understand it as: 1 is not possible, 2 might be possible but might cause problems, and 3 is the only way forward that won’t cause issues.

Do let me know if I’m dumb & wrong, like “oh that isn’t commercial”, or “oh nah your translation probably got it wrong”, because that would be great (although I feel like that’s just wishful thinking :smiling_face_with_tear:).

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If you gain revenue from the song, it is commercial use. This includes monetized YouTube videos, purchasable downloads (Bandcamp), as well as streaming services.

If you have a Patreon or optional donation box, that can sometimes not be considered commercial usage, however this can be a grey area depending on exactly how you do it.

If you do not make any revenue at all, it is not commercial use.

As for the Tokyo6 voices, you can use the rendered audio output for commercial purposes without issue.

Most streaming services will not allow you to include “ft. Koharu Rikka” in a song name. The only place you would put the character name would be in the song metadata.

However, the character name is considered part of the character, and using it in monetized contexts is usually reserved for situations where the musician has explicit permission from or partnership with the rights-holder. This is pretty standard for Japanese character-based vocals (including Hatsune Miku), though many SynthV-based characters have somewhat more lenient terms.

In short, do not use the official character name without prior permission from Tokyo6 if you are making money off the song in any way.

But even more importantly, do not use a different name, as that would be a direct violation of the license.

Basically, in the case of Tokyo6, if you don’t have permission, don’t credit the voice at all.

11 Except as otherwise specified, the user may indicate that Synthesizer V Studio (or the voice database for Synthesizer V Studio) has been used in your productions. However the user must not use names other than designated by us to identify the voice database.

(in this case, the Tokyo6 guidelines count as the “except as otherwise specified” case, and the fake name violates the last sentence)

1 Like
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Thanks for the comprehensive reply!

So if I understand correctly, as I’m intending to use my own character design, I should not credit the voice what-so-ever? Like just never mention it? You’ve actually very kindly replied previously to an earlier question I asked here a while ago, so forgive me as the question might be similar:

But in a virtual band kind of context, am I allowed to name the virtual singer in the band, “Potato” for example? Is naming a vocalist in a fictional context of the music project a no-no as it’s possibly misrepresenting the vocal synth in anyway? Or is the solution to it, as you’ve answered before, to state somewhere in the metadata or information that “Potato” is voiced by Kohaku Rikka? But as I understand it, I shouldn’t place the official name of any TOKYO6 characters anywhere?

Basically, I just want to animate a character in a music video of my own music. As I won’t have permission from TOKYO6 for any of the characters (I doubt a nobody like me could ever get permissions for it), I won’t be able to use TOKYO6 characters or names. So am I allowed to design my own character and name them? Is the solution to just simply not mention SynthV/voicebank anywhere to avoid any names that might get me in trouble? Or do I have to mention SynthV/voicebank somewhere as to not misrepresent the synthesized vocals?

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Correct, or say “vocals created with Synthesizer V Studio” if you really want to.

It depends entirely on the voice database you want to use. With Tokyo6, this would likely cause issues.

The presentation also matters. “The character in my video is Potato” is not a problem. “The vocalist for this song is Potato” would be. Having the fictional characters be a band makes it more difficult to avoid the correlation.

With voices from Eclipsed Sounds, Dreamtonics, or AHS voice databases that don’t have separate character-specific terms, you could easily say “Potato voiced by SOLARIA” since you’re allowed to mention the product name without needing permission, and the only restriction is preventing misleading attributions.

This would not work for the Tokyo6 voices, though you might be able to say “Potato’s voice is created with Synthesizer V Studio”, since it is clear that Potato is not the name of the voice, but you’re also not mentioning the character names. This seems safe, but might be a grey area.

One thing to keep in mind is that this issue is mainly only relevant for a YouTube upload. For streaming services it’s largely irrelevant; just don’t include any vocalist metadata and you’ll be fine.

  • though as a final note, just don’t name your fictional vocalist after the original human voice provider, where their identity is known. You cannot under any circumstances refer to SOLARIA as “Emma”, for example.
1 Like
5

Thanks for the reply! I understand now.

Thanks for the advice, I’ll move forward with this knowledge, probably only mentioning that vocals were created using SynthV and nothing more.

As for the named character bit, I’ll definitely have a long think about it, but most probably go with your last suggestion and just add something like “Character is voiced using Synthesizer V Studio” and wade in the grey area. I’m sure my 2 monthly listeners won’t tell on me :joy: