, also called in Japan, is a sub-category of '' doujin'' activity. ''Doujin'' are non-official self-published

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

works which can be based on official products or completely original creations. Such products are sold online on specialized sites, on the authors' own sites, and in conventions such as the popular

Comiket , more commonly known as or , is a semiannual ''doujinshi'' convention in Tokyo, Japan. A grassroots market focused on the sale of '' doujin'' (self-published) works, Comiket is a not-for-profit fan convention administered by the volunteer-ru ...

Genres and production

''Doujin'' music isn't a musical genre in itself, but is indicative of a particular means of publication much in the same way as the term "

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...

" is used. Often, such music will consist of

video game music Video game music (or VGM) is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early sound chips, such as programmable sound generators (PSG) or FM synthesis chips. These limitations have led to ...

fan arrangements. Much original ''doujin'' music also exists, and has been created both for ''doujin'' games and independently, spanning many musical genres such as pop,

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...

trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

and many more. By nature, ''doujin'' music is self-produced at low cost by independent artists. Home-studio software is typically advantageous to ''doujin'' music composers, as it is cheaper than studio-mastering live instruments. As such, most ''doujin'' music has a distinct synthetic quality to it. It is common to have one live instrument (such as a

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

) backed up by synthetic orchestrations, though full instrumentation is becoming more and more common in ''doujin'' music, such as orchestral works or ''doujin'' jazz.

Organization

''Doujin'' music artists can be solo or band projects. It is very common for members of different groups to collaborate on an album. Some projects, such as Woodsoft, are collaborations of several artists contributing to a given theme for each of their album releases. Each member of a group usually has their own individual site on which they release their personal works, free to download, and possibly give updates about their involvement in upcoming albums. Some artists actually never release albums and contain the scope of their artistic activity to free releases. The most productive groups usually release two albums a year, released in the summer and winter

conventions and sold for an average of 1000 yen for full-length albums. The most involved and popular artists are usually featured on their own group albums but also make guest appearance on other groups' CDs. Aside from Comiket, events held in Japan for ''doujin'' music include the bi-annual M3 music summit and the Hakurei Shrine Reitaisai, the latter of which includes music derived from

Touhou Project The , also known simply as , is a bullet hell shoot 'em up video game series created by one-man independent Japanese ''doujin'' soft developer Team Shanghai Alice. Since 1995, the team's member, Jun'ya "ZUN" Ōta, has independently developed ...

.(Japanese)

Notable artists and groups

Akiko Shikata is a Japanese singer-songwriter and composer, who is known for writing music for games and anime. She is best known for her contributions to the ''Ar tonelico'', ''Shadow Hearts'' and ''Umineko no Naku Koro ni'' games, as well as anime adaptatio ...

, a soprano singer, composer, arranger, producer and multi-instrumentalist whose songs often tend towards experimentalism * Annabel, who has worked on several

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

productions and is known for works in partnership with musicians like

Nagi Yanagi , stylized as , is a Japanese singer and songwriter from Osaka Prefecture who is signed to NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan. After becoming interested with music in her childhood, she began singing and writing original songs. In 2006, she began ...

and bermei.inazawa *

Chata is a Japanese singer who has performed theme songs for video games and anime series. She has also participated in various dōjin music circles. Her own private circle is called ''Usagi Kinoko''. History Chata began dabbling in music in 1998. S ...

, a video game and anime vocalist *

Haruka Shimotsuki is a Japanese singer and dōjin music composer known for her vocal themes in the ''Atelier Iris'' and ''Ar tonelico'' series. She also wrote the lyrics and sang the ending themes to the first two seasons of '' Rozen Maiden'' as well as the OVA ...

, a vocalist known for her fantasy themes *

IOSYS is a Japanese musical ensemble and dōjin circle from Sapporo, Japan. The group is primarily known for producing remixes of music from the Touhou Project series of dōjin game, ''dōjin'' games. They are not signed to a label, instead preferring ...

, a ''doujin'' group most commonly recognized for their Touhou arrangements * Kishida Kyōdan & The Akeboshi Rockets, a rock band formed by Kishida and four other members *

Rekka Katakiri is a female Japanese singer under the self-published Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, ...

, a singer who manages her own Closed/Underground label *

Sound Horizon Sound Horizon is a Japanese symphonic rock musical group with composer () as the leader and only permanent member. They describe themselves as a "fantasy band" and have released works that closely resemble classical suites. Their songs often r ...

, who describe themselves as a "fantasy band" *

Team Shanghai Alice , formerly known as ZUN Soft, is a Japanese ''dōjin'' game developer. Since 1995, the sole member of the group, Jun'ya "ZUN" Ōta, has independently developed and self-published the ''Touhou Project'', a bullet hell shoot 'em up series, as we ...

, the creator of and the composer for the

''Doujin'' lyrics

Sometimes, people may rewrite the lyrics of an existing anime song to create a ''doujin'' song, or insert lyrics into an originally instrumental anime track. These type of ''doujin'' songs are called . Many ''doujin'' lyrics are written in Japanese, Chinese, or Korean. Moreover, there are fan dubs of different languages of ACG songs, video game music, or

Vocaloid is a singing voice synthesizer software product. Its signal processing part was developed through a joint research project led by Kenmochi Hideki at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, in 2000 and was not originally intended to b ...

songs, all in many different languages including English,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

, and others.

References

{{Independent production Indie music Cassette culture 1970s–1990s

Genres and production

Organization

Notable artists and groups

''Doujin'' lyrics

See also

References