Maidens of the Kaleidoscope

~Hakurei Shrine~ => Touhou Addict Recovery Center => Topic started by: N-Forza on October 12, 2018, 02:11:12 PM

Title: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: N-Forza on October 12, 2018, 02:11:12 PM
It was just announced on tonight's Touhou Station broadcast that starting on the same date as Fall Reitaisai, all of ZUN's albums (including the rare mini-album made after the Tohoku earthquake) along with a selection of popular Touhou music circles will be available to download WORLDWIDE from iTunes and Google Play!

They won't be available on the subscription streaming services, just by purchasing each album/song, but it's one of the last major steps in making Touhou works available to the greater public, domestic and international. And the selection is only going to get bigger over time.

The present selection can be seen here, although as of the time of this post, access is still spotty due to the server load: https://touhou-music.jp/
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: Drake on October 12, 2018, 09:27:39 PM
this is actually monumental
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: Sedrife on October 13, 2018, 01:32:55 AM
So on 2018, we got:

1. Touhou derivative games opened worldwide through "Steam"
2. Touhou derivative doujinshis opened worldwide through "Book Walker"
3. Touhou derivative music opened worldwide through "iTunes" and "Google Play"

I'd say, go wild, Touhou creators.  This is what we all have been waiting for.
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: MANoBadAssGar Jr. on October 14, 2018, 10:59:55 AM
Would FELT and Diao ye zong be a participant? i'm thinking that FELT would be the most likely to become gateway for western audience to come to Touhou, nice music fine lyric all that. Diao ye zong for the 2nd stage of introduction.
Hopefully an exposure to circle such as Floating Cloud or Melodic Taste to more people could help most people opinion to music for the brighter.

Anyway, is this definitely going to be just alright though? thing is, i had this horrific imagination, lately i have been concerned if someday Touhou become more accepted worldwide, would it get abused?
Well it's not like Touhou don't have horrendous fan content already, but look, remember d3spac1t0? it was a worldwide boom even my 8 year old neighbour are watching the video clip like it's the coolest thing in the world.

Now imagine if some western commercial music company decided to exploit Touhou into the next d3spac1t0, and now you're listening to Faith is for Transient People with lyric of similar theme to d3spac1t0 with the video clip of women jiggling their almost bare ass like a hooker.
If that what it means to be world famous, i rather not.

I'm most probably just overthinking this. Something like that won't happen right?
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: Lebon14 on October 14, 2018, 04:06:34 PM
Canada is NOT one of the countries.

Japan (of course), Australia, New Zealand, France, Italia, (lots of Europe), United States...

But not Canada (or Iceland).

And then they still wonder why piracy is still a thing...
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: Drake on October 15, 2018, 01:08:46 AM
Canada is NOT one of the countries.
Uh, what do you mean by this? Circle participants? I was able to buy music just fine.
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: Naudiz on October 15, 2018, 01:28:59 AM
Sweet stuff. Hopefully it gives Touhou music a wider sphere of influence. :derp:

And those who can't/don't want to order the physical albums can legally obtain them now, too.
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: Drake on October 15, 2018, 01:52:13 AM
I literally paid two bucks for Unknown Flower, Mesmerizing Journey, an album that if you were to try to buy it physically now would cost you several thousand dollars (https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/closedsearch/closedsearch/%E6%9C%AA%E7%9F%A5%E3%81%AE%E8%8A%B1%20%E9%AD%85%E7%9F%A5%E3%81%AE%E6%97%85/0/). What an auspicious day this is.
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: N-Forza on October 15, 2018, 02:56:15 AM
I dunno what the CND conversion rate is, but 20,000 yen is only around $180 USD. Still, it's a pretty good deal regardless and the main reason why the album-exclusive track is nearing the Top 30 songs on the JP iTunes chart.
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: shockdude on October 15, 2018, 04:08:31 AM
I literally paid two bucks for Unknown Flower, Mesmerizing Journey, an album that if you were to try to buy it physically now would cost you several thousand dollars (https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/closedsearch/closedsearch/%E6%9C%AA%E7%9F%A5%E3%81%AE%E8%8A%B1%20%E9%AD%85%E7%9F%A5%E3%81%AE%E6%97%85/0/). What an auspicious day this is.
What audio format are the songs in, and what bitrate?

But yeah every album is $3 in the US, except for Akyuu vol 1 which is $4, and Unknown Flower which is $1.29.
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: Drake on October 15, 2018, 04:21:17 AM
I dunno what the CND conversion rate is, but 20,000 yen is only around $180 USD.
lmao i count zeros good, definitely just equated the value to other rare goods but thinking about it this is surely a lot less rare

What audio format are the songs in, and what bitrate?
MP3, CBR 320kbps
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: shockdude on October 15, 2018, 04:28:04 AM
MP3, CBR 320kbps
Nice. Just to confirm, this is Google Play MP3, right? Pretty sure iTunes sells AACs but I could be wrong.

also why are the albums $5 on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/kyuyakusakaba/1437636921) but $3 on Google Play (https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Team_Shanghai_Alice_ENSEKIHAKUBUTSUSHI?id=Bs7ukfgezowft4dm3yrqnxi53yq)
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: niektory on October 15, 2018, 04:40:34 AM
I'm not going to pay for lossy music unless I'm desperate.
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: Drake on October 15, 2018, 04:52:13 AM
you're dumb

Nice. Just to confirm, this is Google Play MP3, right?
Yeah. I don't use iTunes so
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: N-Forza on October 15, 2018, 05:26:20 AM
I can sort of understand being picking about bitrates for acoustic/live instruments but anything synthetic probably doesn't need FLAC or whatever to get the most out of it.

But regardless, that leaves you the choice of paying a couple bucks for 320 versus a hundred times that much to get the CD you can rip yourself. I mean, you do you, but not everyone is that much of a fan.
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: niektory on October 15, 2018, 11:58:06 AM
Well, in this particular case I'd settle for the cheaper option. I'm not that crazy. :)
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: Lebon14 on October 15, 2018, 02:15:50 PM
Uh, what do you mean by this? Circle participants? I was able to buy music just fine.

Go to iTunes, choose the Canadian store, search for exemple "Toho Eurobeat" (from A-One, participating). No results. Search the US store: they are all there.

That was just for checking anyway; I have all physical TEB CDs (And I'll have their new promo single too, thanks to Forza). I buy the CDs for lossless. If I need more storage, I'll just get more Hard Drives. And lossless let me choose the format I want to format to lossy to, if needed. Those saying you can convert a MP3, sure, but you lose even more quality, even at the same bitrate. Also: preservation. Preservation is important for me. I also collect CDs and that's my hobby.

EDIT 2:
Oh and, it was never about hearing a difference.
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: Drake on October 15, 2018, 09:07:39 PM
Go to iTunes, choose the Canadian store, search for exemple "Toho Eurobeat" (from A-One, participating). No results. Search the US store: they are all there.
Again, not sure about iTunes because I have none of those devices, but it's available on Google Play, so clearly there's something more going on there. And you're saying you can't find them through search; have you tried going to the website and clicking the iTunes option on an album? That should at least open it on your device.

I buy the CDs for lossless. If I need more storage, I'll just get more Hard Drives. And lossless let me choose the format I want to format to lossy to, if needed. Those saying you can convert a MP3, sure, but you lose even more quality, even at the same bitrate. Also: preservation. Preservation is important for me. I also collect CDs and that's my hobby.
Nobody was criticizing that, to be clear, I do exactly the same.
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: Lebon14 on October 15, 2018, 11:18:04 PM
Again, not sure about iTunes because I have none of those devices, but it's available on Google Play, so clearly there's something more going on there. And you're saying you can't find them through search; have you tried going to the website and clicking the iTunes option on an album? That should at least open it on your device.
Nobody was criticizing that, to be clear, I do exactly the same.

I said, not available in iTunes Canada. Screenshot: https://gyazo.com/2bac15dfff6c80afd3f124988d09db2d
Item not available
The item that you are searching for is not available on the Canadian Store.
Tried: https://touhou-music.jp/introduce/toho-eurobeat-vol-19/

On Google Play, it's available though. And, also, you don't need an iPhone to play AAC. ANY software and hardware these days play AAC. It's as common as MP3.

Also, you called niektory "dumb" because he said that he was not paying for lossy. I'm the same. Hence my deviation on lossless.

P.S I have a deep hatred against MP3. I just wish it'll just disappear.
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: Drake on October 16, 2018, 12:46:51 AM
I said, not available in iTunes Canada. Screenshot: https://gyazo.com/2bac15dfff6c80afd3f124988d09db2d
Item not available
The item that you are searching for is not available on the Canadian Store.
Tried: https://touhou-music.jp/introduce/toho-eurobeat-vol-19/
Interesting. Like I was saying, it's probably something pretty particular that's keeping iTunes from having them, because I doubt it's the artists' intent to allow Google Play but not have it on iTunes. (Also, you initially said "Canada is NOT one of the countries" without referring to iTunes, hence the confusion)

Also, you called niektory "dumb" because he said that he was not paying for lossy. I'm the same. Hence my deviation on lossless.
Nah, the typical case for saying something like that is that you won't pay for the music at all because it doesn't satisfy very particular sensibilities, not because you will go out of your way to pay more to buy the music in a way that does satisfy you. In the case where you were already okay with importing CDs to fill that sensibility there's not much need to go out and comment that you won't use this platform because you already have acceptable options. In the case that you're okay with only having digital but still would prefer lossless (like me), that's fine, but if you're refusing to buy the content entirely because you need to have lossless or a different encoding without lossy transcoding, I would at least hope you can acknowledge how narrow of a demographic you're a part of and accept you often won't be catered to, rather than be cynical about it.

Even if unintentional, I also find these kinds of comments inherently demeaning and in poor taste in the sense that it's glossing over how impactful these developments are in the grand scale of things and taking a dump over it just because you personally don't benefit -- especially when it's entirely out of a personal taste. The fact that I have the option to buy digital is just a net gain even if it isn't completely optimal, and I'm much more concerned with how this affects the doujin ecosystem as a whole, both from the side of artists and consumers. I hope you can understand my frustrations with these sorts of comments because they literally come every time some huge development happens.

By the way, it looks like it isn't even possible (https://support.google.com/googleplaymusic/answer/1100462?hl=en) to have anything other than MP3 with Play Music, so even if the creators want to use different formats or lossless it's irrelevant in this case. If anything pray that the uploaded files didn't have to be lossy transcoded.
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: Quwanti on October 16, 2018, 02:14:57 AM
I said, not available in iTunes Canada. Screenshot: https://gyazo.com/2bac15dfff6c80afd3f124988d09db2d
Item not available
The item that you are searching for is not available on the Canadian Store.
Tried: https://touhou-music.jp/introduce/toho-eurobeat-vol-19/
The links on the website just don't seem to work in general. I also got that message (https://i.imgur.com/CbkfvBs.png), but when I tried simply searching the albums showed up (https://i.imgur.com/IlllKpy.png).
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: N-Forza on October 16, 2018, 02:21:05 AM
There's also the fact that even in Japan where you can easily order most of these albums online, not everyone owns a computer (or one with a CD drive for that matter) but smartphones are everywhere so the response has been evident with several tracks ranking high on the charts in multiple categories.

This isn't to further debase anyone's personal preferences, but wider availability is never a bad thing unless you're one of those weird hipsters who thinks obscurity is equal to quality.
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: Lebon14 on October 16, 2018, 03:48:43 AM
The links on the website just don't seem to work in general. I also got that message (https://i.imgur.com/CbkfvBs.png), but when I tried simply searching the albums showed up (https://i.imgur.com/IlllKpy.png).

No, clicking the link or searching return nothing.
Screenshot: https://i.gyazo.com/3199f7f0d4a2e655dd0689b4cbd7b0bf.png

I don't question the fact that it makes thing very available. That was never the case. I just wanted to finally see doujin stuff on iTunes to say "Finally! Doujin stuff in Canada!" and it felt flat.
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: CyberAngel on October 16, 2018, 08:25:06 AM
anger
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: DaRealDeal on November 14, 2018, 08:05:59 AM
Boy am I glad to hear this! Personally I think it would have been better if they released their albums on Bandcamp instead since they cater more to independent artists. Either way this is very good news especially for us fans outside of Japan!
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: mads on December 31, 2018, 05:29:17 PM
i use spotify.. hopefully with some time on apple/google play they will move to spotify as well. idk how popular spotify is in japan, but it's what me and almost everyone i know uses here! (US) for now i guess i'll just keep to imports, since if i'm going to directly buy it i would prefer physical media over some files.. still a good step forward! hopefully ZUN can make a long-deserved profit.
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: Mellow on January 08, 2019, 02:47:20 AM
This is exciting! I've been waiting for more touhou songs on itunes. The only legit ones I have are ZUN's CDs..... And I had to buy the disk for those bad boys! This is pretty releiving to hear too.. phew.
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: DaRealDeal on February 07, 2019, 07:28:47 PM
Does anyone know when they're gonna release new albums from C95 on the U.S. iTunes/Google Play Store? Its been a month now since C95 passed by and I haven't seen any new albums on there from doujin circles like A-One.  ???
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: Lebon14 on February 08, 2019, 06:06:48 PM
DaRealDeal, to give you an idea, they still haven't fixed availability on iTunes Canada.
So, I don't think it's going to happen soon.
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: N-Forza on March 13, 2019, 03:21:59 PM
The main site just updated with a notice saying 4,641 more songs are being added this Saturday.

Here's a list of all the circles with new stuff coming: https://touhou-music.jp/news/3%E6%9C%8816%E6%97%A5%E6%A5%BD%E6%9B%B2%E8%BF%BD%E5%8A%A0%E4%BA%88%E5%91%8A/
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: Koishic on March 15, 2019, 05:48:04 PM
So, IS it out yet?  :wat:
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: Drake on March 17, 2019, 02:31:55 AM
Yes, but they aren't displayed on the site yet; apparently that will be rolled out soon. For information on particular circles for now you have to check their sites/twitters/etc individually.

Having checked a couple, there are C95 albums being put up, to answer that previous question. But that probably depends on the circle.
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: KaiserKnuckle on March 17, 2019, 03:41:52 AM
The fact that the long-physically unavailable Unknown Flower is one of the Team Shanghai Alice available gives me hope that the manga CDs (i.e. the PMiSS/SSiB CDs for the FM Synth goodness, the GoM CD, etc.) will eventually be available digitally, be it by themselves or as a compilation. It would be really nice to see them again, especially since some western fans would probably not be interested in importing a specific FS or OSP volume just for the sake of getting the CDs.

Anyone else here think that may happen? Or not?
Title: Re: Original and fan-made Touhou music coming to iTunes/Google Play 10/14!
Post by: DaRealDeal on March 22, 2019, 05:23:54 AM
Finally, that took forever. Off I go to the Play Store now lol  :D