Proposal (Musicians Connect Online)

A new platform musicians from Japan to expand work spectrums and

connect with Musicians across the world

I’m a Japanese bilingual musician based in Tokyo and I spent 5 year as a sound engineer working with Japanese musicians and working with local producers and directors.

 

Me

I'm a UK expat who has worked with many Japanese musicians and on large game dubbing projects.

We hear so many of the people, talk about musicians and social media musician influencers from abroad with such fervor we wanted to help make collaborations a reality for the average local musician.

This idea is a (Japan based) subscription service that allows musicians to enjoy each others services worldwide and increase income streams post the pandemic. While there are platforms that have a similar service, there are no services for the Japanese demographic that accustom to the language barrier.

Musicians connect will be, the world’s largest marketplace for musicians offering and selling music session services online, a digitally streamlined transactional platform for international musicians to work with Japanese musicians and vice versa.

The East has an amazing musical history and musicians have an interesting way of approaching modern music creation.

Many Japanese musicians and creatives don’t have a good enough outlet to work with people outside of Japan due to the language restriction. Less than 10% of Japanese natives speak English, and popular websites like Fiverr don’t accustom to this.

In the west, using free translations systems work well to get the gist of information but, they are unreliable when translating to Japanese.

So a lot of work remains in Japan when native musicians actually WANT to work with musicians abroad.

 

Music in Japan is a 400 million dollar industry which means there is great demand for collaborative work.

I believe this is the case for western musicians as well. Being able to work with people that come from a different style of pop culture is a great way to expand horizons and bring the world closer together!

This includes specialized musicians, such as the Shakuhachi, the Koto, the taiko and even ENKA singers.

This will also enable western musicians to write for Japanese media and vice versa by hiring vocalists, instrumentalists (and eventually voice actors).

I believe this website/app will bridge this gap so that Japanese musicians/music skill related creators can happily commission work from abroad (and vice versa), like a western vocal, western style instruments (banjo, mandolin etc), piano etc and supply musicians/producers around the world with more original session work.

2020 had a disastrous effect on us as a family and a lot of the people we worked with so this idea is a chance for us to regain some financial stability for our family as well as the musicians we know and love here in Japan and around the globe. I believe this is something we all need after this pandemic.

Musicians are working from home more and this can provide much needed financial support with potentially less time so long as the quality is good.

This idea has been in the works since 2020 but due to lack of funds, the online presence we created has dissipated and is currently non existent.

 

Musicians Connect Online Details

This platform will NOT be for commissioning songs (not initially anyway).

This will be a safe way for musicians to do collaborative work and commission license-free/licensed original samples and increase their income working from home.

When a buyer requests a sample, they provide a BPM, key, play-style and optionally a reference (optionally, a youtube link with a time stamp and/or an audio file with a click embedded) for the musician to work to.

The buyer can request the audio reference to be followed exactly or just to be used as an example. The price will be predetermined by the quality of the audio and length. (Basic - Intermediate - Professional)

Data Lengths - 30 sec / 1 min

Number of Takes/variations - 3 / 5 / 7

Buyers can also opt for a video of the performance to be used in social media.

Summarization of Process (commissioning a sample)

1. Buyer selects an instrument

2. A list of musicians specialized on that instruments are listed with ratings. (with audio examples)

3. Buyer details what they need from a list. (number of samples, length, style, bpm, key etc)

4. Buyer sets date of delivery from selection

5. Once Musicians Connect confirms the delivered data matches the specifications set by the buyer the payment is approved and the seller receives a rating.

Summarization of Process (Selling services)

1. Seller opens an account

2. Creates a profile detailing experience and speciality (with audio examples)

3. Receives a detailed request for a sample commission (request must be approved before the any deal is confirmed)

4. When the request is approved, the seller can send the finished data anytime until the set deadline.

5. when the data is sent the buyer can listen to an online watermarked version to confirm their satisfaction.

6. Once approved, the charge is added to the seller income display and they receive a rating

Other specialized fields such as mixing and mastering will be available.

Would you like to be able to make music that serves all audiences, whether that means commissioning a native vocal, a native instrument, international mix and/or master.

This innovation will give birth to new connections and new music and we hope you will be excited to hear it too.

 

What we lack (Immediate Needs to start MCO)

1. Funds for Web designer

2. Funds for App development

3. Marketing - For the East and west (online and on foot)

4. Live recording for promotional

As of September 26 2022, the team consists of Director, Project manager and a Software designer. Our ETA for the BETA website will be upon raising $3000 of our $10,000 USD milestone, but we hope to something up before then due to the assistance of a local investor in Tokyo.

 

Marketing will consist of creating ads with the musicians we have worked with and asking them to help promote it in JPN. Then get the word out on the streets which we will incorporate onto our social media platforms.

We will also seek help from music universities in Tokyo, London and around the US.

Our primary goal is the website, then a mobile app for android and IOS.

And what we have left, will go to marketing.

The music for our promos is written, now we simply need to hire the musicians to perform it, and traditional Japanese instrument players to hire for the recording. The audio is available in to hear on our MCOnline social media.

As we gain more support, I will be updating the information here with our staff profiles, local interviews, milestone progress and rewards for our supporters.

Thanks for reading and support is greatly appreciated.

 

Project Manager - Eriko Kojima

 

Youtube - https://youtu.be/1KxpJGK4w28

Twitter - TBA

Instagram - TBA