Touhou Music is the Future
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Japan comes out in favor of freedom for generative media. “Artists lost” the article claims. Nothing could be further from the truth. Artificial monopolies lost.
An ongoing debate I have with Jon Askonas is whether we are in a period of artistic stagnation or not. From my perspective, I’m extremely satisfied with the emergence of new art, especially memetic art, which nests series of arbitrary references and esoteria giving tons of replay value.
As with most debates about art, I don’t think there’s much use in telling. Instead, let me show you an example. The Touhou Project is a series of video games with an absolutely stellar soundtrack. The exact terms of use are not “unlimited”, but are much freer than, say, Universal Music Group’s excessive youtube striking. Nonetheless, they serve as a directional predictor for the future of AI-assisted generative music.
Anyways, here is an excuse to share some of my favorite music with you guys:
The level of derivation has gotten so extreme that some of these songs are taken as meme templates.
Original Song:
Original song:
https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm34598487
(nicovideo won’t expand for some reason …)
Here are some long mixes if you want more:
That’s all, folks. Let me know if you like more Marginal Revolution-style shortposts like this.
Touhou Music is the Future
Touhou is a remnant of the past, where lonely geniuses dominated the industry by working 120 hour weeks. A testiment of Japanese work culture and Karoshi. It arose at the apex of ingenuity in games. Now music and games lack character. They are stapleware without any touch from exceptional minds. Created for people who are mediocre or just subpar. The industry is in a war against complexity and innovation, to further "improve" player experience. In the early days, pioneers brought forth the creme de la creme, only to realize that it can never beat Pizza Hut. This is how we can't have nice things.