JP VOCALOID STORE to Shut Down, DL Sales to Resume on VOCALOID SHOP

Following the April 30 closure of the Korean and Chinese store fronts for the online shop VOCALOID STORE, it appears that the Japanese store front is also expected to close on May 26 at 5:00 PM Japanese time, according to a news update on the store’s website. Each of the different language store fronts sold slightly different items, with the Japanese store front stocking both packaged and download versions of VOCALOID software as well as Cubase, books, CDs and various merchandise. The news update indicates that the English store front will continue to operate as usual, albeit its selection pales in comparison to the Japanese one. Customers who have purchased download products on the Japanese VOCALOID STORE are urged to login to their accounts and make sure they have downloaded all of their installers and written down their activation serial numbers. The upcoming closure is the latest in a series of closures of VOCALOID-related services provided by b-plats for Yamaha, with digital music distribution agent VOCALOID MUSIC PUBLISHING having closed doors in late March of this year as well.

Meanwhile, Yamaha expects to open a different store front called VOCALOID SHOP in late May on their VOCALOID NET website. According to the announcement, this shop is expected to provide download sales of both VOCALOID libraries and editors, with the current lineup not finalized yet. Yamaha is also looking into hosting Job Plugins in the shop as well. With the new VOCALOID SHOP, customers are expected to be able to download installers for Yamaha-branded VOCALOID software products previously purchased on the VOCALOID STORE, with products released by other companies currently under discussion. Yamaha’s VOCALOID NET is a website providing various online services to VOCALOID users, including a simplified online implementation of the VOCALOID engine as well as cloud storage and file exchange capabilities.