Yamamoto is Back

[kei17]

Since Yamamoto's scandal in 2011, I kept searching his name on the database of JASRAC, the biggest music copyright collecting agency in Japan, once a year or so to check if he's come back.

Recently, multiple pieces of music have been added to the database under the name of Kenji Yamamoto.



"OMINOUS SILENCE" is a track from Kai and this had been his last work in the database for a decade. "YAMAMOTO KENJI" is apparently a musician who shares the same name and it's not the Yamamoto we know, so the three tracks created by this person are not related. All the other ones below the first four have been registered in 2021 considering their serial numbers, and 山本 健司 is credited for them just like the Kai score.



The detailed information of these pieces credits Yamamoto for "musical composition," so he's not just an arranger here. After the scandal, he did music arrangement for some songs under the name of "Kenz," but he hadn't composed anything since then, so this is his first activity as a music composer in the last decade. The distributor is "Music Airport," which is a music label founded by Matsutake Hideki, Yamamoto's old and close friend.

Matsutake is a synthesizer musician who is most known for working under Yellow Magic Orchestra. He has been a friend of Yamamoto for decades and they once worked together for the soundtrack CD of Super Budtouden. There was his interview on Yamamoto's now defunct website, and their bond seems very tight.

Considering all the information I gathered, it is safe to say that Yamamoto is now back as a music composer after a decade of hiatus, with the help of his old friend. However, this obviously does NOT mean that he makes a comeback to the Dragon Ball franchise and his old works are going to be revived, but it is good to know that he is making a step forward and restarting his career.

[JulieYBM]

I'm surprised he didn't start a new name.

Well, nice to see him working again.

[PurestEvil]

Let's hope he doesn't, uh, "sample" another Black Sabbath song this time...

[FPSSJ4_Goku]

I thought he was forever banned from composing music because of multiple counts of plagiarism.

[DiloVortexx]

I thought he was forever banned from composing music because of multiple counts of plagiarism.

i thought he was banned too lmfao

[Saiya6Cit]

I thought he was forever banned from composing music because of multiple counts of plagiarism.

I guess it is not something as serious as when they remove a licence from a Medical Doctor.

Thanks to the poster for the update btw

[GhostEmperorX]

If he never had any talent for original compositions for 20 years, then I’m not exactly sure that an 11-year long exit would change things all that much tbh. But let’s just hope he’s reflected on things so far and won’t pull such tricks again.
If anything though, this should be some interesting news for VGMDB to pick up on.
(Wondering why they didn’t just make him re-arrange the original series BGM for Kai, would have been the best outcome.)

[Xeogran]

If he never had any talent for original compositions for 20 years

Oh come on, I don't think everything he did was ripped off. Budokai 2 & 3's opening songs are timeless classics and they're original as far as I'm aware. I know there's lots he copied, but with the amount of contributions he did overall, there must also be plenty he came up on his own.

[dragonballhero]

You know, I've always wondered... is it because of Yamamoto's departure from Dragon Ball that most (if not, all) DB video games post-Raging Blast 2 DIDN'T have ORIGNIAL intro themes?

In addition, is this why Kageyama left the series after that game, too? Well, by proxy, of course.

[ThunderPX]

I'm surprised he didn't start a new name.

Well, nice to see him working again.

Assuming JASRAC works the same way as similar agencies in other countries, the compositions would be listed here under his legal name no matter what. He could use a different name on the credits of an actual release, though.

[Shorty GZ2]

Welp, good luck to him

[GhostEmperorX]

Returning to this thread (almost 2 years since the last reply, I know), the next set of music added to JASRAC under his name (and also published by the same Music Airport) is, so far, code 272-xxxx-x, precisely 6 tracks in total.
And judging by the titles, as well as the only credit present being "Composer", it seems to be regular instrumental material of some kind (although I've yet to see or hear any of the works from these sets).
Guess that's definitely all that's left for him now, even after so long a time period. Certainly not going anywhere near regular entertainment media labels for soundtracks anymore.

[BootyCheeksJohnson]

Is this the same Kenji Yamamoto from Dragon Ball? I did a Google search for Kenji Yamamoto years ago and found another composer of the same name who's mainly famous for scoring Nintendo games. I also found a soccer player of the same name. So are you sure that you have the right guy?

[GhostEmperorX]

Is this the same Kenji Yamamoto from Dragon Ball? I did a Google search for Kenji Yamamoto years ago and found another composer of the same name who's mainly famous for scoring Nintendo games. I also found a soccer player of the same name. So are you sure that you have the right guy?

I mean, if you're not searching JASRAC for 山本健誌 specifically, you're not going to come across the Metroid composer. Plain English text won't work there either.
And the DB Yamamoto in question is 山本健司 instead. Given what is known about his connection to Hideki Matsutake, fellow Project MONOLITH member & owner of the Music Airport company that's the publisher of the new entries under his name, it's definitely the same individual (you surely won't find that many others of the same name on a composer database if they aren't also in the field themselves, and there's many different characters that can be used to read the name "Kenji" over there).

[timjulius1122]

Returning to this thread (almost 2 years since the last reply, I know), the next set of music added to JASRAC under his name (and also published by the same Music Airport) is, so far, code 272-xxxx-x, precisely 6 tracks in total.
And judging by the titles, as well as the only credit present being "Composer", it seems to be regular instrumental material of some kind (although I've yet to see or hear any of the works from these sets).
Guess that's definitely all that's left for him now, even after so long a time period. Certainly not going anywhere near regular entertainment media labels for soundtracks anymore.

It looks like the recent music releases under this name are all instrumental tracks, with a total of six pieces registered. The only credit listed is Composer, suggesting they're just standard instrumental works. It seems unlikely he'll be involved with major entertainment media labels for soundtracks going forward.

[louise.caison2]

Since Yamamoto's scandal in 2011, I kept searching his name on the database of JASRAC, the biggest music copyright collecting agency in Japan, once a year or so to check if he's come back.

Recently, multiple pieces of music have been added to the database under the name of Kenji Yamamoto.



"OMINOUS SILENCE" is a track from Kai and this had been his last work in the database for a decade. "YAMAMOTO KENJI" is apparently a musician who shares the same name and it's not the Yamamoto we know, so the three tracks created by this person are not related. All the other ones below the first four have been registered in 2021 considering their serial numbers, and 山本 健司 is credited for them just like the Kai score. I read about it here and am happy to share.



The detailed information of these pieces credits Yamamoto for "musical composition," so he's not just an arranger here. After the scandal, he did music arrangement for some songs under the name of "Kenz," but he hadn't composed anything since then, so this is his first activity as a music composer in the last decade. The distributor is "Music Airport," which is a music label founded by Matsutake Hideki, Yamamoto's old and close friend.

Matsutake is a synthesizer musician who is most known for working under Yellow Magic Orchestra. He has been a friend of Yamamoto for decades and they once worked together for the soundtrack CD of Super Budtouden. There was his interview on Yamamoto's now defunct website, and their bond seems very tight.

Considering all the information I gathered, it is safe to say that Yamamoto is now back as a music composer after a decade of hiatus, with the help of his old friend. However, this obviously does NOT mean that he makes a comeback to the Dragon Ball franchise and his old works are going to be revived, but it is good to know that he is making a step forward and restarting his career.

It’s great to see Yamamoto composing music again after so long! Thanks for sharing!

[GhostEmperorX]

It’s great to see Yamamoto composing music again after so long! Thanks for sharing!

There's probably no need to quote the whole thing just to not say that much.
Anyways, it doesn't really mean much as that material is likely never getting released, it's only for one company, and he'll never be back to doing any kind of media music work again.

[Shintoki]

It’s great to see Yamamoto composing music again after so long! Thanks for sharing!

There's probably no need to quote the whole thing just to not say that much.
Anyways, it doesn't really mean much as that material is likely never getting released, it's only for one company, and he'll never be back to doing any kind of media music work again.

damn, ig he's still blacklisted by the industry : / poor yamamoto. maybe he should consider going independent?

[GhostEmperorX]

damn, ig he's still blacklisted by the industry : / poor yamamoto. maybe he should consider going independent?

As recently as an interview from 2021 it was all but made clear as they never even did so much as mention his name there.
(Also, in a 2012 FB post by his daughter cAnON., he seemed to at least be doing well with his family in a wedding anniversary dinner or something, although that's the last thing she's posted in connection with him ever since she began working with then-Legendoor composers like Sawano or Hayashi.)