Is Kikuchi really an expensive musician?

dbboxkaifan · Post by **dbboxkaifan** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 7:00 pm

People say that Kikuchi is an expensive composer but is it really true? And if that's not the case then why didn't Toei Animation hire Kikuchi to compose a new soundtrack for Dragon Ball Kai rather than Yamamoto?

Those who've heard the score of Tenchi Muyo in Tokyo can easily tell that's Kikuchi's work without looking up the composer, and to go even farther, it's a lot like Dragon Ball Z's soundtrack or more so of Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon.

Still even through these modern tracks he uses those "bells" that you often hear on DBZ BGMs.

penguintruth · Post by **penguintruth** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 8:49 pm

I assume he's largely retired. It's pretty expensive to get a guy who doesn't want to do it anymore.

Those vibraslaps aren't cheap, you know.

TheRed259 · Post by **TheRed259** » Mon Mar 17, 2014 12:04 am

dbboxkaifan wrote:People say that Kikuchi is an expensive composer but is it really true?

Maybe in the past (''if Shunsuke Kikuchi is in charge of the music, the show is going to be a hit'').
Also, did Toei pay him for using his music in DragonBall Z Kai?

And if that's not the case then why didn't Toei Animation hire Kikuchi to compose a new soundtrack for Dragon Ball Kai rather than Yamamoto?

Kikuchi is too old. By the way, if Kikuchi knocked their the door, would they accept him? What do you think?

dbboxkaifan · Post by **dbboxkaifan** » Mon Mar 17, 2014 12:15 am

TheRed259 wrote:Also, did Toei pay him for using his music in DragonBall Z Kai?

Probably.

I think Akira Toriyama gets his cut of all the official Dragon Ball products out there, that being, DVDs / BDs / Games / Music / etc.

TheRed259 wrote:Kikuchi is too old. By the way, if Kikuchi knocked their the door, would they accept him? What do you think?

Masako Nozawa is 77 years old and she still voices the Son family her job is more demanding of her vocally but I suppose it's also hard for Kikuchi to come up with new tunes considering his age or he just can't do it any more.

Kojiro Sasaki · Post by **Kojiro Sasaki** » Mon Mar 17, 2014 8:53 am

dbboxkaifan wrote:People say that Kikuchi is an expensive composer but is it really true?

The only thing I can say about it is that you can get ~200 Kikuchi tracks for $44

(this release contains many vocal tracks and their orchestral arrangements composed by other composers)

TheRed259 wrote:Also, did Toei pay him for using his music in DragonBall Z Kai?

I guess that the music for Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z was produced by Toei/Fuji TV and they own it. As to the royalties, I think that it is settled by some JASRAC rule. I don't know how it works in Japan. You may try to check here: http://www.jasrac.or.jp/ejhp/faq/index.html

All pieces used by Toei for Kai were licensed (?*) and released by Columbia before. Hell only knows if Columbia had a right to demand any money for the use of this music. But it sounds stupid. It's like FUNimation would want money from Toei for the use of Dragon Ball related material.

? - It's hard to estimate Columbia's involvement in production of this music. They told me that they were creating masters for TAVAC which means that they participated in production. I don't know if they licensed the music for soundtrack release or if they already had some rights to this material.

dbboxkaifan · Post by **dbboxkaifan** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 10:32 pm

Kojiro Sasaki wrote:The only thing I can say about it is that you can get ~200 Kikuchi tracks for $44 (this release contains many vocal tracks and their orchestral arrangements composed by other composers).

That's a really good price but when you add in the shipping fee it feels like a hammer dropping down on your hands.

It's here on Amazon.co.uk but it's hard to tell which sellers are selling genuine copies, logically it'd be all however I'm aware that there's also bootleg copies passing as real and some people can't tell the difference.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listin ... sr_1_2_olp

I guess the best way to go for it would be through a Japanese seller.

cRookie_Monster · Post by **cRookie_Monster** » Wed Mar 19, 2014 1:08 pm

Another question to ask is how expensive live orchestras are. They vary in price greatly and while the one used for Dragonball was probably a lot cheaper than the ones used for Hollywood films, it costs a lot more than working with samples and MIDI in a small studio. So maybe the person who writes live orchestra and the person who writes for samplers takes home the same money, but the one with the orchestra costs more because the production cost is much higher (more people to pay)

Then factor in how much music is required and how quickly. Live orchestra also takes longer because of scheduling.

I think the CD/mp3 costs don't really say anything about commission fees.

Blade · Post by **Blade** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 9:32 am

Kikuchi was already a seasoned and in-demand name in the TV Scoring scene when he was hired for Dragonball, and his stock only continued to rise through the years he was attached to the project. As in anything, if you hire a big name, you're invariably going to pay more for it. If you hire Steven Spielberg to direct your film, you're going to be paying a premium for his services. In TV scoring the same applies.

In regard to Kai, as was previously mentioned, he was already long retired. However, high royalty prices may well have been a factor in why such a small selection of his work was used in Kai after the Yamamoto scandal.

cRookie_Monster · Post by **cRookie_Monster** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 4:27 pm

Blade wrote:Kikuchi was already a seasoned and in-demand name in the TV Scoring scene when he was hired for Dragonball, and his stock only continued to rise through the years he was attached to the project. As in anything, if you hire a big name, you're invariably going to pay more for it. If you hire Steven Spielberg to direct your film, you're going to be paying a premium for his services. In TV scoring the same applies.

In regard to Kai, as was previously mentioned, he was already long retired. However, high royalty prices may well have been a factor in why such a small selection of his work was used in Kai after the Yamamoto scandal.

He sure had done a lot of work before DB:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0452853/

According to the imdb page he's kept working though. 17+ years on the "Red Dead Wagon" series of which I can find almost nothing except the imdb articles. Anyone familiar with that work? It would be interesting to hear his most recent compositions. Or is the imdb page wrong?

It's interesting to see that he was scoring horror films in the 60s, which is what I've often said his music reminds me of: 60s horror music.

Gonstead · Post by **Gonstead** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 6:27 pm

cRookie_Monster wrote:It's interesting to see that he was scoring horror films in the 60s, which is what I've often said his music reminds me of: 60s horror music.

That's one of the reasons I asked around a couple years ago if there were any other DB material which sounded like old horror music.

His style also reminds me of old Tokusatsu music from that era as well such as Ultra Q - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5R3C4aHTdI

Kanzenshuu

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