THREAD: So I have some interesting knowledge to share with the #VOCALOID community and take what you will from this. I have not signed any Non-Disclosure Agreements at this time and I learned of this information from contacting Yamaha myself in regards to a project of mine.

I will not share the emails publically here on twitter or disclose names and emails for privacy purposes. If you would like to see the emails, you are welcome to DM me and I'll provide screenshots of them. Also, DO NOT harass Yamaha for more information, I will not condone it.

I contacted Yamaha months ago with questions I had about voicebank development. To my surprise, they responded and included contact information. Last week, I started negotiations with the contact, and while they have now concluded (unless specific conditions are met) I still...

...learned new information from it. Again, no NDAs have been signed.

So, here's what I learned: First, Yamaha still has a VOCALOID Division and they are still interested in developing for VOCALOID. They do not consider VOCALOID to be dying.

Second, they are interested in collaboration beyond merely making a voicebank (this could mean new features to V5 or a later engine) and could be making more voicebanks behind the scenes.

Third, they will only sign with companies. While this is more of an obvious fact, the reason is because of fees for licensing, advertising, and support. This also links to having credibility. They will not sign-on individuals.

Lastly, these fees are initially about 5 million yen. Whether this amount has grown or shrunk is unknown but this is at least the amount for V5. Keep in mind, this is not the only potential payment and more fees could incur over time.

I believe the fees could be one of many reasons why companies are leaving VOCALOID development. Every time a new Voicebank is released, companies risk a lot financially.

To sum it up: Yamaha doesn't see VOCALOID as dying and there is hope for new development, however, fees are expensive and companies continue to leave development. News is slow, but we can continue to expect new things from VOCALOID moving forward.

Again, if you would like to see screenshots of the emails, I am happy to provide them in DMs and in the Vocaloid Wiki Discord.

Thank you for reading all this, I will continue looking for a platform for my project, and thanks to Yamaha for their time, consideration, and info.