This album is a series of piano recordings of Asako Niwa's official piano transcriptions. Is this really permitted here? While a potentially useful reference, I think it is legally dubious myself. Besides, I consider doujin music to feature fan arrangements, not just fan performances.

I was skeptical when I added it too ~ even asked in #vgmdb, but no-one said anything more:

another thing is that on the homepage it says this:

so I guess the question is does rewrite it completely mean the arrangement is mostly his work? Not knowing the original book, I can't tell.

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iridescentaudio.co.uk

Again, it's a personal thought, but i don't think it should be validated.

Albums like this have not been entered, even if commercially sold on iTunes.

So should we deactivate this entry and replace it by something else?

On the other side of the coin, every classical album is a performance of someone else's work. I'm not sure how to differentiate that from this.

Well, for one thing, if one wants to record a classical work that is in print and in copyright, one must go through the copyright holder. That said, we do allow dojin works that are of dubious copyright status. It's a point in this guy's favor that he's not charging anything for it. Still, the main criterion should be notability.

the issue isn't noteworthiness in this case ~ if a release is directly related to video game music, as this is, then (only) on that basis it's eligible for vgmdb. noteworthiness only comes into play with music releases that are not directly related to games and game music/in the works, demoscene, doujins etc. categories (ie. the people involved becomes important.) also, nearly all doujins are of dubious copyright status when you think about it - very few get permission from the copyright holders and as such many are released for free. many aren't, too!

the issue is more whether this arrange album is his work. if it is (and he seems to suggest that he did arrange it from scratch on his site after not being satisfied with the original transcriptions - that's what i understand from it anyway), then it's kosher, like any other fan arrange album, because it's his work. though if it is too heavily based on Asako Niwa's arrangements and all he did was perform them, then SS's point needs to be considered instead.

i think an album like this is potentially interesting to people... but on the flipside it may be too derivative to be considered legit.

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iridescentaudio.co.uk

Interesting discussion. I think if he actually performed them (as opposed to MIDI versions or something) then even if he used the existing arrangements it's not all that different than any other fan-made album that doesn't go through the proper channels. He still had to perform the music, right?

Hello everyone !

I'm here because Dave Harris warned me about this entry in the database.

To be honest, I don't care if this album is listed or not in the database, but I can perhaps try to answer to some of your questions. I hope it'll help you to decide.

The arrangements are originally made by A. Niwa, but, I have to rewrite some parts and add expressions, ties and other musicals signs. So it's not the originals arrangements I was playing.

I record this album because there isn't any official "Piano Collections" album, and I think H.Sakimoto's compositions are interisting. And, it's strange to say, but sheet music is designed to be played, no ? I only do it for me and the fans, by the way.

I've also recorded some other OST albums on piano (Blue Dragon, Dragon Quest VIII, IX : http://delldongo.free.fr/), but FFXII is the only one on which I worked on the arrangements.

Anyway, thank you for your interest in my work and I remain at your disposal for any questions.