Animenz/사건 사고

I will get straight to the point: Animenz is dead.

It's been almost a month since my last upload and I have an important message to all my fans out there, who have been wondering why I had to stop uploading suddenly. If you can spare 5 minutes to read the whole story and understand my situation, I would be really grateful.

I made a huge mistake in 2018 and signed an extremely unfavorable contract with an artist management agency. The agency will help me growing my YouTube channel and also set up a recording studio to improve my productivity, but in return I have to give all my rights as "Animenz" to the agency. This includes the IP (Intellectual property) "Animenz", all the musical works I have done in the last 10 years and every single illustration and photo, related to Animenz.

I failed to carefully read the contract and all its implications in 2018 because I was signing it with a (now formerly) trusted person, who I have known since 2013. I was simply too naive and let my guard down back then. And to make matters worse, even after I terminate the contract, all the rights regarding Animenz will still belong to the agency - permanently. The situation really hurts because it feels like I am losing my child, which I have been raising up for the last 10 years, and suddenly the custody is being taken away from me.

The recording studio became functional after a long delay and I started to live in Japan since September 2019. But the more I work with them, the more I realized that the management has been making many questionable decisions and did not implement any long-term plans how to develop my channel. There were plans for Patreon, Spotify, an official website, official sheet music books, online sheet distribution, other merchandises and so on but none of them has ever been realized as of now. I didn’t have any administrative power back then so the only thing I could do was just wait for the management’s response.

And after some research in August, I found out that the agency is just continuing investing more and more money into the studio, but without having a realistic business plan, how to get the invested money back. Highly paid staff for video editing and artist management were hired, expensive equipment were purchased, and running costs for the studio simply exploded. I was under a huge pressure to succeed, to break even the cost.

I finally realized I was slowly trapping myself into a huge mountain of debt as long as I am belonging to this agency and the amount of debt will only get worse. I must get out of the agency as soon as possible and start building my own studio within my own budget and manage Animenz myself. However, I realized that I was still trapped in the contract, which I have unfortunately signed in 2018.

I will spare you the details but the separation a month ago went very ugly. I silently bid farewell to everyone with the video description in my last YouTube Upload on the 27th September, because I know that the negotiations with the agency will take a long time and there is also a chance that I am never able to get the rights back for Animenz, if I fail to "buy it back" from the agency.

A lot of accusations were coming from both sides because someone has to shoulder all the investment costs from the last 2 years, which is a high six-digit number. And the worst thing is, I also lost my very own Steinway grand piano to the agency because I was tricked into signing a dubious purchase contract. My own grand piano was shipped from Germany to Japan in 2018 and it's no longer mine.

With all that said, there were also a few good things during my time with the management. With the recording studio, I was able to produce more piano videos than ever before - just in time to commemorate my 10th anniversary as Animenz. Weekly uploads in almost 36 consecutive weeks, that's more new videos than my YouTube activities in year 2017-2019 combined!
And I also just reached more than 1.7 Million subscribers this month!

But now, after the fallout with the management a month ago, I was forced to move to a different place without any instrument. Even if I save enough money and order a new grand piano again, the current waiting list in Japan for a new Steinway is very long and it goes past mid 2021. I am still negotiating with the agency to somehow get hold of the grand piano and getting back my IP rights, but the negotiations has been going on for over a month now and I don't know how long it will continue to take.

So here I am now, currently moving to a new place and dealing with a huge mountain of debt, caused by the incompetent management agency. It is a fairly hopeless situation and it really looks like this is the end for Animenz.

Well then.

I am really sorry for disappointing so many fans here with this depressing update, but I think that's ultimately the life of an artist. You are entirely on your own and you have to find ways to make a living from your music. And if you are in the hands of bad management or if you simply have bad luck, you will quickly lose everything.

I will update on the YouTube community tab again in the next few weeks after my move to my new house is complete. I don't know whether I can get Animenz - essentially my lifework as a musician - back, but I will do my best in the negotiation with the agency. Above all, there are still so many Anime pieces I want to arrange on the piano and I still have a dream to show the world, that anime piano music can be as beautiful as traditional classical piano pieces.

Well, as long as I am alive, I can still start my YouTube career from the beginning again because my piano skills will always belong to me and not to any agency. Maybe I should just start a new YouTube channel under a new name, since the IP of Animenz doesn’t belong to me anymore according to the contract.

As my final words: みんな今まで本当にありがとう！From the bottom of my heart, thank you for so much for your everlasting support in the last 10 years. I really wouldn't have made it so far without your encouraging words, your valuable feedback, and your interest in anime piano music. I also enjoyed all the weekly premiere and your live reactions in the chat and I haven't seen such a lively comment section for my videos in a long, long time. 2020 was truly the “revival” of Animenz. I just wish it didn’t have to end like this.

But from now on, I will be more responsible and take more care of myself. It is my own life after all. And obviously, I will never make the same mistake again by signing a contract without consulting a lawyer to review it.

Happy 10th Anniversary to Animenz. I wish I could have taken better care of you.
But I will continue doing my best.

M.G. (aka the pianist behind "Animenz")

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notice: this message does not apply for Animenz in China and my Bilibili channel, since it's under a different management and it's still safe

Thank you for joining my musical journey in 2020! Sorry for not being able to update you for a long time. Due to unfortunate circumstances, I had to pause my weekly uploads since 28th September. But the good news is:

I will be finally back in January next year!

I was in a very difficult situation and I seriously considered starting a new channel under a different name after the separation with my management agency in October. But after a long, long negotiation I will be able to buy back my Intellectual Property successfully.

I also want to thank everyone’s support in the past few months. All your messages have reached me and they gave me the power to continue and overcome the crisis I was facing. But now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and I will continue doing what I love: Anime Piano Arrangements – with the classical “Animenz Sound”.

If you wish to support my channel, please keep playing my videos and enjoy my arrangements in your own way! This YouTube Channel is still able to support me financially and it also keeps me motivated to see all your comments in the comment section.

The year 2020 came with a lot of changes and it ended on a sour note for me as well. But I had tons of fun doing these weekly uploads and I did it for almost 36 consecutive weeks this year! That's more new videos than my YouTube activities in year 2017-2019 combined!

For next year, my main focus will still be Anime Piano Arrangements, but I will also start a new piano project as well. Stay tuned for more updates in January and be safe everyone!
I wish you all a happy new year and hope I can see you again in my next video!