Danica Davidson
May 8, 2024 
Joe Hisaishi is best known for composing music for Studio Ghibli films, including My Neighbor Totoro, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and most recently The Boy and the Heron. This has made his music popular around the world, but he’s concerned about people not getting the proper permission to use his music, and people attaching his name to concerts he has nothing to do with.
As a result, he put two statements out online, one in Japanese and one in English. He briefly explains how people can officially obtain rights to use his music. Here’s the English statement:
Composer Joe Hisaishi and Wonder City Inc. [Hisaishi’s company] do not permit any unauthorized use or arrangement of Hisaishi’s music without proper procedures. You must apply to a copyright management organization to use music, and it is required to obtain official permission from the composer to arrange his music.
Currently, we can find many concerts around the world that arrange and use Hisaishi’s music without permission. Arranging his music without permission is a violation of the composer’s copyright and moral rights, and is totally unacceptable. Additionally, there are some concerts that include Hisaishi’s name in the title, which could be interpreted by many people as concerts involving Hisaishi himself, but they are not approved by us.
We urge all users of Hisaishi’s work to obtain formal permission from the composer and adhere to copyright laws. We hope that Hisaishi’s music will be used more widely and fairly under mutually agreed conditions between users and copyright holders.
In addition to his Ghibli movie work, he’s an executive producer for the very successful My Neighbor Totoro stage play in London (which might be expanding elsewhere). Because of all of his accomplishments, he received the Order of the Rising Sun Award from Japan’s government.
Source: ANN
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
