Balloom is an independent

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese record label that was created in 2011. Until 2013, it focused on releasing music by musicians who were popular on video streaming service

Niconico Douga , known before 2012 as , is a Japanese video sharing service based in Tokyo, Japan. "Niconico" or "nikoniko" is the Japanese ideophone for smiling. As of 2021, Niconico is the 34th most-visited website in Japan, according to Alexa Internet. Th ...

, especially those who used

Vocaloid is a singing Speech synthesis, voice synthesizer software product. Its signal processing part was developed through a joint research project between Yamaha Corporation and the Music Technology Group at Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona. The s ...

software, and people who created

Dōjin music , also called in Japan, is a sub-category of ''doujin'' activity. ''Doujin'' are non-official self-published Japanese works which can be based on official products or completely original creations. Such products are sold online on specialized ...

History

Balloom was created in March 2011 by Toku P, who asked seven other musicians who were popular on Niconico Douga in 2009 to join the label. Four founding members of the label,

Wowaka Wowaka (stylized as wowaka, ; 4 November 19875 April 2019), also known as Genjitsutouhi-P (), was a Japanese musician. Considered to be a pioneer in the Vocaloid industry, wowaka was internationally acclaimed for his musical work over a career s ...

, Toku, Fullkawa Honpo and Hachi (

Kenshi Yonezu is a Japanese singer-songwriter and illustrator. He started releasing Vocaloid music under the stage name in 2009. In 2012, he debuted under his real name, releasing music with his own voice. He has sold at least 4.2 million physical copies and ...

) formed a production collective called ''Estlabo'' to work on the ending theme song of the anime '' Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day'', a cover of

Zone Zone, Zones or The Zone may refer to: Places Military zones * Zone, any of the divisions of France during the World War II German occupation * Zone, any of the divisions of Germany during the post-World War II Allied occupation * Korean Demilit ...

's "Secret Base (Kimi ga Kureta Mono)" sung by voice actresses

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Haruka Tomatsu is a Japanese actress and singer, employed by Music Ray'n. She received the Rookie of the Year award at the 3rd Seiyu Awards and the Synergy Award at the 9th Seiyu Awards. Tomatsu is known for voicing main heroines as Asuna Yuuki in ''Sword A ...

and

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. The first release on the label was the album '' Unhappy Refrain'' by Wowaka on May 18, 2011, which reached number 6 on

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

's albums charts. The label organised their first live concert for Honpo Fullkawa's at Shimokita Mosaic in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

on October 22, 2011. Vocaloid producer Hachi released his debut album ''

Diorama A diorama is a replica of a scene, typically a three-dimensional model either full-sized or miniature. Sometimes dioramas are enclosed in a glass showcase at a museum. Dioramas are often built by hobbyists as part of related hobbies like mili ...

'' on May 16, 2012, under his real name

, which debuted at number 6 on Oricon. The album was one of the winners of the 5th

CD Shop Awards The is an annual set of music awards presented in Japan. It is sponsored by All-Japan CD Shop Employees Union and awarded based on votes by CD shop employees from all over Japan, with the goal of bringing awareness to underappreciated, high quali ...

, an award voted on by music store personnel. Yonezu left the label in April 2013, and became a major label artist under

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. On September 25, 2013, ''Balloom Best'' was released: a 2CD compilation album of all of the musicians who released music under the label. In November 2013, Wowaka's band Hitorie was signed to major label

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

Artists

* * Fullkawa Honpo *Oster Project * * * Toku P *

Released albums

- '' Unhappy Refrain'' (2011) *Fullkawa Honpo - ''Alice in Wonderword'' (2011) *Nanou - ''Waltz of Anomalies'' (2011) *Oster "Big Band" Project - ''Gossip Cats'' (2011) *Agoaniki - ''Agoagōgōgō'' (2011) *Scop - ''Days'' (2012) *

- ''

'' (2012) *Nanou - ''Unsung'' (2012) *Nanou - ''Andloids: All Time Best of Nanou'' (2013) *''Balloom Best'' (2013)

References

External links

* Japanese companies established in 2011 2013 disestablishments in Japan Doujin music Japanese independent record labels Record labels established in 2011 Record labels disestablished in 2013 Vocaloid production companies {{Independent-record-label-stub