Universal Music Japan Asks Fans to Drop #KAITO for #KAITO_SALTBOY
The label's choice to route the hashtag around the Vocaloid rather than defend the name shows that a vocal fanbase built on a search-term culture can push a major label to change how it presents an artist.
Reporting from 1 source: KAI-YOU.
Universal Music Japan asked fans on October 15 to stop using the hashtag #KAITO for King & Prince member Kaito Takahashi's solo work and use #KAITO_SALTBOY instead. The label posted alongside the announcement of his 1st EP, SALT BOY. The request follows two weeks of dispute with fans of Crypton Future Media's Vocaloid KAITO over the shared name.
Takahashi announced on October 3 that he would work solo as KAITO, and the King & Prince official account used #KAITO for the October 5 digital single swim?. The tag had already been in use since 2006 among users of Crypton Future Media's singing voice synthesis software KAITO, where hashtags are a main way to find individual creators' work.
Crypton issued a statement on October 5 asking supporters of each KAITO to respect the other, and the King & Prince account used #KAITO again on October 14. The label's request came the next day, tied to the EP announcement.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.