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Welcome to the world of Otomads & YTPMVs!

About this article

This article is written by Re:Sample staff and serves as an introduction/recap to all things Otomads & YTPMVs as they stand at the time of writing.

Creative transformations are nothing new in the history of art. However, the onset of the internet age opened brand new doors in explorations with media reinterpretation, as fresh venues made it easier to download and share various forms of media.

Easier access to production software, as well as movies/videos/songs, put the power to iterate on existing works in everyone’s hands. With it, creators from the world mold the digital medium to evoke feelings, tell stories, and put on bold displays of craftsmanship.

On the internet in particular, the ability to freely edit videos spawned visual and/or audio mixes en masse, in forms such as mashups, remixes, AMVs, montages, as well as the topic of our discussion today – Otomad and YTPMV, both of which are dense in audio and visual editing alike.

YTPMVs

On YouTube, a particular sort of edits have come to be known under the moniker YTPMV (YouTube Poop Music Videos). The name bears resemblance to YTP (YouTube Poop), which may be a fond genre of videos for you from a different time. However, YTPMVs nowadays are immediately distinguishable from YTPs: the focus is often placed on sampling clips and matching them to a particular song, in pitch and/or in rhythm.

The culture surrounding such videos have evolved over the years, and it has come to be enjoyed across language barriers. As such, the particular meaning of the term “YTPMV”, is likely to vary from community to community.

Chasing definitions

As a demonstration of the difficulty in giving definitions, works like Shibamata resists such efforts. Although the creator has chosen to firmly place it inside the YTPMV category, the nature of the work is rather unique within the community for its originality, as the song used is an original composition.

Much of the YTPMV communities have displayed an affinity towards remix culture, and it would be unfair to ignore the influences that may have come from all sorts of electronic music, as well as activities on platforms like SoundCloud.

Otomads

An interesting analogy

In a way, Otomads are to MAD videos what YTPMV is to YTP: Oto stands in for the kanji 音, which means ‘sound’, a construction not unlike YTPMV. Today, MADs (sans ‘oto’) are often much more comparable to AMVs, as opposed to YTPs. A lot more can be said about this analogy, watch out for a future article about this topic!

Please note that the exact origins of the “MAD movie” moniker is unclear, and there are several competing stories. An often corroborated theory comes from “MAD tapes” cassettes circulated in Japanese college circles in the 1970s.

Around the same time on the Japanese video platform Niconico Douga, a culture surrounding “Otomad” (音MAD) videos was also beginning to take shape. Here is an early Otomad:

The genre has come to encompass increasingly diverse styles as creators experiment with and incorporate techniques from other media, such as Vocaloid, illustration, or motion graphics.

The Otomad moniker stretches so far that, at times, completely different skill sets are put to use in the production process:

Jinriki Vocaloid, Auto-tune, Guichu

AI Covers

We also mention that there has been a rise in “AI song covers” in recent years, since, in principle, they are related to what we cover here. We are sure you’ve seen them!

Another closely related genre of videos can be broadly described as “song covers”, where clips are manipulated to form the main vocals of a song. On Niconico, the name used is Jinriki Vocaloid (人力VOCALOID, lit. Manual Vocaloid). This is closely related to the technique of sentence mixing, where clips are manipulated and restructured to form new sentences, not necessarily present in the original clips.

The techniques for Jinriki Vocaloid are often imported wholesale for use in the production of YTPMVs and Otomads.

On the western side, we occasionally see popular auto-tune remixes (sometimes “Songify” owing to the influence of The Gregory Brothers’ schmoyoho project) on YouTube. More often than not, they are original compositions rather than covers of existing tracks.

On the Chinese platform Bilibili, Otomads spawned another extremely popular genre of videos called Guichu (鬼畜). The most common connotation is in a similar vein to that of auto-tune:

Convergence

You may have noticed so far in our attempts at characterizing “YTPMV”, “Otomad”, “Jinriki Vocaloid”, “Auto-tune remix” or “Guichu”, the distinction is often arbitrary – as in, any video categorized under any of the aforementioned moniker by its creator could convincingly pass under any of the other names. Indeed, we have avoided giving firm definitions, since the distinctions are often based on social interactions rather than strict definitions in actuality. Ultimately, to be used as a call sign for contemporaries is an important function of precise terminology!

As different communities from around the world have subtly influenced each other, the actual details in distinctions on terminology are rather difficult to navigate. For the purposes of this article, we are using the designations that are given by the creators of the works themselves.

A word about copyright and ethical concerns

Ability to generate revenue

To facilitate monetization, the work may take on specific qualities that are otherwise contrary to an artistic vision (this is similar to the design principle “form follows function”). For example, the author can opt to use an original composition to mitigate copyright troubles related to the song. The editing style may be more streamlined and digestible so as to appeal to a bigger audience. Some argue that this quality is an important factor in determining the different characterizations covered above.

On the other side of the spectrum is the argument that a small and niche audience gives the medium its unique charm, and that it is something that must be preserved. Some feel that this is necessary to avoid legal troubles resulting from the act of unauthorized sampling: While a lot of countries provide varying degrees of legal protection for copyright towards transformative use of media, the same isn’t always true for defamation or libel, a case that can be made more convincingly, especially if any form of sentence mixing is present. A handful of legal cases have been brought in various countries, expect more writing on this topic in the future!

Controversial sources

Sources involving political entities are sometimes controversial. Depending on the sorts of expression contained within the work, the same protections for satire and parody may not apply due to the use of direct sampling. In other cases, the use of sources involving scandalous material is an everlasting point of contention. Critics claim that works can be degrading for the individuals appearing in the sources. Stances and opinions surrounding these topics vary on a case-by-case basis, and often depend on the cultural background in the region where the source is active. It is also routine for video platforms to impose their own standards for publication. Most of these concerns are, of course, universal, in the sense that they would also be relevant for other types of artistic expression treating particular controversial subjects.

Crossing barriers

Up until now we’ve discussed the two sides – YTPMV and Otomad – separately, as each community formed mostly within themselves in the very beginning. However, in the past decade it has become more and more common for western and eastern communities to come together, despite the language barriers!

Collaborations or collabs are when multiple creators come together to work on the same video project. Today, it’s no longer a rare sight for western creators to be in the credits for Japanese collaborations, and vice versa. Here is a western collab featuring the Japanese composer NOMA:

Have you ever heard about the fabled YouTube/Bandcamp mashup/remix project SiIvaGunner? A large number of the members have strong connections to the Otomad/YTPMV community, and in turn, many of their videos are in fact Otomads/YTPMVs!

Finally, we should mention that the source palette is often shared across western and eastern communities – it isn’t strange for Japanese sources to become popular in the west, and vice versa! Paradoxically, many sources that are historically popular within a region can be attributed to the foreignness of the source itself, which are often perceived humorously when the context is lost, such as Gachimuchi Pants Wrestling.

If you’ve been paying attention, we’ve largely characterized the medium as particularly “niche” or “cultish”. This is not really true however, and very often do we sense its impact in popular or mainstream media.

Some popular artists are heavily influenced by this style, such as Haraguchi Sasuke, Frog96, and Yomitan Akane. They are often quite enthusiastic about it!

Underground roots

Haraguchi Sasuke cites Otomad directly in an interview with The Japan Times, alongside influences from the Dariacore/Hyperflip genre, which is experiencing a resurgence on Japanese SoundCloud. You can feel the influence directly in his chart-topping hit Hitomania:

As it turns out, repetitive, addictive techniques common to Otomad and YTPMV are quite well-suited for advertisements:

In a similar vein, several VTubers have commissioned Otomads of themselves, from Japanese VTubers such as Otonose Kanade and Juufuutei Raden to EN stars like Rosemi Lovelock and Ironmouse – even indie VTubers like Mint Fantome. Actually, many VTubers are big Otomad/YTPMV fans themselves! – Houshou Marine seems to enjoy them:

We can also pose the question whether Otomad and YTPMV were used as a vehicle to help keep the relevancy of certain sources that were already memes. Indeed, would the BattleDome have gone back on sale without its storied Otomad past on Niconico? Would it have made sense for McDonald’s Japan to use the “Ronald poses” if not for their Otomad/YTPMV connections? The show Chargeman Ken is also particularly notable, as a dedicated cult following developed around the show, thanks to inseparable ties to Otomad. It helped towards a small resurgence in further merch and Bluray releases. Of course we cannot say that Otomads and YTPMVs were solely responsible, but it is clear that they play an important role!

Events

Besides collaborations, which we have discussed above, a diverse collection of large-scale “events” have been held around the world. Let’s first look at a major celebration to cement the legacy of respected authors:

Otomad Dream Match

Otomad Dream Match, or otoMDM for short, is a very large-scale event involving the brightest names in the community. Nominated authors form pairs to collaborate on an Otomad project. The resulting videos are then aired on a live-stream, accompanied by a vote to pick the winners.

Aside from otoMDM, there are plenty of other events in the exciting spirit of creating unique works. You can find a more complete list on our links page.

Offline DJ Mixes

In recent years, fans for the primarily online culture have gathered offline in the form of raves and showings. A persistent sentiment is the love for the medium. They are entirely organized by the community and for the community. See:

Voice your opinion!

There is another sort of event where, instead of producing new content, the focus is placed on looking back at existing works, for people to voice their thoughts on works that they enjoyed. The common format is an annual vote, where the community comes together to vote for their favorite works of the year – optionally with extra discussion attached to each vote!

Community woes in the west

Zoning in on the social dynamics of Otomads and YTPMVs, we highlight an important and persistent problem in the west: unfortunately, the community is, and has been, highly fragmented. There are splits between the two sides of YTPMV and Otomad, as well as splits between countries, and even subgroups therein. There is no single unified community, and things operate more akin to a network of small friend groups. While it is possible to meet more people through your friends’ friends, finding those (often private) spaces in the first place can be a challenge.

The lack of cohesion between creators that makes it harder to organize the kind of larger-scale projects that we’ve seen recently from Japan, China, and Korea. YouTube culture is organized in a largely anonymous way that doesn’t put a lot of emphasis on the craft as well as the creator dynamic. Offline efforts such as Gachimuchi exposition panels can build strong cohesion, but are geographically limited.

As it currently stands, an outsider with an interest in YTPMV/Otomads will have a really hard time even making his first project without already having friends in the community that can help. This is partly due to the fact that the craft touches niche techniques that aren’t taught in regular editing/sound-design tutorials.

Where does Re:Sample fit in the picture?

We encourage creators to share and write about their experiences with the projects they take part in. Be it a written article or a video, something technical or an opinion piece; we believe that it benefits everyone to leave a footprint larger than our videos themselves, otherwise, the rest of the internet will keep treating the medium as just that.

We plan to keep on publishing new articles. But we are also aware that there are many authors who are already doing this kind of work in a different part of the world, as such, we also plan to release translations of other Otomad/YTPMV-related articles for the English-speaking internet.

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