Universal Music Japan and the agency Cloud Nine announced the withdrawal of the music video Ado for the song “Aishite Aishite Aishite”after confirming the unauthorized use of visual material belonging to the creative duo Sashitamamade up of video artist Akatamago and the illustrator Sashi Miyama.
The company's internal investigation determined that the video used visual elements inappropriately. In an official statement, Universal Music Japan declared: “We offer our sincerest apologies to Sashitama, all parties involved, and fans for the inconvenience caused.”.
The origin of the controversy
the original song “Aishite Aishite Aishite” was created by the producer Kikuo in 2012 and featured a music video illustrated by Sashitama in 2015. In 2023, Ado released a new version under the label Universal Music Japanwith Kikuo's consent to carry out the reinterpretation.
As explained by the company, the production team's intention was to pay tribute to Sashitama's original video. However, due to a “insufficient understanding of copyright and lack of adequate legal review”, visual fragments of the original material were included without authorization.
Responsibility and preventive measures
Universal Music Japan acknowledged that the infringement was a result of flaws in your internal management system and stressed that Ado and the video production team They did not participate in the decision nor had direct responsibility about usage permissions.
The company announced three measures to avoid similar incidents in the future:
- Reinforcement of copyright education within the company.
- Strengthening the legal process for reviewing audiovisual materials.
- Implementation of strict guidelines on the use of third-party works.
Until now, Universal Music Japan has not confirmed whether he plans to publish a new version of the video “Aishite Aishite Aishite”.
Do you think this incident will influence how Japanese production companies handle copyright in future artistic collaborations?
