With Hatsune Miku Expo’s 2016 tour plans well under way, it’s clear that 2016 is shaping to be an exciting year for many Hatsune Miku fans everywhere. But Crypton Future Media is not finished yet! Today, Crypton Future Media is ready to announce a new campaign to help bring Miku Expo to more locations around the world: The “MIKU EXPO Let’s Go Campaign“.

MIKU EXPO Let’s Go Campaign is a crowd funding campaign, but not in the typical fashion that people would expect. Instead, it will use the platform “Pledge Music” to help raise funds to make international travel of Miku Expo that much easier. There will also not be specific location goals, since it’d be almost impossible to reach a goal if Hatsune Miku fans were being asked to pledge for a location that isn’t even in their home town (as much as they’d like to visit every city in the world, it’s impossible!). Instead, it’s hoped that the combination of buzz around the Miku Expo tour and the Miku Expo campaign will help make the tour a success, and create more opportunities to visit other countries.

A number of exciting rewards will be available to pledgers that offer their support to the campaign, and these include the following:

– Pledge Music-exclusive MIKU EXPO Supporter pin badge (All Backers)

– HATSUNE MIKU EXPO 2016 EP (13 track-CD in a gatefold package, including the MIKU EXPO 2016 theme song)

– HATSUNE MIKU EXPO 2016 EP signed by HachiojiP

– MIKU EXPO Let’s Go T-shirt

– MIKU EXPO × OMOCAT Exclusive T-shirt

– Supporter Exclusive Watch

– MIKU EXPO Official Glowstick *Only available outside of Japan.

– MIKU EXPO Let’s Go Bundle (EP, Let’s Go shirt, Penlight) *Only available out side of Japan.

– On-stage Photo with Miku (Limited to 2pairs per 1 venue)

– MIKU EXPO Special Thanks Credit and Message screening. *Only available for Japan Tour.

– Early Access Pass (Early access to digital download of remix songs etc)

– SPECIAL OPTION: For $1 million, Miku Expo will come to any town of your choice! Available to all countries, except Japan (some restrictions apply).

We spoke recently with Crypton Future Media staff about their exciting plans, and what exactly goes into making a Miku Expo event happen. Read the interview below!

MikuFan: It’s thought by some overseas fans that hosting an event like Miku Expo at any given location is as easy as 1-2-3, but this isn’t so. Can you give some insight to the challenges Crypton faces when it comes to hosting overseas events?

CFM: Of course it’s not easy. The first of many things of course are the fans. We do see the many requests from fans all of the world, such as fans in Europe. Some also think we’re ignorning them. We are aware we have a large fanbase in Europe. We need to convince the local concert promoters that the fans want a show in their area.

MikuFan: Yeah, it’s not something actually hosted by Crypton. It’s someone who has to say “Hey, we’d be happy to do this”, and you just work with them on that.

CFM: Yeah, we need a local partner to have the show. But for Los Angeles and New York last time, we did organize everything 100% on our own, because we knew the local promoters didn’t know about Miku. So through promotion on David Letterman and everything else we did, it helped these promoters learn about Miku. It ended up being really successful, so we could get support from more local promoters this time around to make a North America tour happen. And then of course there is the concert, which requires certain kinds of stage plots. The requirement for this isn’t very easy, either. There’s problems if it’s a small or insufficient venue. So an area needs to have an appropriate venue, as well as a stage with a workable plot for the concert.

MikuFan: I can see how this would make accepting just any location very difficult. I’m sure you guys would want to make each event have the best experience possible.

CFM: We ended up losing money again with Los Angeles and New York last time, but with things different this time around, it will be much easier for us.

MikuFan: Kind of like how a completely different event organizer took care of the Miku Expo events in Shanghai, making it much easier on Crypton.

CFM: Yeah, China is very different. We’re partners with a company there there that has exclusive rights to produce Hatsune Miku merchandise for mainland China. They’re a huge sponsor for us. But in America and other overseas countries, we don’t have that there. So we need big sponsors to help with events in these countries. And finding these partners is very difficult. Hopefully this tour will also help spark interest in potential European partners.

MikuFan: Outside of just the concert events, what kind of accompanying activities are in the works for Miku Expo’s North America tour?

CFM: A lot of ideas are still being worked out since it’s still early, so nothing is 100% confirmed, but we have ideas for things like events at local retail stores, an evening dance party, an art gallery, etc. But it really depends on the city, since we’re hitting so many locations this time.

MikuFan: Do you have any special message for fans around the world?

CFM: Thank you very much for supporting Hatsune Miku and all of our other characters! We are very excited to have our biggest North America tour, and hope to see you there in person. This time, we are trying to make MIKU EXPO more of a Hatsune Miku-ish participatory event, not only having many locations but also organizing song contests, the Miku Expo Let’s Go campaign, and we have more to announce in the future! As we mentioned, we are all aware that we have many fans all over the world. We will try our best to bring Miku to your country, so please keep support us and join our Let’s Go campaign. Arigato! 🙂