Kumi Tanioka and sound label Digital Sonic Design recently addressed confusion about a “new album” released this month on multiple online streaming platforms under the composer’s name. Having worked for Square Enix for over ten years before going independent, Tanioka is best known for her work on the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles series.
In a post to her personal X account on the 19th, Tanioka shared a screenshot of the album – titled “A Village Built on Wind” – expressing confusion over why it had been published with herself listed as the artist. She strongly emphasized that the album had nothing to do with her. Although Tanioka entertained the possibility of this being the work of an artist who happens to have the same name and surname, even on major platforms like Spotify, the album is listed alongside Tanioka’s real works, including Final Fantasy-related albums, which makes it easy to mistake as official.
A few hours later, Digital Sonic Design, which publishes some of Tanioka’s music, issued a statement of its own. They confirmed through YouTube Music that the offending album was fully AI-generated. Although the music does not infringe Tanioka’s copyrights, the label expressed concern about the attribution causing confusion among consumers. “This appears to be a case of someone exploiting a technical vulnerability in the streaming service’s system,” they commented, calling for stronger countermeasures from platforms.
