There’s this kid, named Max, who’s posting videos all over YouTube that combine his own original music with footage and concept art from big-name Square Enix titles. He has some logos made up for himself, one says “Max Enix,” and another says “Max Sounds.” He’ll title his videos Final Fantasy XIII Soundtrack and Kingdom Hearts 3 Soundtrack. In the description, he (sometimes) admits the music he wrote is fanmade.
So here’s what’s really pissing me off about this guy. It’s not that his music is bad. The trouble is, actually, that he sounds like a truly talented composer! He really sounds good! So when you’re a good musician, the last thing you want to do is get yourself in legal trouble. And he’s just itching to do that, especially when his composition style is close to that of Masashi Hamauzu, composer for Final Fantasy XIII. That, and some of his “compositions” are actually arrangements of real Square Enix themes. He also claims he’s developing an indie game called “Final Fantasy Aether.” I think that’s strike three. Come up with some original ideas to match the music, please!
Check out his work on YouTube by checking his profile (max05233157). And encourage him to find someone that can help market his music appropriately–because this 17-year-old prodigy has a shot at doing something worthwhile. But as it stands, he doesn’t have a chance of making a good impression, not while he’s running around like an idiot claiming to write music for the most anticipated RPG of this console generation.
Tags: fake, Fanmade, Final Fantasy XIII, Kingdom Hearts 3, YouTube
I’m almost jealous his music got on here. I do see the heavy Hamauzu influence which I most likely also have. This guy’s really interesting.
…There’s something ironic about an imposter (albeit a very talented one) getting their own name wrong in a language they likely don’t understand. The katakana doesn’t say ‘Max Enix'(which would be マクスエニックス — ma-ku-su e-ni-kku-su); it says ‘max enits’ (assuming he wants the ‘u’ of ‘tsu’ at the end there silent).
Just nits-picking. 😉
Also, a brief glance at that linked channel shows it was ‘hacked’ (according to a recent comment) — Max05Xiii is apparently his current one.
yes the tsu is silent!!! lol
I really dont see the problem.
As long as people enjoy my music and know that it is FAN MADE!!!
(I write that on all my vids)
dude calm down…
its freakin youtube!!!
no one is going to sue me!
if anything they will just cancel my account, and I doubt they would even do that because square enix wouldnt waste their time tracking down a kid that idolizes their work and is just making a few fan made songs in tribute to their great composers…
and I write “fan made” on ALL my videos. If people read the description there is no discrepancy.
this is just a hobby for me…
i dont plan to go into music.
im just a normal kid posting youtube videos of songs I made for the game…
and there are many fan made games with the title “final fantasy”…none of the creators has been sued yet…why?…becuase sqaure does not care if some small unknown developers, or in my case, musicians, create games or music that are inspired from their own ideas…its a form of flattery. I am in no way linking myself to sqaure enix. I would clearly state if i was in the video description, but I say that its fan made, therefore, not of square enix. A first time viewer of my videos would probably think the same way you do. “He’s posting videos of music thats not even part of the game!!”, but a simple visit to my page will explain everything. I make songs for these games to test my skills as a video game composer. Im not trying to fool you. I just want you to listen to my work and leave a comment saying if you liked it or not.
otaku fanboy? really?!!!!
jeez, u think u know me…you have no idea..
What im doing is not “atrocious”. All my songs are original, and all the videos say that the song was fan made. Im not trying to get views or anything like that by naming my videos as you saw them. One day I just thought…”hmmm…i wonder if I could make a soundtrack for ffxiii”…and I did, and I say that its FAN MADE!!
im not a proffesional…i dont plan on being one…
just enjoy the dam music and comment…thats all i ask…
sorry if i came off as arrogant…
i really understand what you’re saying but my videos aren’t hurting anyone…
Hey, just to chime in, I’m the one who shot these videos over to Patrick to post. We all agree the music is great, but feel that getting people to check it out based on them thinking they’re listening to FFXIII or KH3 (you don’t see the comment that says FAN MADE until you click, obviously), cheapens it a bit.
I was actually pretty confused myself, as I didn’t read the “FAN MADE” until after watching several vids. I was like, “How the hell did this guy get ahold of the soundtrack?”
Anyway, keep up the good work, Max, but of course you’re going to piss some people off with stunts like this. “Inspired by Final Fantasy XIII” would have been a better choice, I think.
On the bright side, at least it wasn’t Rick Astley! 🙂
I agree, it’s very good music for original composition, and hope you find further outlets for it in the future. Talent like yours, maybe you *could* plan on being a professional someday. I mean, you put in quite a bit of effort, clearly, so why not?
But I’m also going to reinforce the article’s stance, and it’s been similarly strengthened by your…passionate reply: at first glance, it does look like piggybacking on FFXIII’s immense popularity from the anticipation.
I wish you the best of luck with whatever you do regarding your musical aspirations. 🙂
I completely side with max on this one. Ive listened to all of his music and I must admit that I was pulled in by my anticipation of the FFXIII soundtrack but once I realised that his songs were fan-made and still of such an immense quality I was even more interested. It didn’t cheapen anything. There is no difference between seeing fan-made on the title of the vid and seeing it in the description and if you are in such a hurry that you can’t spare the second it would take to look at the description and just press back if its not what you want, then you have bigger problems then either he or I. Good work max, and keep it up.