<p>主題歌協力 is a honorific title, but the real position behind this is music producer (as seen on your linked website). The former can virtually be changed for the latter when seen.</p>

<p>The music producer position entails the following:</p>

<ul>
<li>choosing adequate staff for the envisioned song, i.e. pick up everyone, from the studio to writers, composers, singers, and even the supporting staff.</li>
<li>planning the schedule for all this staff. In parallel, they also oversee the schedule advancement for albums jacket covers and promotional videos. There are also cases where they plan out live events.</li>
<li>managing the staff for the song, i.e. making meetings with everyone, exchange ideas about the envisioned song, adjusting details for the creation and recording of the song, and managing conflicts that may arise.</li>
<li>last but not least, budget management for the song publication and staff involved.</li>
</ul>

<p>As for the reasons to why you only saw Sotomura be credited as theme song collaborator:</p>

<ol>
<li>music producers are often also the lyrics writer and/or composer for the song, so they are credited instead as such in openings.</li>
<li>Sotomura is a music producer "only", meaning he needs a title position of his own in order to appear in the credits. Other music producers "only" usually appear in full staff rolls (i.e. that include full production staff), but are not credited in OPs.</li>
<li>A music producer can appear on the OP/ED credits on request from the artists involved in it, but seeing the number of appearances for Sotomura, it is more likely that directives were made between Sony and the animation studios to quote Sotomura in the OPs.</li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-29T17:49:38.480Z
2015-08-29T17:49:38.480Z
user6391
<p>Over the past 3-4 years, I've been noticing a number of anime that credit <a href="http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=78467" rel="nofollow noreferrer">a person named 外村敬一</a> ("SOTOMURA Keiichi", it seems) with 主題歌協力 - something like "theme song assistance". This credit, when present, usually appears on the same overlay as the four usual credits for the OP/ED song (vocalist, lyricist, arranger, composer). There are exceptions, though, like the <em>Durarara!! Shou</em> OP "Headhunt", where it appears on the following overlay.</p>

<p>Note that the list of credits on ANN I linked to above is non-exhaustive - I'm pretty sure (just based on my vague recollection of having seen this guy's name over and over) there are a lot more credits for this Sotomura fellow that they haven't added to their database yet. For example, he is credited on "Connect" (the <em>Madoka Magica</em> TV OP), but isn't listed as such on ANN:</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/vkD6q.png" alt="credits for &quot;Connect&quot;"></p>

<p>Two questions:</p>

<ul>
<li>What does this position entail?</li>
<li>Why have I never seen anyone besides Sotomura Keiichi be credited with it? </li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-17T23:44:30.473Z
協力 makes more sense as "collaborator." Sotomura Keiichi is a [music producer](http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_p.php?num_p=817319) with a lot on his belt (man collaborations, too), so it's likely he was a in a secondary consultant-type role as opposed to a primary one with the project.
кяαzєя
<anime-production>
What does the position of "theme song assistance"(?) entail?
# What does the position of "theme song assistance"(?) entail?
Posted by: username_0 on 2015-08-15
Over the past 3-4 years, I've been noticing a number of anime that credit [a person named 外村敬一](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=78467) ("SOTOMURA Keiichi", it seems) with 主題歌協力 - something like "theme song assistance". This credit, when present, usually appears on the same overlay as the four usual credits for the OP/ED song (vocalist, lyricist, arranger, composer). There are exceptions, though, like the *Durarara!! Shou* OP "Headhunt", where it appears on the following overlay.

Note that the list of credits on ANN I linked to above is non-exhaustive - I'm pretty sure (just based on my vague recollection of having seen this guy's name over and over) there are a lot more credits for this Sotomura fellow that they haven't added to their database yet. For example, he is credited on "Connect" (the *Madoka Magica* TV OP), but isn't listed as such on ANN:

![credits for ](https://i.sstatic.net/vkD6q.png)

Two questions:

* What does this position entail?
* Why have I never seen anyone besides Sotomura Keiichi be credited with it?
**Tags:** anime-production
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: 協力 makes more sense as "collaborator." Sotomura Keiichi is a [music producer](http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_p.php?num_p=817319) with a lot on his belt (man collaborations, too), so it's likely he was a in a secondary consultant-type role as opposed to a primary one with the project.  
---
## 1 answers
### Answer by username_2 on 2015-08-29. Score: 2
主題歌協力 is a honorific title, but the real position behind this is music producer (as seen on your linked website). The former can virtually be changed for the latter when seen.

The music producer position entails the following:

* choosing adequate staff for the envisioned song, i.e. pick up everyone, from the studio to writers, composers, singers, and even the supporting staff.
* planning the schedule for all this staff. In parallel, they also oversee the schedule advancement for albums jacket covers and promotional videos. There are also cases where they plan out live events.
* managing the staff for the song, i.e. making meetings with everyone, exchange ideas about the envisioned song, adjusting details for the creation and recording of the song, and managing conflicts that may arise.
* last but not least, budget management for the song publication and staff involved.

As for the reasons to why you only saw Sotomura be credited as theme song collaborator:

1. music producers are often also the lyrics writer and/or composer for the song, so they are credited instead as such in openings.
2. Sotomura is a music producer "only", meaning he needs a title position of his own in order to appear in the credits. Other music producers "only" usually appear in full staff rolls (i.e. that include full production staff), but are not credited in OPs.
3. A music producer can appear on the OP/ED credits on request from the artists involved in it, but seeing the number of appearances for Sotomura, it is more likely that directives were made between Sony and the animation studios to quote Sotomura in the OPs.
---
