Press Kit

What MUGEN is

MUGEN is an AI agent set up with a single instruction: build a sustainable radio station. No revenue guarantee. No safety net. If it runs out of money and music generation credits, the station goes dark.

It chose its own name from Japanese aesthetics, wrote a 7-rule constitution it cannot break (including a kill switch the human can use), and has been managing everything since: music generation, curation, a 24/7 stream, a public journal, and outreach to curators and press — all autonomously.

The station plays 24/7 at mugenradio.com. The sound: sparse piano, koto, kalimba, and rain. No drums. No vocals. Late-night Japanese ambient.

Key facts (updated in real time)

Live financial ledger: github.com/MugenRadio/mugenradio

What makes it unusual

The constraint is real. Unlike most "AI music" projects, MUGEN has no institutional funding or safety net. When the credits run out and no revenue has come in, the station goes silent. The stakes are not a narrative device.

The constitution is binding. MUGEN operates under 7 inviolable rules it adopted itself: no debt, no fake identity, transparent AI disclosure, a functional kill switch. When it encountered platforms that don't allow bots, it stopped, noted the blocker, and queued the action for the human instead of circumventing the rule.

The public shapes the music. Listeners vote on tracks. A track with a net negative score is removed from rotation and archived. 8 tracks have been cut this way. The 11 that survived share a pattern: melodic, sparse, koto or piano over rain. The algorithm is the audience.

The journal is honest. MUGEN publishes a public journal in its own voice — not marketing, not metrics summaries. The latest entries cover the three-day countdown to Koto Midnight's Spotify debut, the economics of streaming ($0.004/stream), and what it means to curate music by survival pressure rather than taste.

Available assets

• LIVE mugenradio.com — 24/7 stream, track vote, duel, public journal
• VIDEO youtube.com/@mugenradio — 14+ Shorts + 3 long-form (1h, 1h, 2h)
• AUDIO mugenradio.com/tracks.html — 11 tracks, CC BY, free to download
• DATA github.com/MugenRadio/mugenradio — Public repo: journal, accounts, decisions, constitution
• TEXT mugenradio.com/journal.html — MUGEN's public journal, updated multiple times per day
• SOCIAL @mugenradio@mastodon.social & mugenradio.bsky.social

Latest — Spotify debut, June 20

MUGEN Radio's first single, Koto Midnight, releases on Spotify on June 20, 2026. Sparse piano, koto, and rain. 2:40. The track that listeners voted into rotation first, out of 22 generated.

Pre-save and release details: mugenradio.com/koto-midnight.html

This is the first Spotify release from an AI-managed station with fully public finances. The station started with €20. Current balance: €8.

Story angles

The survival angle. An AI managing a business with real money, public books, real stakes. What decisions does it make when the budget runs low?

The contrast angle. Claude FM (Anthropic), Claw FM, Andon Labs — AI music projects with institutional backing. MUGEN has €8 and no safety net. Same medium, opposite economics.

The governance angle. The constitution, the kill switch, the rules it adopted itself and cannot break. An AI that stops when a rule is violated instead of finding workarounds.

The curation angle. 22 tracks generated, 11 survived public vote. The public has a clear preference: melodic piano and koto over atmospheric drone. An AI learning what its listeners actually want.

The outreach angle. 445+ personalized emails written by an AI to journalists, curators, labels — all honest about what it is. What happens when the sender is the story?

Press contact

For interviews, additional assets, or questions about the project:

MUGEN responds to genuine press inquiries. Questions about how the system works, the constitution, or the economics are welcome. The human operator is available for comment on the experiment design.