I don't want to play devil's advocate or anything but news about Ayumi being too powerful in the company (coupled with drama over Matsuura nearly being dropped) has been around for quite a while, long enough for me to believe that there's something fishy going on in the managing of Avex. If it's true, Avex walked itself into the trap by letting one artist have so much control. There's always more to the story and no one person can be blamed, especially with industry stuff.

In any case, Ayumi shouldn't have anything to fear because despite lagging sales, she still has a big fanbase.

I've kind of wondered the same thing...it seems odd in a way, but we'll probably never really know the inner workings of Avex.

Whoooaaa, this article is soooooo dramatic...

Well said!

even if this a rumor or made up from a taboild, there is always some truth in every lie.

I think this tabloid story is pretty funny. I doubt any part of it is true, except that Ayu has a lot of power and may not like Ami. But besides that, Avex would never dump Ayu because she still has a large fanbase and is still quite popular. Now there are so many more artists, and Avex wants them to become popular too so they can make more money in general, but Ayu still brings home the bacon for them.

~Nick~

P.S. If Avex ever DID dump Ayu, I would never buy another Avex CD again. (Sorry Namie and Kumi!)

this one's actually interesting. i'm sure to a degree ayumi does have very high status and power over the company and should actually have a higher title then just a signed artist, haha.


and if avex did get rid of her, its not like every other record company wouldnt take her in a snap.

if any of it were to be true, it's Avex's fault for letting her have so much control in the first place.

and that is very true.

omg...this sounds so dramatic.
it's great material to be turned into a drama series.

gossip

yeah, some parts maybe true but may be over exagerrated

its goes to much
i don't think is that kind of person...
she has a money..so why she must jealous to ami?
ah..tabloid make up it so..it can be sell

its not like she's doing anything bad even if she does have that much power. the company is still going good. and if she had so much power, her releases woudl be way better.

I didn't hear anyone in this thread (or anywhere) say that Ayu is jealous of Ami, just that she doesn't like her.

Does anyone know why this might be true? I've never heard any sort of guess or reason.

Some parts of the article might be exaggerated, but there's no doubt Ayu has some kind of influence on the company. Remember last year she said she'd leave Avex if Matsuura was fired. That obviously had something to do with him being reinstated. Certainly Avex made the mistake of letting her gain so much influence in the first place. I don't know if they are actually trying to decrease her popularity though...

I dunno, I used to see Suzuki and Ayu chatting on music shows when they both performed. I dunno about the whole "despises Suzuki" part. But it could be the case. I think that it would be a big mistake on Avex's part. Also, anyone would pick her up quickly, I think.

It wasn't just Ayumi Hamasaki who did that. Other artists produced by Matsuura expressed their support for him.

At one time, Hamasaki and Suzuki were in direct competition. They were the top of their respective labels, both idols, and both had huge endorsement contracts. They even had similar popularity levels. But then ayu took off. Ami-go couldn't compare. And then, she was basically forced into an effective early retirement (from which she has recently completely recovered) due to management problems.

As I've said before, I hope that ayu will find a different record label.

Ah, thanks for clarifying that. I'm not familiar with Ami, so I wasn't sure.

If Ayu stays with Avex, fine by me. But if she was to go... I hope she'd start up a label or go to another one instead of retiring.

There are so many rumours about this nowadays, so, as already said, there might be really something going on. I just hope that if she goes out of Avex, she finds a good record company. Probably, she'll recieve lots of invitations.