XD I know, but I prefer not to think about the new album at all or I might go crazy before I get my version of it!!! ;)

Here ^^
Oh! But Ayu made this font special for her xD she changed the direction of the "y" and added the stars for the "Rock*n*Roll" part. Does are not in this font :no

Anyhow...
I'm getting a copy of the album+DVD and I cannot believe it! I'm so excited! :luv2

Than it's silly that you keep viewing the Album INFORMATION Thread...

That's because I'm a VERY curious person and can't restrain myself sometimes. But as soon as I see pics or anything, I close my eyes.

The main reason, why I'm looking is to see what else is going on, like live performances and stuff like that!

^ Set concept twins! haha.

Wah, this album's going to be the death of me, I swear. All the information and previews and the buildup in general is really well done. avex is doing a good job with this one. I wonder if or when we'll see the huge promotional banners and stuff... I'd certainly like to see Brit-rock Ayu on huge billboards everywhere.

Ah, yes, you're right! Your set looks great, by the way! :luv2

Oh, I nearly forgot about the huge banners and all this stuff. I also would like to see pics of this kind of promotion again. I think, it's just awesome! Every time a new Ayu-album comes out, I would LOVE to live in Japan (well, I would love to live in Japan the whole time, but nevermind! ;)), because then Ayu would keep watch over me, literally! :D

holy crap another full album....? dang Ayu's been busy o.o;;

^^Aww yeah I would like to see the huge banners too :luv2

o.O
another full album???what do you mean?the last album she released was 1 year ago. o.O

So far there is basically 0 promo, but if I see anything around town I will take photos and post them.

I'd expect promo to start the first week of April... I mean, other artists are releasing (AKB48) before she does, but once she starts... oh lord, haha.

It should be of (miss)understood proportions.

I would love if she do something huge xD

How was it like? If it were anywhere near extravagant then I doubt Rock 'n' Roll Circus would get similar promotion tactics... I'm guessing similar or even lesser than NEXT LEVEL's..

Can AVEX stop being so lazy? They should start doing some promotion; only (close to) 2 weeks left till album release :thud

If they don't, forget about surpassing NL's sales wadsoeva :rolleyes

Damn you Avex stop being lazy :eviltongu

Why is this album going to get more promotion than NEXT LEVEL? Seems like its going to be on par, with one or two extra TV lives. She'll still get #1 regardless.

(miss)understood's promotion was quite heavy, but I felt that it wasn't as big as compared to A BEST promotion, or even to I am, RAINBOW promotions, etc. Those should be considered extravagant.

Then again, to me NL's promotion was quite small... I hope R'n'RC's promotion will be less than that.. :no

I don't really get why she can't get good promotion anymore. It's so annoying. Namie is in like 10-15 magazines while promoting things and koda kumi gets like 10 lives just for single promotion. Ayu gets 4 or 5 magazines and a couple lives for album promotion, ugh.

^I don't think Ayu wants to promote a lot for whatever reason. I guess she got sick of working herself to the bone earlier in her career?

I'd love to see her do more though. 5-7/TV appearences would work for me.

I think what she really needs is to have posters plastered everywhere, that's the way to tell people she has a new album out. Put them in train stations and such, places where there are always lots of people. That would be good. ( But Avex is weird and doesn't like doing that anymore it seems. :()

Like kagami said, I think Ayu is in a comfortable point in her career where she doesn't have to try hard anymore. She's more focused on her fans now a days it seems. Koda Kumi is a music releasing machine and promoted as such, Namie is in her second boom. Each lady is in a different point in their career.

Hmm, yeah the A BEST era's promotions were definitely her heaviest lol... I honestly think Rock 'n' Roll Circus will have similar promotions to NEXT LEVEL, maybe just a bit more.

IMO the so-called "down fall" of her career stemmed from the very fact that she was so overexposed in her peak (2000-2002)...

(miss)understood was the last time she had those posters lining the streets of some shopping area, haha.

I'm hoping she gets that and 109 with a bunch of billboards, haha.

Posters and Billboard sorta like what Namie did for PAST < FUTURE will be awesome.
I think she needs a lot of promotions, Not just for the #1 spot but also for a stronger sales.

It's always good if avex put more promotions. The point is, will more promotions lead to a boost of sales? Looking at the current sales in Japan + recent ayu sales, probly not. But again we dun really know if all of the sudden the new album is so beloved that 200K+ extra people will buy it.

And, if the album is good enough, the current promotion should attract people (remember, avex will always make temporary stores down the streets during album release, and sometimes single release as well).

And I think ayu has input some of her decisions on promotions as well, such as the number of lives she wanna go, if she want to be on more magazines' covers, etc. Not that she has the power to go on 10+ magazines like she used to be in 2001, but if she wants I think she can get more than her recent amount. I'm pretty sure she can get on ViVi, Sweet, Cawaii, SCawaii, Popteen, bea's up, and probly oricon, cd data, etc.

Yeah yeah yeah, every lamp post had two small flags on shibuya. The big billboard at 109, and countless posters around the area. That's what we call HUGE PROMOTION :D.

Recently, Ayu's chaku uta sales have been getting really high compared to 2006-2008... so something's being done correctly. In 2005 and before though, a lot of her big songs [singles] got a million ringtones sold pretty easily I suppose.

She even got #1 yearly with Days for chaku movies! I'm pretty curious if any of the PVs for this album will be as addicting as that one for the Japanese...

^ More Promotion = More sales.
Look at Namie's PAST < FUTURE it was well marketed and promoted + the songs are good.
It's the same way for other product, but even more so in Japan

sorry, but i haven't seen decent promo since GUILTY, that was the last time the pictures and reports from people wowed me. I was hoping, like with all the other album traditions (14 track ex) that she would break it with more promooo and i hope so =/

I actually thought Past < Future would sell about a million, and... it didn't. She basically showed up on NO TV PROGRAMS AT ALL for P<F. There wasn't really that much promotion outside of the magazines / Vidal campaign, I think.

More promotion imo does not necessarily mean more sales for an act who has been huge in the past. But promotion does help those who are struggling. Is Ayu struggling? I don't think she ever has struggled in terms of sales, but there are those who seem to be stuck in 2000/2001 and feel like her sales are "bad" but considering the current state of the industry, her sales are spectacular imo.

GUILTY? You mean A COMPLETE, right? Haha. But even then, that was just half a year before NEXT LEVEL. I think she was WAY too busy to do promo for NL anyway.

^ agreed with this

Ayumi doesn't need huge promotion anymore. Anyone who is going to buy this album probably knows it going to be released. I think her most effective promotion will come from people hearing some of the album before they think about purcashing it - winning back listeners who have stopped buying her releases. TV lives, and good PVs on high rotation are the key.

A huge billboard in a shopping centre probably isn't going to bring in the sales like it used to, when she had a heap of casual listeners.

Plus, she's too busy now like she was last year. Her effort is going towards preparing for her concert tour, not doing TV lives. Exactly the same as last year.

I'm sure P < F had a really good promotion, at least the cover suspension was already fantastic. But... its first week sales was a bit lower than I'd expected. With her second blossom, I thought P < F could easily pull off 400K+ sales on the first week, with 600 - 700K overall at least. So using Namie's sales as a estimate, I dun think ayu can pull off 300K sales on the first week. So.. to me, more than 240K sales on the first week for R'n'RC is already a win :).

Edit:

Edit: we have the same thought on P < F :P. But you're right.. I totally forgot that namie appeared on none of the tv shows. Quite weird... :P.

Hmmn.. interesting if people compare ayu's current sales with the sales in 2000 - 2002. I rather compare her sales with current top artists. I dun treat that as a competition, but it's more or less an indication of the popularity in general public.

I think her sales are not that spectacular, but not to a point that I consider as bad. One day if her overall sales is less than 150K (or even 200K), then probly it is BAD. :P

I was talking about the Posters/Billboard plastered everywhere and the way they promoted it. The phases..

Well, that was sort of the concept for the album. They released the "semi-ripped one" first, and then after a few weeks, released the full on cover and etc. It was smart, but I don't think it increased sales all that much. It probably made fans want to wet their pants though.

More promo definitely doesn't mean better sales. The promotion is just there to spread the word and let people hear the songs, the popularity factor will decide how well will the album sell (and of course it depends on how much will some like the songs).

As for her sales, looking at the current yearly top 20:

*1 *,632,426 *25,460 Troublemaker / 嵐 10/03/03
*2 *,429,143 **3,888 Love yourself ～君が嫌いな君が好き～ / KAT-TUN 10/02/10
*3 *,359,987 **4,127 桜の栞 / AKB48 10/02/17　
*4 *,287,411 ***,591 BREAK OUT！ / 東方神起 10/01/27
*5 *,256,872 **1,082 はつ恋 / 福山雅治 09/12/16
*6 *,238,551 **4,750 瞳のスクリーン / Hey! Say! JUMP 10/02/24
*7 *,151,584 **4,220 Onaraはずかしくないよ/ピラメキたいそう / はんにゃ,フルーツポンチ 10/02/10
*8 *,136,508 ***,*** GIFT～緑～(雪をください/One day in winter/Snow White) / 関ジャニ∞ 09/12/25
*9 *,136,003 ***,*** GIFT～白～(冬恋/君の歌をうたう) / 関ジャニ∞ 09/12/23
10 *,133,978 ***,*** GIFT～赤～(I wish/マイナス100度の恋) / 関ジャニ∞ 09/12/24
11 *,117,973 ***,315 You were.../BALLAD / 浜崎あゆみ 09/12/29
12 *,111,724 ***,842 GLORIA / YUI 10/01/20
13 *,107,690 ***,893 BLESS / L'Arc～en～Ciel 10/01/27
14 *,105,228 *13,143 ライオン / 遊助 10/03/10
15 *,*91,820 ***,747 PHANTOM MINDS / 水樹奈々 10/01/13
16 *,*74,490 ***,700 桜会(さくらえ)/マイライフ / ゆず 10/02/03
17 *,*73,998 ***,532 戻れない明日 / aiko 10/02/03
18 *,*69,358 **1,172 Silent Bible / 水樹奈々 10/02/10　
19 *,*57,411 **1,272 FOREVER LOVE / 清水翔太×加藤ミリヤ 10/02/03
20 *,*55,382 ***,783 瞳の奥をのぞかせて / ポルノグラフィティ 10/02/10

Now the only solo artist who is currently "above" her is Fukuyama, the others are all idol groups. Even L'arc~en~Ciel won't beat You were... And seemingly neither will YUI. To compare it to some of the previous year's singles, WILD/Dr. only sold around 119k ^^ And yes Ayu may end up being out of top 30 once the year ends, but that's not because there are so many people who are so damn popular, but because each of those JE groups will release at least 1 new single, add an occasional hit by random solo artists and voila ^^

Promotion imo only helps people who are relatively unknown. AKA DEBUT ACTS. You know, like ICONIQ who had tie ups with Maserati / Starbucks / ANA / etc, and GIRL NEXT DOOR who basically had a tie up with every single song on that album even the interludes...

(Difference in 1st / 2nd album sales make this very apparent.)

But that's quite a mystery.. I was (and am) honestly a bit shocked on P < F sales. My brother (casual fan to namie) thought the album was a bit of lackluster compared to PLAY. So I dunno.

I think to bring up R'n'RC sales, our love is not enough. Whether it's well-received by general public is the key factor for the extra sales nowadays. Honestly most of her current cd sales are from hardcore fans (those 300K+). I guess if this album is good enough, hopefully it can get 150K+ extra compared to NL.

Edit:

@njanjayrp: looking at the current yearly chart make me wonder if physical sales is a good indicator for popularity anymore. Yeah the JE boys seems popular, but you know crazy fangirls will spend all their money on their idols, whether or not the song is good or not. So it's kinda like a love blind thing for me. Should digital sales be a better indicator for how popular a song is?

I really do wonder what first week sales will be... we know it's already sold 25,000 because of the limited edition boxes. We know the First Press is limited to 400,000 copies, and since CDJapan still has First Press, we know the pre-orders haven't reached that much yet...

And I didn't realize Namie's last album has only sold a little over 550,000 copies (which, at the moment, it's barely outsold Play). To be far, we shouldn't be comparing a studio album to a best-of - it's like comparing NEXT LEVEL's sales to A COMPLETE's. It's good for an album with moderate amount of promotion (like NEXT LEVEL).

I suppose, but BEST FICTION sold about 1.6 million. I had a hunch that it'd sell at LEAST half of that.... and it's not even close to 800k. But then again, Ayu's A BEST was about 4 million +, with I am... selling... about half of that? 2 million?

I remember RAINBOW was 1.8 million or something and then afterwards, A BALLADS onward took a somewhat sharp dive. (900k ~ 1.1 million with A BALLADS and Memorial address)

Yeah, the promo for the album actually wasn't nearly as big as it could have been. I never would have expected a million in sales for an original album these days anymore - only Mr. Children can pull that off it seems. Over 500k for an original album is excellent these days.

As for Ayu's relative lack of promo these last couple of years, I think its a few factors - one Ayu probably just doesn't want to do as much and two the money that the promo costs - you don't want to keep throwing out the big bucks for artists that have been around for so long if you aren't seeing an upward trend in their sales to make the cost worth it. If it is a new artist, you do. ex. Girl Next Door - put a lot of money in and hope for a return in the future (in this case though it was a failure.) After all, promo is generally designed to pull in new fans/appeal to the masses. Hard core fans will buy the album regardless of promo. But older artists are less likely to pull in new/casual fans because everyone knows them already.

That's always a factor as well especially when it comes to groups like News, Tegomasu etc. Arashi, the biggest one though, does not fall into that category. They definitely have fan girls just like every other group does, but they are definitely popular with the general public too these days - it's very apparent in Japan right now. I must have heard Troublemaker being played at like 20 different stores and restaurants this week and everyone who I have encountered when the subject comes up has had a positive opinion of them.

I suppose it just really depends on the material with older artists a la Namie.

If the masses latch onto a song/group of songs that Ayu has on Rock'n'Roll Circus, she could potentially get a lot of people into her that weren't fans...

I'm hoping Sexy little things does something to people, haha. Aurally abducting them and creating new Ayu fans... bwahahahah!

Probly hikki can pull off a million sales as well.. probly... :P

A BEST was about 4.2 million I think, while I am was about 2.2 - 2.3 million copies.

And I really think A BALLADS was the turning point of ayu's popularity. I knew A BALLADS would not be a big as A BEST, but I was a bit shocked when it only had 500K+ on the first week. That's was the most obvious negative outcome of ayu's overexposure during 2001 - 2002.

I think she could get some new fans with this album, some songs sound like nothing else in her discography so people who don't like her other stuff might like it. I think they should take a chance and spend more money and promote it more.

Ayu did quite a bit of promotion for S/S, and did a fair amount of promotion for YW/B. Well, at least TV and magazine promotion, anyway.

I know she's been focusing on her fans a lot... eh, maybe she was on TV more because her fans missed seeing her on TV. lol

The thing about A BALLADS is that it was a "BALLADS BEST" aka "remix album" imo.

A lot of the songs on it were retailored and there were SEVERAL recuts from RAINBOW. I felt that the album was simply a single that had 10+ other tracks on it but cost as much as an album... or was a remix album with some new tracks on it, haha.

Bolded are "remixes/rearranges" and italicized are new tracks.

^ That's why I didn't buy A BALLADS lol. It's a big rip off for me :P. I guess it's part of my fault to let A BALLADS didn't sell over a million back in the old days :P.


@ identity: For an old artist (not his/her age btw) to attract new fan is a pretty difficult thing. It's easier to attract the long gone hardcore fans back to the fanworld (in ayu case, the ones who left after 2003..?).

You keep forgetting GReeeeN who did sell a million copies of their last studio album, released in 2009. And you keep forgetting that Ayu is still among AVEX's best selling artists, someone has to pay for the production of her videos and tours and we all know that the production of her concerts were higher than of a-nation.

While now days physical sales can show you if a person/an artist is popular, the digital sales will show you if their actual songs are popular or not. When it comes to JE groups, I think their original studio album sales show what people really think about their music.

^I forgot to include JE studio albums :P. Their sales are not as pretty as their single sales... hehe.

So... does that mean microphone is pretty popular in Japan?? :P Or at least, it's accepted by the general public? :)

^ that remains to be seen :P For now, the ringtone is doing well for a studio album track ^^

Well, my main point was that its an extreme rarity for a studio album to sell a million copies these days, especially for a female artist. 2 artists doing it, does not equal a trend. :) So I would never expect that for Namie (or Ayu or whoever). And when did I say Ayu wasn't among their best selling artists and all that? I was just giving a possible explanation for why she wouldn't do as much promo these days as in the old days....

About the JE thing - I don't think their album sales are a good indicator of how popular they are or not. Johnny's has rarely if ever had high original album sales for any group, but there is no doubt that groups like SMAP, Kinki, Arashi etc are indeed extremely popular with the general public. The albums just have a very bad reputation of being filled with filler songs that are no where near as good as the single tracks. (which is usually true.) I wouldn't buy them and I'm a fan, haha.

Hmm about digital sales... I think for now, even though physical sales have been on a downward trend and Ayu isn't 'doing as well as she used to', but she's still among the top for physical sales, at least for female solo singers.

But, if we factor in digital sales, then honestly Ayu's gonna plummet down in her ranking because there are many other artistes out there who had much better digital sales than Ayu. Digital sales may be a good indicator for popularity, but it certainly wouldn't help Ayu.

And lol about the million-sales thing... it's pretty rare already isn't it? It seems like the artistes who can pull off the million-sales are the bands who really appeal to Japan as a whole, and not a niche group. Mr. Children & GReeeeN appear to be such artistes/bands who have such an appeal, so...

Just praying Rock 'n' Roll Circus surpasses the sales for NEXT LEVEL, although I don't think that's very possible.

^ I hope that it does surpass Next Level because I feel this is a much better album overall. But I doubt it will happen considering the sales trends, which is unfortunate.

Actually, factoring in "digital sales"... Ayu would probably still kinda be on top.

She was on top last year for female soloists in both chaku uta and chaku uta full which was surprising imo. Trailed by Kana Nishino for regular chaku uta though. (top 5 placement, basically, under the juggernauts) Her massive discography helps, I suppose, with people buying from both the past and present works, giving her a higher total than someone who had one million selling chaku uta or whatever.

Digital sales is a weird thing compared to normal physical sales.

A song with really high digital sales doesn't necessarily translate to the popular indicator for an artist. It general indicates how well that particular song is received by the general public. On the other hand, it does somehow estimate the popularity for artists with established fame. Whether the song is popular or not, there'll always be a portion of casual listeners who willing to pay for those artists to download the songs. Unlike unknown artists who may probly disappear once their one hit wonders are gone.

You know, if a bunch of people rush to download a popular artist's digital, at least it means he or she is still quite popular rite?

Yeah I'm still happy that she's doing good with the chaku-uta.. But physical sales are declining ? yes :yes
It's kinda normal in this time, I mean look at Tohoshinki's best album which only sales around 500K when artists as famous as them can easilly pass 1million on the past time
Not saying bad things about the band, just trying to compare so please don't get me wrong

You didn't say that, I simply tried to prove that AVEX still heavily invests in her, just in other fields, Koda has never had a PV budget that GREEN or JEWEL got and you can't say those 2 were recorded in Ayu's peak and the same goes to Amuro :rolleyes It also seems that Ayu is among the very rare AVEX artists who get to record their albums in other countries quite often.

I didn't say they are not popular, I said their songs aren't that popular, with arashi and SMAP obviously being an exception, I am pretty sure the last real hit NEWS had was weeek and I am pretty sure people don't like Yamapi for his amazing vocal skills ^^

Do you remember the yearly Recochoku rankings? Plummet you say? Regardless of what songs actually made her rank that high, the fact is, she is obviously doing very well digitally.

I actually missed you btw~ it's nice to have an actual conversation again~

As Tal and th posted:

I agree though that a song's success digitally is showing how much a cerain song is popular and not often the artist though an artist can have some digital hits in a row because he became a "popular digital selling artist" kind of like Kana and JUJU who do better digitally~

Sunrise ~LOVE is ALL~ overall had over 750,000 legal downloads and it's ayu's highest popular song since Together When... back in December 2007.
It doesn't mean though that the next album for example (unfortunately) will sell like GUILTY did or that ayu's popularity increased (and that goes for everyone with digital hits).

Another example is kuu's new best. Her best album (besides that it was released with an additional studio one) had many digital (and some were phyiscal) hits she had but it didn't really help though it might be because non of them were from the last year. So the point is that digital hits don't always help or show popularity of an artist.
It does clearly show a popularity of a song.

I'm glad to see though that people want to see Rock'n'Roll Circus to outsell NEXT LEVEL!

It really does look like it's going to be a way better album with a greater effort and an overall of a high musical quality.
I highly doubt it will outsell NEXT LEVEL unfortunately.

Well, at least in the case of Tohoshinki I think that their popularity in Japan is very overestimated on foreign forums. The fact that it is a best album and for a best album it did relatively poorly shows that they aren't as popular in Japan as some seem to think.

All I expect from this album is 250k-300k, haha.

Anything better will be amazing!

I think you got me confused with waterballoon cause I didn't mention digital sales at all. :) But, since we are talking about current popularity/promotion and stuff I think only the digital releases of songs from the past year should be in the discussion, which means not the overall rankings.

And yeah, I missed you too. :P

But anyways, yeah she actually did quite a bit of promo for You Were and Sunrise/Sunset, however it didn't really seem to have a dramatic effect on her sales. So unfortunately Ayu does kind of seem to be at the place where promo no longer really helps her that much - it can't hurt though.

I think Tohoshinki is just another boyband with lots of crazy fangirls, except they're not under JE. Their popularity do arise tho (comparing their recent single sales), but not like they're very very popular to the point that they can become Arashi or SMAP.

True... their best album had like 3 editions but the sales barely broke 500k. After all, they are not native Japanese so I never really expected anything anyway...

Anyway, I'm hoping Rock 'n' Roll Circus at least breaks 300k... the sales for other female solo artistes have been shocking to say the least for this year and I'm kind of worried, but it's Ayu after all, so I have faith!

Hmm this might be a little off the current topic but IMO her direction of music kinda affects and results in the position she is in now.

If you ask me, I know Ayu for her pop songs and ballads, instead of her rock numbers. In addition I think from a general view, pop and ballads define Ayu's personality best and if this singer suddenly release a string of rock songs, I would be kind of alienated in some ways, and this might apply to the general public of Japan as well. I'm not saying that her rock songs are sub par (many are awesome), but I just feel that Ayu is not made for rock, and some of her rock numbers seem to be lacking something, or maybe they are 'empty', void of feelings.

Since she feels that rock defines her, then I will have to get accustomed to her new direction of music :)

That's true, still who knows how would the two singles do if she didn't lift a finger :yes But I guess she pretty much did that with NEXT LEVEL :innocent

Sorry to not reply to whatever's the topic up there..

but thinking back since Jan...don't you guys think the hype for the this album is such an incredible journey..I mean 10 threads going on to the 11th (funny how R'n'RC is her 11th full length album)..I just have this "WOW" feeling to the entire 3 months and before...she already stated a new album since last Dec hasnt she?

this is amazing :)

@freedreamer yeah i agree we're waiting for this album here together and i think time pass by so fast =)

^^ Yeah I believe everyone's UNITE! for this since A Word Is One project XD
And yeah this album is so promising and has the possibility to be her best for the past few years so...:innocent

i just really wish that this album will surpass NL's sales..
i want Ayu to have great sales!

wow at u guys! u should write essays on the topic and surely you will all get A++ xD


:lech

nwey any chance we'll get DLB PV before the album?

i'll try my best for not viewing any leaks from now on since i've just pre-ordered 1 at cdjapan using ems,i hope i can listen to it 1 day before it was released

^ Haha, I tried to not listen to any leaks or previews, but I failed


I really hope so, I so addicted to that song and the PV

lol.i'll try not to go into this thread XD
i haven't listen to countdown yet :P
i think i can wait?15days to go!

oh man! the box set sold out?! T.T
haha..I'm so waiting!! SLT looks fun =D

Same here..usualyl they ship out on Fridays...so...when it reaches Singapore, it'll be Tuesday. Then I'll get it..but im sure the album would have been leaked by then..lol

2 more weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so excited! I've decided to make a little chibi booklet of all of the new pics we've gotten for R'n'RC :heart It's both a celebration of the release of the album and a birthday present for my little brother, who's birthday is on the same day as the release date :heart I'll share it with you guys too (^_^)

My brother is excited for it as well, not only for his b-day, but because he recently became an Ayu fan last year :heart

I've also failed at keeping everything a secret and not looking at it, so I gave up and I'm looking at everything that gets leaked :laugh

I hope we can get the pv of Sexy Little Things this week
Don't look back the next week
And Lady Dynamite with the album

Interesting discussion above. Personally, these days I think singles and albums are really just promotional tools for the real major moneymakers in an artist's repertoire: the concerts. Sure, they contain an artist's material, but the concert tour is the bread and butter.

I remember a TLC interview wherein they said that they earned 10 cents for every album sold. I think that shows the reality of how musical artists actually make a living and where the bulk of their fortune really comes from: fees for media appearances, commercial sponsorships, concerts, and royalties. Singles and albums are important for establishing an artist's fan base in his or her career, but for someone who's been around as long as Ayu they become less significant over time (the artist instead banks on his or her reputation), unless someone is attempting a comeback, of course.

Still no sign of any of the other PVs on the music channels. Strange that Microphone hasn't shown up anywhere except for SSTV/VMC. Usually MTV were the first to show ayu's video clips.

Seems like her PVs don't get the attention they used to, or avex are only forwarding the clips to SSTV/VMC and no other channels?

Microphone probably made a super early appearance on SSTV/VMC.

I don't think the PVs really get all that much attention tbh since not everyone really has the music / PV channels anyway. They show the PVs in stores to promote the album when it releases after all.

That's why most likely CD+DVD versions are doing hot in Japan since people there prefer to buy the PVs and watch them whenever they want instead of looking at the channels on TV and waiting to see them or something.

I don't think that CD+DVD versions are as hot in other countries, or as popular as a release.

Yeah, I think I'd have to agree.

I think you hardly ever see CD+DVD releases in the U.S. because the content is so easily available on iTunes and YouTube [as in, the official companies themselves upload the video for watching].
Korea does the same thing with providing music videos and such on sites like GomTV.

But with Japan, as far as I know, they've stuck with occasional airings on music channels, playings in stores as promos, and of course...CD+DVD releases. Only recently, I think, have they started going to the internet (like how Ayu's official youtube was recently created).

Two more weeks already!? Time goes so fast...

Its the same in Australia - music channels are all on PayTV. There's only a couple of music video shows on free TV, but they aren't in any primetime viewing slot.

Still, those channels are the outlet for music video promotion. Even if its a small number, its still something. That's the whole point of these videos - to promote the song - through instore plays or music channels.

It'll be here in no time guys :).

so,we are waiting for the leaks now?any other information that hasn't announce yet?
they announced the cover,tracklist,bonus.what else they haven't announce?

i want to see pictures from the inside :D

Composers and arrangers, I suppose.

^ Have the OS versions been announced yet? I briefly checked YA but couldn't find anything on them...

nope.no official announcement yet but most probably will release on 16th April,2 days after JP press is release.
i'm wonder if the AT09 OS press will include the poster or not.Basically they said they will have the same thing/freebies with the JP press.but most of the time,they gave it to taiwanese people only.they will not send the poster to oversea customers

OMG i was sad.. AHS it's back!! :DDD Thanks god xDD

I love this album, microphone it's great *-*, These style :DD

ehh, I hope they don't do that, cause it wouldn't be fair at all. I'm looking forward on getting the OS version of the DVD.

i'm not sure if other sites also like that or not.i emailed to 5music.i ask them if we pre-order RnRC JP press,are we eligible for the lucky draw?they emailed me back saying the lucky draw is not available if you order it online.its only for those who pre-order from their shop.as for the poster,they said if they got state it on their site,you'll get it.if they didn't state it,means no poster for you.haha.they said avex taiwan is very strict.

O yess Composers and Arrangers!!! I cant wait for the list to be revealed...bt that's usually by some skilled people who search the japanese sites lol..

Two weeks left! I am so ready for this album, you don't even know :yes

I just bought this from CD Japan, my first time buying anything from overseas ... I'm pretty excited. I love the sound of the previews I've heard. Was it a good move, you guys?

I can't wait to know the composers and arrangers. I'm getting some vibes from these songs that make me think she's gone outside of the box, but maybe not...so excited, augh!

Usually the HK version just pops up on YesAsia and is released officially a couple of days after that. It would come out within the week the Japanese version comes out.

I hope the OS press will be the same with JP press, I want that poster..
And I hope the OS press of RnRC includes photobook

confirm OS press will has the photobook.the only thing that they can't confirm is the lucky draw and the poster

I hope they confirm about the poster soon :yes