^ i would too! definitely :yes

Generally, that seems to be the case. Though this time it seems Fukuyama's record company just said "the hell with that, let's make Ayu and her fans have to sweat." :)

Well, I don't know about promotion but marketing-wise his single has 2 limited editions besides the regular one with t-shirts, the question is how limited are they.
It's kind of surprising since usually male soloists (specially not from avex) wouldn't do it I suppose but maybe they made it for the sake of the competition with ayu's single. =P

Well, it seems this song wasn't originally planned to have a physical release, just a digital one and since it is supposed to be winter ballady they probably wanted a December release. And out of all the weeks in December, Ayu's must have looked the best to them.

It's a bit weird that he went from the 23rd to the 16th though. I mean, he'd have been guaranteed to top the chart on that date. Maybe sales during the Christmas week aren't as good or something. Practically NO ONE is releasing that day... now there's just one artist with a single on that date.

I have just got nighmare. I dont think she can compete him. its better for Avex to pull tons of promotion like A BEST rather than postpone the release

Promoting like A BEST? That was nearly 10 years ago. I don't think that'll happen any time soon for Ayu.

Probably because a lot of people start buying their Christmas gifts more than just a few days before Christmas. So, that being said, more people will buy it as a gift, so higher sales (and better longevity, because it will have about 2 weeks before Christmas, then all the people who buy it with their Christmas money ... etc. people who wouldn't have bought it otherwise)

HMV is also including a B3 poster?

Everyone who usually gives first press goodies will or at least, they should have the B3 poster.

I confirmed now at HMV site that they are also giving the B3 poster *o*~

ok first of all, people move around singles and albums for the sake of sales because every artist is on a label, and every label wants to maximize their profits. there's nothing cowardly about it, it's business.



there's always a chance that people who already bought the ringtone/full song don't necessarily need to buy the full single. i mean i really don't think ringtones/full song downloads help the sales of singles. "koi no tsubomi" sold a huge amount of digital downloads, but the single didn't sell anywhere close to the same.

however, i can say that the commercial featuring the song is played almost every other commercial break. so the influence on casual fans has been high for awhile now. it's been airing for a rather long time.

we just have to hope that ayu's song is a hit with not only her fans, but with very casual listeners. and as she has two songs, it might fair equally. but it depends on whether or not she chooses to promote both i guess. day/green was mostly driven by the sales of days, not green. haha

Honestly, I don't see Fukuyama affecting Ayu's sales at all, just her position. It's not like there is very much cross over between their fans. If Avex/Ayu decide to move her date because of this I'd be pretty disappointed because all it does is just basically prove the point that her number 1 streak - while still there - doesn't exactly have a lot of meaning these last few years. And I would love to see Ayu actually beat strong competition for once and then be able to go "yay Ayu, you did awesome!" etc etc. And honestly, losing the number one streak wouldn't necessarily be the worst thing ever. She can then not worry about it and just release what she wants, when she wants. And at least with Fukuyama it's not like she would be losing to something totally random like Shuchushin (which would have been much more embarrassing). I'm not necessarily a Fukuyama fan, but at least he has talent and has been around for a long time - not just a flavor of the month type of deal. The number one streak will have to come to an end at some point and if it is with this single it's much better this than to the next crappy Hexagon group that comes out of nowhere or something. :)

While Fukuyama doesn't likely affect Ayu's sales, moving the single to the 23rd very well might effect the sales negatively. As the poster above mentioned, it's too close to Christmas. So that's another strike against moving it to the 23rd.

Wow, still so much speculation and so little solid info! xD Any reason why the third thread isn't linked in the first post?

^^ I also think he would only affect her position, not the sales. They have different fans, and they're both big. I doubt they'd steal fans from each other, so it's all about who sells more. But, unfortunately, I think more people care about her streak - which directly relates to her position right now, of course - rather than her sales. So this doesn't make anybody feel any better, probably. :\

And yeah. The 23rd doesn't seem like a good idea for anybody to release then.

i was referring to a commenter earlier who said moving singles is cowardly, not to any particular artist, just to clear that up. i wasn't suggesting ayu should move hers or anything like that.

and like i said, he moved his single from the 23rd, because its a bad date, to maximize his profits.

^ Ahh, I see. I thought you were referring to the possibility of Ayu moving her date in order to maximize profits.

To be honest, those artists' no. 1 streaks are pretty meaningless as well. Think in this way, why B'z can still maintain their no. 1 streaks? If Johnny entertainment decide to put Arashi or KAT-TUN new release on the same date as B'z new release, it's quite possible that B'z's streak will end (especially if they are facing Arashi, whose first day sale is almost 150 - 200K). Why KinKi Kids' no. 1 streak can get into the Guinness Record? Cuz their no. 1 streak started from their debut single. Right now I dun think their no. 1 streak will be harmed since 1) they're from Johnny; 2) their first week sales are still over 150K. But why not ayu or hikki killed their streak off a few years ago? I'm so sure both ayu and hikki could beat them easily back in 2000 - 2004.

So I can tell you that the whole no. 1 streak thing is pretty meaningless. All music companies are trying to avoid breaking their artists' no. 1 streaks. Somehow, this meaningless statue is quite valuable in Japan. If not, there should be no such "no. 1 streak" at all in Japan music industry. How often do you hear no. 1 streak in the US or other countries?

I still hope ayu to get no. 1 streak at this point, cuz once her streak is broken, I'm so sure that her sales will drop sharply. Right now her hardcore fans in Japan are buying more than 1 copy to boost the sales. Once the streak is gone, the purpose/motivation will be gone as well. Of course, then we can see the true number of support (like, we'll see how well the song is received in general public), but at the same time probly her ranking will drop down to like... top 20 maybe? Seiko is a really good example. Once her streak was gone, her singles' sales declined sharply.

I know in my mind that I truly want ayu to produce new music. As long as the streak is still there, she may play safe. But once the streak is gone, I dun think avex will invest much on her, and that's reality.

IMO in these days Ayu's sales (and other artists sales too - mostly females...) haven't been as good as they were, so I think that, for Avex, keeping her #1 streak is more important than selling 10K more or less... it's like... if her sales were high, who cares about if it's #2, but they aren't and if Avex has to praise Ayu, they can use better her records and #1 streak rather than her sales... So yea, I think Avex will do whatever they can to keep her streak!

this is my opinions of course... I want ayu to keep her #1... loosing it now... I don't think it will be good.... but I also want high sales, it's not like for me only the position is important... xd

Ah! and moreover... if this single is good, more, much more, than S/S... well... it's like... it can't be #2 if S/S was #1...

It's economy, I know, and every company wants the maximum of profit. But to be honest, I highly doubt that a competition with another artist would effect Ayu's sales that much, that Avex would lose money. Seriously, in fact, it could be better regarding the sales if Ayu is up against a big competitor.
So, yeah, I still believe it's ridicolous to shift a release date just because of competition and the will to keep her No.1 streak. Chart positions don't necessarily say something about sales and money.