ayumixfan: I honestly understand where you're coming from, cos one of the modules I'm taking is Media in Society, and they do talk about the Power Effects Theory and Minimalist Effects Theory.
For her albums, Ayu has always been using the Power Effects Theory, where she puts out a lot of direct promotion, which in terms of music, is letting the public LISTEN to what the album has to offer, and that's what the singles are there for. Singles provide a sort of 'prelude' to an album... and if you like the singles, well you might just buy the album.
So with TV promotion, Ayu basically gets to perform her single, sometimes album songs to the public, and as what another member have mentioned, the honestly best promotion for music is to sample songs to the public.
Moreover, with magazine shoots etc, they will do interviews about upcoming albums etc, and that's how we get linear notes about the songs in an album from Ayu, cos the magazine interviewed her.
I'm an avid magazine reader, and if I chance upon an Ayu interview, I'll most definitely KNOW that she IS releasing an album etc.
But look at NEXT LEVEL. Release date: 25/3/09. And the magazines ABOUT it come out in like... May? Like... hello do they expect magic skyrocket sales in the first month of sales? I really don't know, but I have to say that TV and magazines - DIRECT promotion are the BEST promotions for music, simply because they let the public KNOW about the album, and also get chances to SAMPLE the songs in the album.
Now, back to NEXT LEVEL's promo. With only ONE TV performance of Rule, and a few TV performances of Days... how much will the public know about the single songs? Let's not talk about GREEN and Sparkle cos Ayu has always been promotion one song off a single slightly heavier than the other. But Rule? Like... only once is just really reliable.
Remember: Ayu is not God and not all of Japan likes her. Of course, fans like us would keep up to all her latest news/songs... but casual Japanese? What if they have never heard of Rule before?
That's what TV performances are for. To send out the message of, "Hey Ayu has a new song called Rule! Come check it out!"
Thus, with that pathetic TV performances... I doubt the public knows ENOUGH about NEXT LEVEL to judge whether they wanna buy it.
Also, with the magazines, I've already explained in a previous paragraphs, so yeah.
And yes, I agree with njanjyrap... SunshineSlayer has indeed mentioned that there are LESS billboards about NEXT LEVEL compared to her previous albums.
Of course it appears so large-scale and glam from the photos... but we don't live in Japan either. You told ayumisrael that he doesn't live in Japan, but neither do you, neither do I.
How can you determine whether the outdoor promotion was "enough", or comparable/on par with her previous albums when you yourself don't live in Japan? At least for SunshineSlayer, she's a regular tourist to Japan so her statements about outdoor promos in Japan would be slightly more reliable than mine, or yours. (Sorry if you're like SunshineSlayer but you've not really mentioned that you often go to Japan... so yeah
s).
All in all, it's undeniable that NEXT LEVEL had pathetic EFFECTIVE promotion compared to her previous albums. Perhaps we can attribute that to her poor sales, perhaps we can't. But I'm more inclined to the former, seeing how her chart position almost always rises a day after a concert.
Usually, the album promotes the concert. But this time round, I have this hunch that it's the concert promoting the album. Fortunately for Ayu, she's re-singing songs at PCDL = old songs that are also a factor for fans who dislike NEXT LEVEL (for whatever reasons; bad promo, different style) to attend her concert, and in turn, come out of it appreciating NEXT LEVEL more, and even buying it (I think I've mentioned this in a previous post.).
@Karen: Thanks! #7 is a good number. Hopefully it'll go to #5 or something by the end of the Oricon year. *crosses fingers*