Ayu "versus" Koda Kumi

[elepop]

Originally Posted by ImpactBreaker

So What? artists like hitomi still produce music even though her singles sell as much as 3333 copies overall. No big deal. and avex hasn't dropped hitomi FYI

That's true. hitomi still makes music for her and her fans. Even though it might not sale that much. If she wants to make music despite the fact that it's probably never gonna hit #1, then that's great. What matters for her is not the numbers of sales. But making music is.

Originally Posted by Maiku

it shows that they have no faith in ayu at all..can we even call them Fans ? Rofl

I don't even know why they care so much about the sales... -__________-

[Mad_Cactuar]

Originally Posted by asongforXX

But "secret" didn't do great. And I'm still very much confused about why "Butterfly" won for the most important award in Japan. avex trax have dropped Ayu for a few years now. They don't concentrate on Ayu anymore, it's Kuu they are putting their effort on. Notice how Kuu's singles are so logically marketed? The marketing is crazy.

Yeah, they moved all their promotion towards Koda Kumi instead. And they're losing money right? I forgot bout Secret, disaster. 500 000 copies only. So, Koda isnt a threat?

I remember how STEP You was hardly promoted.

[bluegie]

it's understandable that avex uses more money on kumi nowadays. Ayu's already well known in Japan, and kumi (at that time) wasn't that super popular. If kumi had the potential to be a more popular singer (which now she does), why not investing more money on kumi?

for ayu... I can see a bigger promotion will come if avex thinks the song will be a big hit. At this stage ayu's still enjoy doing her own music, so no complain for a smaller promotion than kumi (hey they still have promotions, it's not like you dun see ayu at MS or MF or whatever!!!!). As long as ayu and we the fans are happy, things are fine

[ame-no-koe]

^ yeeaah and didn't max matsuura say that the most important artist of avex is ayu and that she is the one star that shines through them all?

I like them both, I hope Ku reaches sales as high as Ayus one day. End of Story.

[ayu_fan929]

Originally Posted by MC Tatsujin

Yeah, they moved all their promotion towards Koda Kumi instead. And they're losing money right? I forgot bout Secret, disaster. 500 000 copies only. So, Koda isnt a threat?

I remember how STEP You was hardly promoted.

umm, 500k for koda is actually really really good. 500,000 can get you a spot on the yearly top 20 albums at oricon. (if not, at least the top 30)

if 1 has low sales, the company will spend less money on you for marketing, promotion, PVs, the cover on the album etc. you will be less likely to release much frequently cos y would the company make u release cds if everytime you are losing money? i.e.: avex's beni arashiro. i think she debuted in 2004, none of her singles have got onto oricon top 30. her releases r spread apart for like 4-5months.

[Paper Bear]

There's no point in comparing Koda Kumi and Ayu. They're two completely different artists with two completely different styles of music.

I'm going to quote something I posted earlier:

Why do people think this is the end of the world? "OMG! No one in Japan likes her anymore! She's not popular anymore! Waaah!"

First of all, she's still very popular in Japan. No, she's not as popular as she used to be years ago, but yes, she's still one of the highest selling artists. She's been around for a long time, and to still be selling as well as she has been is pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

Second, people keep complaining about her sales. So, her sales aren't as high as they used to be. Times have changed in Japan. More people are buying music online through iTunes etc. Yes, sales have decreased, including Ayu's, but it's not just for her sales... It's everyone's. Even Utada Hikaru isn't selling as much as she used to. Does this mean she's not popular anymore? No. It just means people are finding other means of getting the music they want.

And since we're talking about sales, I'd like to point out that Ayu has been doing extremely well. Her singles have done very very well. 300,000 consistent sales is great. B&D didn't sell 300,000 sales, but it did pretty good. 100,000 isn't bad! There are a lot of popular singers who don't reach 100,000 single sales every time they release a single, including BoA for example. Her last two singles had about 55,000 each if I'm not mistaken.

Koda Kumi may be gaining popularity, but her sales are nothing compared to Ayu's. (miss)understood sold more than Secret in its second week. If I'm not mistaken, Koda Kumi's only number one album was her Best album, and that was also her only album to sell over 1,000,000 copies. So before anyone freaks out anymore about that matter, I hope you'll realize Ayu is still a huge icon in Japan. She's still very popular and she still has high sales.

Sales, sales, sales is all everyone ever cares about. What about the quality of the music? Isn't that more important than how much she sells?

I don't think Ayu should retire. She's only 27. Even if a single or album doesn't do well in the charts or whatever at least she continues to provide music for her fans to enjoy. Personally, I'd be very upset to see my favorite singer retire so early.

Ayu's been around for a long time so of course people are interested in new faces. This isn't surprising. But the fact that even though she's been around a long time, she continues to hold her own against all the new faces. It just shows that she's still going strong.

Koda Kumi is a great singer. She has some good songs. Although, I'm not really keen on her marketing strategy (you know, the whole 'sex sells' bit) but she has talent to back her up. She's been gaining a lot of popularity lately, which is great, but I don't think she will be the next 'Queen of Jpop' or whatever. She's only had like 2 singles to hit number one. Her 12 single release is doing well, and she's getting a lot of attention from it. But just because of that doesn't mean she's all of a sudden going to become the undisputed Queen of Jpop and rule the world. If BoA or Ai Otsuka released 12 singles every week, they'd get a lot of attention, too.

[marty518]

Ayu is already well established in the Japanese music industry. Every Japanese music buyer already knows of Ayu, and has already made up their mind as to whether or not they'll invest any interest in her. I speculate that Ayu's sales are almost completely long-time fans. While I'm sure she picks up a number of fans with every release, and a few fans lose interest with every release, she is sort of on a slow decline.
She's declining to the status of a normal successful artist, and becoming less of a hyper-phenomenon successful artist. That kind of success is only supposed to last a few years, anyways.

Koda Kumi on the other hand just exploded into superstardom this year with her Best album. This past summer, I had some friends from Japan stay at my house, and they had NO idea who Koda Kumi was when I played her songs for them. Now, they're all back in Japan and telling me how they see her image everywhere and hear her songs everywhere.
Now is the time for Avex to pick up Koda Kumi fans. She has several releases already, but now the main spotlight is on her for the first time. Now is the time that people are interested, so they can pick up a lot of sales by marketing her heavily.

Ayu is sort of a "Madonna" figure now. Or at least slowly becoming that. While her sales aren't the best ever, she still lives a glamorous lifestyle and her releases get attention.

Koda Kumi, on the other hand, is the new "Britney Spears" that Amuro and Hamasaki both were at one point. Amuro faded into her current R&B place rather quickly, but she won't be the legend Ayu will become. Who knows what will become of Koda.. maybe she will get pregnant and disappear for a while, or maybe her future releases will be huge sellers!

The thing about Koda's music, though, is that it's not very personal. She doesn't write most of her songs, and artists who don't contribute very much oftentimes disappear more quickly than those who do.

[ayu_fan929]

Originally Posted by marty518

Koda Kumi, on the other hand, is the new "Britney Spears" that Amuro and Hamasaki both were at one point. Amuro faded into her current R&B place rather quickly, but she won't be the legend Ayu will become. Who knows what will become of Koda.. maybe she will get pregnant and disappear for a while, or maybe her future releases will be huge sellers!

The thing about Koda's music, though, is that it's not very personal. She doesn't write most of her songs, and artists who don't contribute very much oftentimes disappear more quickly than those who do.

i disagree. i think namie is already a legend just like ayu is right now. she was the queen of her time, ayu is the queen of the present. they both had their influences on fashion, music sales etc. n doesnt koda write most of her lyrics?? cos i no she like co-wrote "you" (mayb thats the difference, she "co-" writes, ayu "writes"?)

[emi♡]

^^didn't people used to dress like namie, short skirts and high boots?? i like it...

any ways, Koda Kumi may just be popular at the moment because of all of the publicity surrounding her 12 singles and her best album, it may die down. I think its true that shes popular at the moment becasue Avex is concentrating on her. I don't mean to be mean or anything, but its already been established that the music industry changes constantly, there's a new flavor of the month/year all the time.

I also don't think Ayu should retire, why should she? She's only been in music for 7(?) years and I think she still has a way to go.

I wonder what some of you mean when you say things like the new artists, such as Kuu, are different from normal Japanese music...what do you mean by this? I've seen people say this all the time, and someone in here said it...and it got me thinking...Ayu was everything in Japanese music, she was the pinnacle of it, do you [guys] mean to say that these new artists are different from Ayu, or perhaps the style that Ayu sent into trend? and so they are popular?

I still think Ayu is more popular...I don't think anyone will ever be more popular...she's the equivalent of Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, except in music...Ayu is going to be around forever.

[ayu_fan929]

Originally Posted by emikotogawa

^^didn't people used to dress like namie, short skirts and high boots?? i like it...

any ways, Koda Kumi may just be popular at the moment because of all of the publicity surrounding her 12 singles and her best album, it may die down. I think its true that shes popular at the moment becasue Avex is concentrating on her. I don't mean to be mean or anything, but its already been established that the music industry changes constantly, there's a new flavor of the month/year all the time.

I also don't think Ayu should retire, why should she? She's only been in music for 7(?) years and I think she still has a way to go.

I wonder what some of you mean when you say things like the new artists, such as Kuu, are different from normal Japanese music...what do you mean by this? I've seen people say this all the time, and someone in here said it...and it got me thinking...Ayu was everything in Japanese music, she was the pinnacle of it, do you [guys] mean to say that these new artists are different from Ayu, or perhaps the style that Ayu sent into trend? and so they are popular?

I still think Ayu is more popular...I don't think anyone will ever be more popular...she's the equivalent of Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, except in music...Ayu is going to be around forever.

yep. short skirts/high boots; the "tan" on her skin; n the dying of the hair brown were some of namie's trends.

well, as for retirement, theres always a possiblity of marriage for her. usually, if its marriage, then that leads to retirement (although its not always the case). and also, theres not much (if any) jpop female stars that actually go past 30 working full time.

[momobean]

Ayu is already well established in the Japanese music industry. Every Japanese music buyer already knows of Ayu, and has already made up their mind as to whether or not they'll invest any interest in her. I speculate that Ayu's sales are almost completely long-time fans. While I'm sure she picks up a number of fans with every release, and a few fans lose interest with every release, she is sort of on a slow decline.
She's declining to the status of a normal successful artist, and becoming less of a hyper-phenomenon successful artist. That kind of success is only supposed to last a few years, anyways.

Well said

[MsMiyabi]

Originally Posted by Paper Bear

Koda Kumi is a great singer. She has some good songs. Although, I'm not really keen on her marketing strategy (you know, the whole 'sex sells' bit) but she has talent to back her up. She's been gaining a lot of popularity lately, which is great, but I don't think she will be the next 'Queen of Jpop' or whatever. She's only had like 2 singles to hit number one. Her 12 single release is doing well, and she's getting a lot of attention from it. But just because of that doesn't mean she's all of a sudden going to become the undisputed Queen of Jpop and rule the world. If BoA or Ai Otsuka released 12 singles every week, they'd get a lot of attention, too.

You can't really say that because you don't see BoA or Ai Otsuka releasing singles like that. But I can tell you one thing I do like BoA and If she released 12 singles I wouldn't buy it. I would probably buy 1 or 2 and im being honest.



Also BEST~first things~ is at number 5 on Oricon. Right Under (miss)understood

[ayu99persen]

well...for my self...i dont know about koda for today...so it means that koda cannot accepted in another country as ayumi
my reason is simple but true
ayu's is still the icon of asia!

[MsMiyabi]

Originally Posted by ayu99persen

well...for my self...i dont know about koda or that bit** for today...so it means that koda cannot accepted in another country as ayumi
my reason is simple but true
ayu's is still the icon of asia!

What? Just because you don't know about Koda doesn't mean anything. I live in Amercia and their are fans I never even heard of. Im just finding out about Weird Al.

[Raleigh]

Originally Posted by Akurei

You can't really say that because you don't see BoA or Ai Otsuka releasing singles like that. But I can tell you one thing I do like BoA and If she released 12 singles I wouldn't buy it. I would probably buy 1 or 2 and im being honest.

Also BEST~first things~ is at number 5 on Oricon. Right Under (miss)understood

Well I'm pretty sure that many people would swallow them up if Ai, Ayu or BoA released them since they're also huge in Japan. Hell I'd probably buy them too. It was just a clever marketing strategy from avex to get more cash and get Kumi a ton of attention for 12 weeks and they succeeded.

Also remember that it's her best album so it's not that fair to judge a regular album with a best compilation.

[andre2907]

I don't see why everybody think Koda Kumi is such a hot-seller right now. Yes, her best album is selling well, but HELLO? It's a 2 CD with all of her singles and with a millionaire campaign, no doubt it would sell well.

If she was THAT popular her first #1 single wouldn't sell only 70k in it's first week. Please, her limited singles didn't sold out and they probably won't because it's obviously not a 50k only (depsite what's being said, I don't believe it) and they're selling 47k in the first week. If everybody was so desperate to have the single, then sales should have been 50k?

Obviously she's in the media always. Appearing without a bra in the most-watched and most traditional show in Japan will give her some headlines, she's 'erotic cool' which is VERY fashionable in Japan right now. But she isn't in the spotlight because her sales are very good or because people love her music...

[MsMiyabi]

Originally Posted by Demure_Dusk

Well I'm pretty sure that many people would swallow them up if Ai, Ayu or BoA released them since they're also huge in Japan. Hell I'd probably buy them too. It was just a clever marketing strategy from avex to get more cash and get Kumi a ton of attention for 12 weeks and they succeeded.

Also remember that it's her best album so it's not that fair to judge a regular album with a best compilation.

Im not comparing Im just excited about the sales.

[Raleigh]

Originally Posted by Akurei

Im not comparing Im just excited about the sales.

Well it seemed if you were when you said so and that's why I told you so

[ayu_fan929]

Originally Posted by andre2907

If she was THAT popular her first #1 single wouldn't sell only 70k in it's first week. Please, her limited singles didn't sold out and they probably won't because it's obviously not a 50k only (depsite what's being said, I don't believe it) and they're selling 47k in the first week. If everybody was so desperate to have the single, then sales should have been 50k?

well "you" is her 2nd best selling single already, so far totalling up to about 164k, which is pretty good for her. as for the limited single sales, not even ayu could sell out her limited 300k singles, n that was in her really popular days too. also, oricon doesnt count online sales into its' total, only counts sales bought person->person, so there will always be a gap btwn the real and the oricon figures.

Originally Posted by Demure_Dusk

It was just a clever marketing strategy from avex to get more cash and get Kumi a ton of attention for 12 weeks and they succeeded.

i really really doubt that this was for cash, it was really mainly for attention. avex didnt want koda to lose popularity after her best album. she needed to stay in the spotlight.