[2009] What actually causes ayu's sales to drop?

[Andrenekoi]

But u can't forget the age factor... New artists always outsell old artists, just cuz they have teenagers as their fanbases...

[RyRyMini]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

But most of music market is moved by teenagers... teenagers are more passionete about their idols and are more likelly to buy 5 copies of an album, every magazine, the physical singles, the dvds, etc... When people get older, besides passionete collectors or really hardcore fans, they will pretty much download the songs they liked or buy the album where they will get the single tracks... and only if they like the music on the album^^

This may have some truth to it, but as fans, don't we want our favorite artists to have sales that aren't inflated by one person buying more than one copy? It's kind of like if Ayu sells 100,000 and there are 4 versions, it doesn't mean she has 100,000 fans. If she released less versions there would be less sales. But does that mean she should keep releasing more than 2 versions? I don't think so.

[channy]

As for what Ayu means to me, I feel like sticking to the music of an artist is a thing of 'emotional loyality', too.

I do not like everything, she releases just becaus that music's brandname is "Ayumi Hamasaki". And I don't hesitate to express my opinion in such a case (for example I really disliked Rock'n'Roll Circus).

But still I feel Connected to her music, because her 'musical story' has been a part of the lives of many people around my age. It's like (just for example) your parents that still feel comfortable with ABBA or Paul McCartney while younger people usually don't mind these celebreties as much as their parents do.

Meaning of this, it might sound a bit exaggerated, but after 12 years, there are several new generations of listeners that were too young for pop music, when for us, Ayu has been the biggest thing on earth. So... Ayu were 'our' time, and nowadays other artists are the time of new generation of teenagers.

[Chibi-Chan]

^ I agree! (But I really loved Rock'n'Roll Circus XD)

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by RyRyMini

This may have some truth to it, but as fans, don't we want our favorite artists to have sales that aren't inflated by one person buying more than one copy? It's kind of like if Ayu sells 100,000 and there are 4 versions, it doesn't mean she has 100,000 fans. If she released less versions there would be less sales. But does that mean she should keep releasing more than 2 versions? I don't think so.

Well, I don't think there are many people buying more than 1 version anyway... maybe it helps with 5% or 10% of total sales, but I would never say 50%...

Also, I wouldn't be surprised if lots of people wait to buy the album after the concerts, so they can see and hear how do the songs sound like, and in this case, Oricon only counts 30% of the sales

[love in music]

Originally Posted by waterballoon

One word: RELEVANCE

She's just not relevant to the public anymore... as we can see, most of her advertising/promotion tactics are targeted towards her fan clubs, and as much her fan club is her main/ONLY source that would buy her stuff these days, cos the public simply... doesn't care anymore?

I don't think you can really say she isn't relevant. I don't think that's the right word to use.. she's just not insanely popular anymore. she still is popular though. just as an example, people like alan are irrelevant to the public, not ayu. if ayu was so irrelevant we wouldn't see her on so many magazine covers and she wouldn't be able to tour so much. some people really just act like she's some huge flop or something nowadays just because she isn't selling like she used to.. but in reality she is still doing really good, especially for how long she has been in the business. just think, she could be way worse off now and only be selling 5-10k per single.