Rock'n'Roll Circus - album information and covers [X]

[waterballoon]

Originally Posted by bluegie

(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..

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.

Originally Posted by identity

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.

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

[truehappiness]

(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.

[Cherry Dynamite]

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.

[bluegie]

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.

Originally Posted by truehappiness

(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.

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 .

[truehappiness]

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...

[Cherry Dynamite]

Originally Posted by bluegie

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.

^ 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

[Max_ZZZ]

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 =/

[truehappiness]

^ More Promotion = More sales.
Look at Namie's PAST < FUTURE it was well marketed and promoted + the songs are good.

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.

sorry, but i haven't seen decent promo since GUILTY,

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.

[Tony G]

Originally Posted by jbrat2219

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.

^ 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.

[bluegie]

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:

Originally Posted by truehappiness

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.

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

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.

[Cherry Dynamite]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

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.

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

[truehappiness]

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.

[njanjayrp]

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 ^^

[truehappiness]

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.)

[bluegie]

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?

[polka-dot-jewel]

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).

[truehappiness]

To be far, we shouldn't be comparing a studio album to a best-of

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)

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

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.

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.

Originally Posted by bluegie

@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?

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.

[truehappiness]

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!

[bluegie]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

... 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.

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

Originally Posted by truehappiness

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)

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.