With the right song and the right time...

[Jawdarna]

Good music doesn't sell. Promoted music sells. If Ayu decided that she was going to do as many lives as she did a decade ago, she'd probably be well up there again.

[bondingo]

I don't, to be entirely honest.

[Andrenekoi]

A huge promotion would only work if the public wasn't already pretty much tired of her face.... Even worst that she releases a lot every single year, what means she never really gave the public a chance of missing her.

Huge promotion would work if she didn't release anything for 2 years or so, right now, it would just make people alrready more tired of her... Kinda like what happened to Gaga on the west... She promoted herself to a point that people who didn't care about her or even liked her a little started being annoyed by her.

But the right tie-in (something not totally under her control) or a collab with a hot younger star (instead of random member of low-tier group or unkown brother of hot young star) could do her some favor...

[ohsixthirty]

i don't see it happening. she would have to do so much promotion and really reinvent herself i think. ayu is old news. fans buy her stuff, but i think the general public probably doesn't care. to sell that much she'd have to reach out to people who aren't her fans and win them over with a super catchy song and a zillion live performances. i just don't see it happening.

and honestly, even if she did all that, i don't know if it would happen even then.

[Kouyou]

I definitely think it is possible if she goes about it in a strategic way. She has pretty much been releasing music for 14 years straight now; people take a new Ayu release for granted. I think she ought to go on an official hiatus for a year and make people miss her, then release a maxi single with blow-you-away new songs.

Only problem is, I don't see Ayu wanting to take a hiatus anytime soon. She's not like Hikki or Kuu; music is Ayu's life. She once said in an interview that without it, she would die (or something similar to that, I'm not sure).

[NintendoHTF1242]

Originally Posted by ExodusUK

Do you think Ayu could have a 300k+ selling single again? 300k today is like a million selling single ten years ago.

Then what the heck do you call AKB48's 1 million single selling streak? Back then is that like, 5 million? lol

[bluegie]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

Huge promotion would work if she didn't release anything for 2 years or so, right now, it would just make people alrready more tired of her...

Hmmn.. it's not necessary. The general public dun really care about ayu, so it doesn't matter whether she goes on hiatus or not. They may not even aware of her disappearance (... the chance is quite high ). Rather, she really needs something that makes people think, "wow she's so cool!" Namie used her hair as the weapon () and all of the sudden the general public thought she was very cool (including myself lol).

I hope ayu will have a big tie in coming soon. A right tie in (e.g., fashion/beauty products) will definitely boost up her popularity. The only problem is that if there's any company will put a bet on her.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by bluegie

Hmmn.. it's not necessary. The general public dun really care about ayu, so it doesn't matter whether she goes on hiatus or not. They may not even aware of her disappearance (... the chance is quite high ). Rather, she really needs something that makes people think, "wow she's so cool!" Namie used her hair as the weapon () and all of the sudden the general public thought she was very cool (including myself lol).

I hope ayu will have a big tie in coming soon. A right tie in (e.g., fashion/beauty products) will definitely boost up her popularity. The only problem is that if there's any company will put a bet on her.

It's not like she can't promote her hiatus This would atract the attention of a lot of people she lost since A Complete, maybe.... But promoting singles and albums won't really help anymore... She can get that one special hit song, but she is on a point of her career where this has more to do with lucky than heavy marketing...

CMs non related to her music career would be nice too...

[bluegie]

yeah... I agree . Like I said, namie went back to the top not because the songs were great (yes they're great). It was the vidal sassoon cross over that made people think she was so very cool and chic. Hmmn, I think it doesn't matter what kinda promotion she gets, all she needs is a lucky moment that makes her cool again from the general public's eyes.

[relmy]

Namie also had the ability to advertise a completely new image and style, including her music. Ayu can change her looks however she wants, but her music is essentially the same style.

[Aditmi Krisnasaki ~II~]

yes, as soon as the news of her death come out.

Sad but it's true, this is the reality for some of washed-up singers, e.g: Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse and ayu is on the way to be one in Japan.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by Aditmi Krisnasaki ~II~

yes, as soon as the news of her death come out.

Sad but it's true, this is the reality for some of washed-up singers, e.g: Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse and ayu is on the way to be one in Japan.

Whitney's comeback album sold pretty well, and Amy's next album was highly antecipated...

[bluegie]

I would rather see her fading out eventually than a sudden rise because of tragedy. Most of the stars will eventually face the bottom one day. If lucky enough, they will still be respected by people and get about decent sales. If not, then I wish that my fading idol will have a happy life after fading out from the industry .

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by bluegie

I would rather see her fading out eventually than a sudden rise because of tragedy. Most of the stars will eventually face the bottom one day. If lucky enough, they will still be respected by people and get about decent sales. If not, then I wish that my fading idol will have a happy life after fading out from the industry .

If Ayu ends it like Matsutoya Yumi... Not spamming hits but selling around 70k per studio album and having 70+ dates on a hall tour after 40 years on the industry and 17 years after her last million seller, I can't say I would be anything but proud of her^^

[Zeke.]

I think hiatus would be career suicide for her. Her marketing relies heavily on her current (hardcore) fanbase at the moment and if she were to disappear, surely many of those fans would find new pathways and by the time she chose to make a return, she would have even less of a hardcore fanbase PLUS many might just feel like "Oh here we go again..." and just be annoyed... you know? I don't know what she can do to start moving upwards instead of downwards as far as sales and popularity are concerned. I really don't know... But putting out great music would certainly be a start. Lol.

I mean Days is probably her last big hit with the general public, right?

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by maikkun

The one in your avatar went from Million Seller to 49,000 total sales, back to 293,000 total sales... So... I think Ayu can do it too.

Yeah, I agree with Emiko - Namie and Ayu's situations were very different. Honestly Namie is an anomaly. I listen to jpop artists from as far back as the 50s and really Namie is the only female artist that I can think of that actually reversed her sales after having a down period.

It's not impossible, occasionally female artists have had a hit out of nowhere after a period of down sales - Like Matsuda Seiko in 1996, but Namie seems to be the only one who was able to sustain a "second peak."

[George]

Yes, I agree a hiatus would just bring her deeper into oblivion.

I doubt she'll ever sell over 300k again. But in order for her to achieve or at least dream of selling 300k, she first needs to step out of complacency and mediocrity, but even that seems highly dodgy. Avex needs to start doing their ****ing jobs and when they decide to, they should create a hype along with massive promotion and a popular tie-in (a taiga drama perhaps?) They need to project Ayu as popular and cool. She doesn't even need to be either, they just needs to make people believe she is, not some outdated old hag who likes to pose in her undergarments.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

Yeah, I agree with Emiko - Namie and Ayu's situations were very different. Honestly Namie is an anomaly. I listen to jpop artists from as far back as the 50s and really Namie is the only female artist that I can think of that actually reversed her sales after having a down period.

It's not impossible, occasionally female artists have had a hit out of nowhere after a period of down sales - Like Matsuda Seiko in 1996, but Namie seems to be the only one who was able to sustain a "second peak."

Well, fair enough, considering post-TK Namie is almost a totally different artist xD

[ayumisrael]

ayumi hamasaki X feat. AKB48

[freedreamer]

Originally Posted by ExodusUK

An epic 4-A side with songs the Japanese just love (so Days, Blue Bird, My All, etc with new names) with all the right tie-ins and aggressively promoted - put her on Music Station every week for a month or something. I believe she can do it...

A gimmick single like 60s70s80s with a massive tie-in that does all the work would be good for Ayu.

yup i like the sound of this. a heavily promoted single where people can instantly love all 4 songs.

ULTIMATELY, i still think its about promotion. she's been promoting lesser and lesser as the years go by. i dont even remembering much live performances for her 50th single...hmm...
yet it also feels as though...promotion comes secondary to her now.