Do you think Ayu Will make a comeback with the new Single??

[ayu_fan929]

Originally Posted by Lumix

Lower sales are IMO caused by the three reasons:

1) There are more popular artists like Ayu than in the I am.. era. Kuu, Otsuka, Nakashima, Utada, Gackt, KAT-TUN.. people must decide whether to buy this or this album.

3) mp3s. There can be a lot of people who really like Ayu but it's not worth for them to buy her album. Money. It's easy even for a 60 yrs old lady to download Ayu's MP3s.

It's not Ayu's mistake at all.

1) well they don't necessarily appeal to the same fanbases. especially JE artists and maybe even Gackt. Mika/Hikki have been out for a while, so its really just ku and ai.

3) actually, i read an article that japanese favour the cellphone while listening to music rather than mp3 players.

anyways, i think a reason is that the songs weren't appealing to many ppl (only appealing to some) so thats y there was a dip in sales for 38/39.

[andre2907]

I really doubt. But I hope it will sell fine, I mean, it's a triple A-side!

Anyway, people, Ayu ISN'T the number 1 anymore. Sorry, but she isn't. I know Koda Kumi last album was a best album but she would probably sell better than Ayu even if the album wasn't. In every 'role model' survey Koda Kumi is in front of Ayu and her fanbase is bigger, no doubt.

BUT, Ayu is still EXTREMELY popular. As people said, her old songs are still played! Heck, what other Jpop female artist went to 1 with all her release for five years?? She's still popular as hell and maybe, 4 years from now, Koda Kumi won't be as popular as Ayu was 4 years after her peak.

The only one who gets close to Ayu is Namie Amuro. Namie is everywhere, still has a big fanbase and everything, after almost 10 years since her peak! But her releases only sell fine, they don't sell really well and don't go to 1 like Ayu does.

Plus, it's not true there's more competition now than in 2002. In 2002, Ayu was the biggest artist in Japan nobody could reach her (besides Hikki, of course), but not because there wasn't any competion, she was just too strong. Now, she isn't 'untouchable' anymore and her fans finally found out the Jpop industry has lots of competition. I mean, in 2004, Orange Range fans probably thought there was any competion too...

[Dark Eiri]

I don't think her new single will stop men looking at Koda's "big treasures" (you know what I'm talking about... ( . )( . )...). They have different styles, so, it is kinda independent glory for each one. Ayu will always be the queen and the diamond-voice, and Koda will always be the pretty, hot sexy woman.

[ayu_fan929]

^a majority of kumi fans are in fact female, and not male.

[starr5245]

I sincerely hope Ayu continues to shine... !

[Dark Eiri]

Originally Posted by ayu_fan929

^a majority of kumi fans are in fact female, and not male.

Sure they're attracted by her "femme-fatale" style, right?
It's like a "Learn-To-Be-Hot"

[miracleofsuzaku]

^No, I think most of her fans are attracted to her because of her music/voice. As for role-model-wise, I think the girls see her as "erotic-cool," something really different from what they're usually exposed to.
Face it, no one can sell over a million albums without talent. Or...is Ku just a bluff who happened to have sold heaps load of CDs with her "package" alone ? I honestly do not think that they bought the albums just to stare at the sexy booklets. I mean, come on, they show really nothing that a pervert would have wanted to see.
And to answer the original question, I say no. Ayu's sales haven't been too "ideal" compared to those from the apex of her career. Unless this single is miraculously a PERFECT piece, then no.

[hopeorpain]

Originally Posted by miracleofsuzaku

^No I think most of her fans are attracted to her because of her music/voice.
Face it, no one can sell over a million albums without talent.

I do hope that's true!

[truehappiness]

What about manufactured boybands? :\

I think they're more into her 'wow im on top wow im a powerful woman' vibe. >>

waitwaitwait:

"Face it, no one can sell over a million albums without talent. Or...is Ku just a bluff who happened to have sold heaps load of CDs with her "package" alone ? I honestly do not think that they bought the albums just to stare at the sexy booklets. I mean, come on, they show really nothing that a pervert would have wanted to see.
And to answer the original question, I say no. Ayu's sales haven't been too "ideal" compared to those from the apex of her career. Unless this single is miraculously a PERFECT piece, then no."

Remember, she was marketed like no tomorrow. It's not just 'mg sex!?@!#!' She was just everywhere. Avex does that a lot. When you are well marketed, you will sell well. Compare Ayu's sales of Startin' with the sales of HEAVEN.. Startin' was crappily handled in terms of marketing.

Koda is now avex's ***** in terms of 'wow, we're gonna use you till we sell 10332302312412312 items.' :[

[ayu_fan929]

Originally Posted by Dark Eiri

Sure they're attracted by her "femme-fatale" style, right?
It's like a "Learn-To-Be-Hot"

no, not "learn-to-be-hot". it's more like girl power. and japanese men think it's a threat to their male-dominated society.

i agree with miracleofsuzaku. japanese ppl had to see something in her (ie: talent) over than the physical appearance to make her albums sell over a million copies.

truehappiness: true, the thing about boybands u said is true, but then again, fangirls do think they have talent in singing and what not...

[momobean]

I'm not agreeing that Kumi sells well -only- because of her image, but I think it did play a part in propelling her into the limelight.

[andre2907]

Originally Posted by ayu_fan929

^a majority of kumi fans are in fact female, and not male.

Plus, Koda Kumi voice is much more easy in the ears than Ayu. When I show Ayu songs to my friend they always hate her nasal voice but they enjoy Koda Kumi voice. Actually, I think Koda Kumi voice is much better....

And let's not be hypocrite, OK? Ayu image was also very important to sell her music. Yes, her lyrics made a huge impact, but she wouldn't have sold 4 million copies of her best album without her fashionable clothes that every Shibuya girl wanted to emulate and her 'I'm a powerful woman in control' attitude.

[ph33r]

I think Kumi's image was what led to people discovering a more talented side of her...

[Kikaru]

Originally Posted by andre2907

I really doubt. But I hope it will sell fine, I mean, it's a triple A-side!

Anyway, people, Ayu ISN'T the number 1 anymore. Sorry, but she isn't. I know Koda Kumi last album was a best album but she would probably sell better than Ayu even if the album wasn't. In every 'role model' survey Koda Kumi is in front of Ayu and her fanbase is bigger, no doubt.

BUT, Ayu is still EXTREMELY popular. As people said, her old songs are still played! Heck, what other Jpop female artist went to 1 with all her release for five years?? She's still popular as hell and maybe, 4 years from now, Koda Kumi won't be as popular as Ayu was 4 years after her peak.

The only one who gets close to Ayu is Namie Amuro. Namie is everywhere, still has a big fanbase and everything, after almost 10 years since her peak! But her releases only sell fine, they don't sell really well and don't go to 1 like Ayu does.

Plus, it's not true there's more competition now than in 2002. In 2002, Ayu was the biggest artist in Japan nobody could reach her (besides Hikki, of course), but not because there wasn't any competion, she was just too strong. Now, she isn't 'untouchable' anymore and her fans finally found out the Jpop industry has lots of competition. I mean, in 2004, Orange Range fans probably thought there was any competion too...

I completely agree. Every artist will have their peak and will decline one day. As a jpop artist, Ayumi went for surprising long time after her peak.

Originally Posted by asongforxx

I don't care. I just want great new songs and PVs.

And who cares if "Startin'/Born to be..." was badly promoted? It wouldn't make this single better in any sort. The songs aren't great. The PVs are her worst ones yet... Seriously. It also didn't sale much. Not because of the lack of promotion. It was just bad.

Exactly. Ayu has so many fans, that even if a single was badly promototed, they'd buy it anyway. I think it's just the fact that the single wasn't good to begin with.

Originally Posted by asongforxx

Also... Why more Kuu bashing? It seems like everytime there's a thread related to the sales of a single or album, someone HAVE to bring up Kuu. And someone else HAVE to bash on her. Funny how it's always the same people.

I've been wondering that too. Compare her to some of our American Artist-- Who the hell is showing more booty? Look beyond the way she dresses, people. She shoots like 2 sexual-ish videos and everyone hates her. I bet more than half of the people that accuse her of being a **** have NOT seen pvs like WIND, Koi no Tsubomi, or anything. Only thing they ever say was Ima sugu hoshii or something. I think it's just stereotypes. They see one thing and block everything else out of their mind and only think that one thing.
I would appriciate it if any more talk about kuu this way would banish from this thread, or any other threads. kthx.

And also, Lumix's post.

People who have just downloaded the songs can be to blame, too.
And I'm sure a handful of people who are reading my post right now are guilty.

[marty518]

Originally Posted by Ayumi no Yume

People who have just downloaded the songs can be to blame, too.
And I'm sure a handful of people who are reading my post right now are guilty.

I completely agree! So many people are concerned with Ayu's supposed inevitable "comeback" yet opt not to support her! I understand some people have income restraints, but Ayu only releases 3 or 4 singles per year, so that's like $50 a year to support her for a years worth of singles.

[greggerz189]

I don't really expect much from this single. I don't care either. As long as it debuts at No. 1 then I couldn't care less if it doesn't break 100k. As long as she's reigning strong with the most No. 1's for females. No one can take that away from her. Doesn't matter how much she does or doesn't sell. Though her 1~million streak has been broken by (miss) unfortunately.

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by Ayumi no Yume

Exactly. Ayu has so many fans, that even if a single was badly promototed, they'd buy it anyway. I think it's just the fact that the single wasn't good to begin with.

I've been wondering that too. Compare her to some of our American Artist-- Who the hell is showing more booty? Look beyond the way she dresses, people. She shoots like 2 sexual-ish videos and everyone hates her. I bet more than half of the people that accuse her of being a **** have NOT seen pvs like WIND, Koi no Tsubomi, or anything. Only thing they ever say was Ima sugu hoshii or something. I think it's just stereotypes. They see one thing and block everything else out of their mind and only think that one thing.
I would appriciate it if any more talk about kuu this way would banish from this thread, or any other threads. kthx.

And also, Lumix's post.

People who have just downloaded the songs can be to blame, too.
And I'm sure a handful of people who are reading my post right now are guilty.

You have no idea how wrong you are on so many of these.. statements.

Bad promotion = bad sales. If you placed your single head to head with some 'omgwowpopularima****' person's album who'd sell more? Obviously the album. I mean, look at BoA's DO THE MOTION sales [one of her most well marketed singles with a lot of songs and etc] and some of her more recent sales.. >>

170,000 vs. 55,000 / 60k / 70k

It's not just 'omg woah this single is good.' cause a single doesn't have to be 'good' to even sell a lot. Hell, some good singles sell like crap! Look at the NANA tie-ups. Both tieup-songs sold WAY above their normal range, in the 400k+ range. Just look at their sales now!

Yuna Ito: [2005.09.07] ENDLESS STORY - #2; 460,000 copies sold
[2006.03.01] Faith / Pureyes - #6; 53,000 copies sold
[2006.05.03] Precious - #3; 39,000 copies sold (still charting)

Mika Nakashima: 23,606 CRY NO MORE / Mika Nakashima

Can you really say 'marketing and promotion don't help a singles sales?' now? It really does matter. And imho, Startin' had crappy promotion. And can we say Koda's stuff was really good before Avex marketed her to the point of boobageness? No, cause in the way you say it.. 'they weren't good enough' >> Only during/after the 12singles thing which was an uber marketing-scheme did Koda actually.. 'succeed.'

Blah. And why the hell wouldn't this single sell 100k+? It's like 4 new songs, with a DVD with PVs.. wtf? Her only competition is MoMusu and TOKIO anyway. >>

And about the whole stereotyping her.. uh. Yeah. It's not like we're all assuming. >> I've watched all of those PVs and they don't really say much when she's got PVs like SHAKE IT, feel, Lies.. and more. x.x Her and being all naked in the shower with some random Latinojapanese guy.. o-o..

/cough



I don't think it's stereotyping. :3

[ayu_fan929]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Bad promotion = bad sales. If you placed your single head to head with some 'omgwowpopularima****' person's album who'd sell more? Obviously the album.

Are you trying to say because "BEST ~second session" was released on the same day as "Startin'/Born To Be..." thus decreased the single's sales? Bceause of you are then that has nothing to Startin'/Born To Be... having bad sales at all. Firstly, it's not like Japanese people can only buy 1 CD and they have to choose between an album or a single. If they like the songs on the CD, they buy it, if they don't like the songs, they don't. The latter could be said for Startin'/Born To Be... It's very evident that not a lot of people liked the songs on the single in the first place. And also, please don't tell me they don't have money to buy both of the CD's because these release were announced weeks in advance. You would think people would start saving up money.
Case in Point:
Otsuka Ai's "Planetarium"
vs.
Koda Kumi's "BEST ~first things~"
Both of these CDs were released on Sept. 21st. How did both of these CD's do? "Planetarium" became Ai's second best selling single, selling over 310,000; while "BEST ~first things~" sold 1.7million. If you're logic was applied that another artist's album will affect the sales of your single, then wouldn't Otsuka Ai have sold a lot less?

Secondly, promotion wise, yes, if there's little promotion of the single, the single will not tend to do well. However, I think there's only so far you can go with this arguement. Promotion isn't everything, the songs count as well. In my opinion, even if Startin'/Born To Be... got the promotion that you wanted, the sales would probably still be more or less the same as the songs on it weren't good in the first place.

Thirdly, do these two artists even have the same fanbase?

Originally Posted by truehappiness

I mean, look at BoA's DO THE MOTION sales [one of her most well marketed singles with a lot of songs and etc] and some of her more recent sales.. >>

170,000 vs. 55,000 / 60k / 70k

This goes back to my point in having promotion counting only to an extent. This is within the extent because DO THE MOTION was released right after her BEST album and also right before her tour. However, for the other 3 OUTGROW singles, they all got decent promotion. The reason the first 2 didn't do well because the song wasn't even good. "Everlasting" got 70k is pretty good for BoA, you may think it's low but keep in mind it was released a month before the album.

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Both tieup-songs sold WAY above their normal range, in the 400k+ range. Just look at their sales now!

Yuna Ito: [2005.09.07] ENDLESS STORY - #2; 460,000 copies sold
[2006.03.01] Faith / Pureyes - #6; 53,000 copies sold
[2006.05.03] Precious - #3; 39,000 copies sold (still charting)

Mika Nakashima: 23,606 CRY NO MORE / Mika Nakashima

To be fair to Yuna Ito, "Precious" has already passed the sales of "Faith/Pureyes" in 2 weeks. The single sold more in the second week than in it's first. And, "Precious" will sell more than 100,000.
As for Mika, I believe the 23,606 is her 1st week number, and she never did that well for her single. Plus, I've read people's comments on how the song wasn't good/Blues didn't suit her anyways.

Originally Posted by truehappiness

And can we say Koda's stuff was really good before Avex marketed her to the point of boobageness? No, cause in the way you say it.. 'they weren't good enough' >> Only during/after the 12singles thing which was an uber marketing-scheme did Koda actually.. 'succeed.'

When you say "Koda's stuff" do you mean her songs? Cos I know many Kumi fans think her pre-"BEST ~first things~" material was a lot better than her material after her first BEST album, and this is why "BEST ~first things" is still selling, and will continue to sell as more people listen to Kumi.

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Blah. And why the hell wouldn't this single sell 100k+? It's like 4 new songs, with a DVD with PVs.. wtf? Her only competition is MoMusu and TOKIO anyway. >>

Having her competition being TOKIO/MoMusu doesn't mean she will sell well.

Originally Posted by truehappiness

And about the whole stereotyping her.. uh. Yeah. It's not like we're all assuming. >> I've watched all of those PVs and they don't really say much when she's got PVs like SHAKE IT, feel, Lies.. and more. x.x Her and being all naked in the shower with some random Latinojapanese guy.. o-o..

/cough

I don't think it's stereotyping. :3

You can name those PVs all you want, but I can come back at you with "Birthday Eve", "WIND", and "Koi no Tsubomi". And, I don't see anything wrong with the "feel" PV or even with the "Lies" PV whatsoever.
Those caps I think are from the "secret ~first class~" concert right?

Originally Posted by Lumix

Lower sales are IMO caused by the three reasons:
3) mp3s. There can be a lot of people who really like Ayu but it's not worth for them to buy her album. Money. It's easy even for a 60 yrs old lady to download Ayu's MP3s.

To back up point that I stated earlier, it's not mp3 players, but it is cellphones. Cellphone downloads make up 96% of all digital downloads, whereas computer downloads make up the 4%. article: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/colu...ion.php?id=142

[immel]

Originally Posted by ayu_fan929

It's very evident that not a lot of people liked the songs on the single in the first place.

185k is not a lot? Today it is, maybe not compared to 5 years ago when CD was the thing to have, but today it is a lot.